a.k.a. The Changemaker’s Mandate
Condition #1: We are in the biggest extinction period since the dinosaurs, driven by human activity.
Condition #2: We are impacting our very own life-support systems in dangerous ways.
Condition #3: Our economic system – as it works today, predicated on unlimited growth and externalizing costs to disadvantaged human communities, other species, and future generations – is destroying ecosystems and indigenous peoples worldwide.
Condition #4: Most of your schooling is or was geared to make you a replaceable part — another cog in the machine — of this economic system which would have no issue with you spending 9-to-5-till-you-die in a cubicle.
Condition #5: Our lifestyles of “buying things we don’t even need, with money we don’t even have, in order to impress people we don’t even like” are:
– Driving ecological destruction through our demand
– Keeping us locked into jobs, through a work/spend cycle
– Leaving individuals and families less resilient in the case of economic downturns and ecological instability
Condition #6: You have much more to do with your life, and much more to offer, than 9-to-five-till you die
Condition #7: All problems are interconnected and interrelated: poverty, racism, sexism, animal cruelty, environmental issues, etc., etc.
Condition #8: To effect the greatest change, it’s more effective to work on root causes rather than the symptoms or the symptoms of symptoms
Condition #9: The work needs to happen on all levels simultaneously
* 8 & 9 together represent a paradox. Deal with it.
Condition #10: It’s not enough to preach or sermonize, we need to walk the talk and lead by example. This exemplifies integrity and congruence, as well as being of service due to speaking from experience, knowing the ins-&-outs, pitfalls, tips-&-tricks, and credibility.
Condition #11: Working on the individual level is necessary but not sufficient; we must also change systems and structures.
Condition #12: As individuals, we each need to find best-practices for living in harmony within ourselves, with each other, and with Planet Earth — followed by best-practices at the level of systems and structures.