Our wish for 2102 is that this year we will recognize the value of our hearts in true connective intelligence, and we will finally, collectively, Occupy Love.

Consider that the heart has its own intrinsic nervous system, a bundle of neurons in the heart that actually qualifies as a brain. Our heart brains communicate information to the brains in our heads—in fact, more information travels from the heart to the head than the other way around, the only organ for which this is true.  But we have to be receptive, in a psychophysiological way, to receive its subtle signals.

I’ve been looking for and have found some subtle signals within the Occupy movement that this could be a movement to promote change through love instead of chaos; that there’s an opportunity to replace old patterns of change based on being AGAINST that are slow and not resilient with ones that transcend based on being FOR.

So for our last post of 2011, I’m including links to those signals within Occupy.  May they get ever brighter.  At the end of the list is a special Vimeo treat created by NextNower Manuel Maqueda, and we echo his wish for us all:

May you flow like a big river, graceful, peaceful, and yet unstoppable in your great power, to bring about the profound changes we need in 2012 for the benefit of all.

Happy New Year 2012

If We Get OWS Right We Get Everything Right:  Ian MacKenzie:  Ultimately, we are protesting not only on behalf of the 99% left behind, but on behalf of the 1% as well. We have no enemies. We want everyone to wake up to the beauty of what we can create.  And within it the short film:  OWS: The Revolution is Love. Occupy4Love:  “Occupy4Love is a beacon for heart-centered individuals, groups, and organizations that are supporting the Love in Occupy”. Facebook page  Occupy Evolution:  “Supporting the Occupy movement in reaching its full evolutionary potential.”  The planned film, Occupy Love: “Occupy Love will be a moving, transformative feature documentary that asks the question: how are the economic and ecological crises we are facing today a great love story?”  Occupy Your Heart: “There is no higher wisdom than a loving heart.”  The 100% for a Peaceful Occupy:  This group was created for the coming together of the people that want to stand up for a peaceful, non-violent Occupy.  From John Steiner:  Compassion is Our New Currency:  “Young activists have spoken to me about the extraordinary richness of their experiences at Occupy, and they call it love.”  From the Daily Kos: Occupy Your Heart:  “They may not understand it on an intellectual level, but they showed me that when they occupy their hearts with love fear falls away.  And now I get it.  It’s not bravery or courage that propels the success of OWS, it is love.  When we occupy our hearts with love, fear flees and cannot stand against the power that emanates from the heart.

Also of interest:  Occupy Your Soul by Michael Meade

Recuerdos de los ríos Amazonas y Ucayali by Manuel Maqueda

“My name is Foster Gamble and I’ve spent nearly a lifetime trying to figure out what happened that could account for the staggering agony and deprivation on this planet.  I set out on a journey seeking to answer questions like, is it even possible for humans to thrive?  I found a code, a pattern in nature, that’s been embedded in arts and icons throughout the centuries.  Truth hidden.”

— Joke circulating on the Internet

The world as we know it is on the brink of disintegration, on the verge of dissolution. No, I’m not talking about the collapse of the euro, of international finance, of the Western economies, of the democratic future, of the unipolar moment, of the American dream, of French banks, of Greece as a going concern, of Europe as an idea, of Pax Americana — the sinews of a postwar world that feels today to be unraveling.

I am talking about something far more important. Which is why it made only the back pages of your newspaper, if it made it at all. Scientists at CERN, the European high-energy physics consortium, have announced the discovery of a particle that can travel faster than light.

Neutrinos fired 454 miles from a supercollider outside Geneva to an underground laboratory in Gran Sasso, Italy, took less time (60 nanoseconds less) than light to get there. Or so the physicists think. Or so they measured. Or so they have concluded after checking for every possible artifact and experimental error.

The implications of such a discovery are so mind-boggling, however, that these same scientists immediately requested that other labs around the world try to replicate the experiment. Something must have been wrong — some faulty measurement, some overlooked contaminant — to account for a result that, if we know anything about the universe, is impossible.

And that’s the problem. It has to be impossible because, if not, if that did happen on this Orient Express hurtling between Switzerland and Italy, then everything we know about the universe is wrong.

The fundamental axiom of Einstein’s theory of relativity is the absolute prohibition on speed faster than light. Einstein’s predictions about how time slows and mass increases as one approaches the speed of light have been verified by a mountain of experimental evidence. As velocity increases, mass approaches infinity and time dilates, making it progressively and, ultimately, infinitely difficult to achieve light speed. Which is why nothing does. And nothing ever has.

Until two weeks ago Thursday.

That’s when the results were announced. To oversimplify grossly: If the Gran Sasso scientists had a plate to record the arrival of the neutrinos and a super-powerful telescope to peer (through the Alps!) directly into the lab in Geneva from which they were being fired, the Gran Sasso guys would have “heard” the neutrinos clanging against the plate before they observed the Geneva guys squeeze the trigger on the neutrino gun.

Sixty nanoseconds before, to be precise. Wrap your mind around that one.

It’s as if someone told you that yesterday at drive time Topeka was released from Earth’s gravity. These things don’t happen. Natural laws don’t just expire between shifts at McDonald’s.

Not that there aren’t already mysteries in physics. Neutrinos themselves are ghostly particles that travel through nearly everything unimpeded. (Thousands are traversing your body as you read this.) But that is simplicity itself compared to quantum mechanics, whose random arbitrariness so offended Einstein that he famously objected that God does not play dice with the universe.

Aphorisms don’t trump reality, however. They are but a frail, poignant protest against a universe that often disdains the most cherished human notions of order and elegance, truth and beauty.

But if quantum mechanics was a challenge to human sensibilities, this pesky Swiss-Italian neutrino is their undoing. It means that Einstein’s relativity — a theory of uncommon beauty upon which all of physics has been built for 100 years — is wrong. Not just inaccurate. Not just flawed. But deeply, fundamentally, indescribably wrong.

It means that the “standard model” of subatomic particles that stands at the center of all modern physics is wrong.

Nor does it stop there. This will not just overthrow physics. Astronomy and cosmology measure time and distance in the universe on the assumption of light speed as the cosmic limit. Their foundations will shake as well.

It cannot be. Yet, this is not a couple of guys in a garage peddling cold fusion. This is no crank wheeling a perpetual motion machine into the patent office. These are the best researchers in the world using the finest measuring instruments, having subjected their data to the highest levels of scrutiny, including six months of cross-checking by 160 scientists from 11 countries.

But there must be some error. Because otherwise everything changes. We shall need a new physics. A new cosmology. New understandings of past and future, of cause and effect. Then shortly and surely, new theologies.

Why? Because we can’t have neutrinos getting kicked out of taverns they have not yet entered.

letters@charleskrauthammer.com

From NextNower Manuel Maqueda of Trash Island and Plastic Pollution Coalition, and whose organization BlooSee is a sponsor of the BlueMind Summit:

How does the ocean affect our brain?

Why does the sight, sound, smell, touch, and taste of the ocean set our souls at ease?

How does our “brain on ocean” behave?

From their website and other sources:

Just two weeks ago, the Institute for Economics and Peace launched the first-ever United States Peace Index (USPI) and we have already seen a tremendous response.  Nearly 200 news stories have featured the report, with the USPI as a must-read story on USA Today and featured in TIME, the Huffington Post, The Washington Times and The Guardian, amongst many others.  We were overwhelmed not only by the level of the response but also by its positive tone.

The USPI ranks the 50 U.S. states according to their levels of peacefulness, identifies the environments associated with peace, and estimates the cost savings and additional economic activity of increased peace.  Click here to watch a short video about the findings.

The report finds that in the U.S., reductions in violent crime and incarceration to levels equal to Canada would yield an estimated $361 billion in direct savings and additional economic activity, and potentially create 2.7 million jobs.  It also shows that peace is linked to health, education, and opportunity but not related to political affiliation.

This research aims to further understand the types of environments that are associated with peace and to help quantify the economic benefits that could result from increases in peace, leading to a more informed discussion around these opportunities. The Index is now being used as a resource for policy discussions, with an op-ed on the report published by a U.S. Congressman and as a tool for advocacy.  Download the full report:

More on the index:

The inaugural United States Peace Index, created by the international think tank, Institute for Economics and Peace is the first-ever ranking of the fifty U.S. states based on their levels of peace. The U.S. Peace Index (USPI) shows Maine is the most peaceful U.S. state, while Louisiana is ranked the least peaceful.

The USPI report reveals that peace in the United States has improved since 1995 primarily driven by a substantial decrease in homicide and violent crime.

This is a rendering of what 80 million points of light on a map of the United States might look like.  Those Points of Light are the Cultural Creatives.

From the website and other sources:

Cultural Creatives 1.0 – THE REVOLUTION is a documentary made by Frygis Fogel, an Hungarian independent filmmaker, on the topic of the Cultural Creatives, people who are taking an interest in improving the quality of life and making it sustainable for future generations. It is NOT a global organization or any kind of political movement, yet there are an increasing number of people showing an enormous change in consciousness, providing examples through their own initiatives, and giving humanity an opportunity to find solutions to the issues of the 21st century. The Cultural Creatives comprise over one third of the adult populations of the US, Europe, Japan, and many major cosmopolitan cities worldwide, all with a similar mindset. In the midst of many world crises, they are anticipating the future as an abundant opportunity.

Featuring many key figures from Europe and the U.S., this is the first documentary film to look with scientific thoroughness at the world of Cultural Creatives. It shows that a great mass of people think differently from the way propagated by the media and promoted by the establishment. By the end of the film it becomes evident that this huge mass, were it to become aware of its power, could change the world. Because Cultural Creatives are unstoppable and their number is continuously rising, the values they champion could soon become core values for human civilization generally.

Cultural Creatives are emerging without anybody organizing their presence, without anyone seeking to create political power from their existence, and without any group having any interest in them. They are emerging simply because in real historical development the growth of human consciousness can not be stopped, no matter how much today’s establishments and intellectual elites try to ignore and even hide their appearance.

So they are all here, among and around us: 80 million Cultural Creatives in the United States and 120 million in Europe, all with a similar mindset – the citizens of a new world. They are the ones who are really preparing the future and its new social structures for us, and are doing so right now. They are the ones who anticipate the future as an astonishing opportunity never before available to mankind throughout the whole course of its history here on earth. Their message: The time is ripe to take the shaping of social life into our own hands.

The principle researcher for the Cultural Creatives is Dr. Paul Ray of the Institute for the Emerging Wisdom Culture at Wisdom University, a partner with NextNow Collaboratory on various State of the World Forum initiatives.

Happy Holidays

Earth Island Reports

Plastic Pollution Coalition

The Bioplastic Labyrinth

Plastic is a material that Earth cannot digest. Every bit of plastic ever produced still exists and will be here with us for hundreds of years. Once in the environment, plastic breaks down into smaller and smaller particles that attract toxic chemicals, are ingested by wildlife on land and in the ocean, and contaminate our food chain.

Our oceans and waterways are full of these small particles, which currents accumulate in convergence zones called gyres, located in the center of the word’s oceans. The most notable of these is called “the Great Pacific Garbage Patch,” but while the idea of a giant patch of garbage in the ocean is unsettling, the reality is more so: a planetary soup of small bits of plastic that circulate throughout the water column and which we have no hope of cleaning up.

However, plastics are not destroying our environment and compromising our health by themselves. It is our use of them that has catastrophic consequences. A material that lasts hundreds of years in the environment should never be used for applications that last seconds, minutes, hours, or even days. In addition, a material that has complex, non-transparent formulations involving toxic additives should not be in contact with our food and drink.

Chris Jordan. Sea birds and fish have a hard time distinguishing plastic from food. When they eat the stuff, they cannot digest it, and eventually die with bellies so full of plastic that no food or water can pass through them.

Plastic pollution is not a problem created by improper disposal. It is a problem created by irresponsible design, paired with unsustainable throwaway habits. Add in the lack of producer responsibility, and the omission of the precautionary principle when it comes to product toxicity, and you have a perfect environmental and human health storm.

As the magnitude and the human health implications of our plastic pollution problem are better understood, there is more and more buzz about plastics that are bio-based, biodegradable, or compostable. Many eco-minded people see in them an easy solution to our plastic pollution problems. The reality, however, is not that simple.

With new types of plastics should also come a concern over how we use plastics, bio-based or otherwise. Biodegradable plastics may or may not be the next best step, depending on the properties of these new materials – but also depending on the particular object or application we are seeking to replace.

For many disposable plastics, solutions already exist, such as reusables (lasting bags, bottles, cutlery, cups, etc.) or alternative materials (such as metal, glass or paper.)

Currently, manufacturers are not responsible for the end-life of their products. Once an item leaves their factories, it’s no longer the company’s problem. Therefore, we don’t have a system by which adopters of these new bioplastics would be responsible for recovering, composting, recycling, or doing whatever needs to be done with them after use. Regarding toxicity, the same broken and ineffective regulatory system is in charge of approving bioplastics for food use, and there is no reason to assume that these won’t raise just as many health concerns as conventional plastics have. Yet again, it will be an uphill battle to ban those that turn out to be dangerous.

Terminology-wise, we need to be extremely careful with the word “bioplastic.” It’s a neurolinguistic booby trap. Bioplastics, just like regular plastics, are synthetic polymers; it’s just that plants are being used instead of oil to obtain the carbon and hydrogen needed for polymerization. Bioplastic may or may not be biodegradable, may or may not be toxic, just like any other plastic. A plastic such as high-density polyethylene HDPE can be 100 percent bio-based (for instance 100 percent organic hemp), and yet still be non-biodegradable. The public, however, is led to think that any bio-based plastic is biodegradable, which is not at all the case. Dasani and Coke’s “Plant Bottle” is a notorious example of this type of greenwashing.

Some bioplastics, however, are indeed biodegradable and compostable. The problem is that there is no agreement on what this really means, and under what circumstances. One has to read the fine print for each manufacturer and for each type of product, and often rely on the industry’s self-awarded certifications. Biodegradability usually requires industrial composting facilities, which are few and far between – and make us wonder who is actually responsible for taking these plastics to those facilities after disposal. Also, composting is a much longer cycle than recycling, and the vast majority of bioplastics are not cradle-to-cradle recyclable. Some, in fact, contaminate the downcycling of conventional plastics.

There’s also the question of ecological footprint. In order to make bioplastics we need land, water, energy, and often pesticides and genetically modified crops. Given the enormity of our plastic consumption, one wonders what impacts we would see on food prices and resources if we transitioned to bio-based packaging.

In comparison, using paper, glass, or metal is simple: We know the ingredients, we know that these materials truly are recyclable, and we have the infrastructure and resources to produce and recycle them today. Reusable items, meanwhile, are simply better for the environment.

Nobody wants to demonize biodegradable plastics. However, we should ask tough questions before accepting anything new with a green label on it. Otherwise our eagerness to solve a problem might make us easy victims of greenwashing or lead us in a direction that could trigger or aggravate other environmental and health problems. Even worse, we might be hampering or delaying the adoption of effective, sustainable solutions, namely changes of habits, and deep changes in the ways products are designed, manufactured, packaged and discarded.

— Manuel Maqueda

Take Action

At Plastic Pollution Coalition we are junking our disposable habits and composting the throwaway society that has destroyed our planet and compromised our health. Our organization calls for the elimination of useless, senseless single-use and throwaway plastic junk, starting with bags, bottles, plastic cutlery, straws, excessive packaging, and a great deal of other things we can give up or replace with alternatives now. See www.plasticpollutioncoalition.org for more information.

Support the Bag Ban! (AB1998)

California’s AB 1998 would ban plastic bags and encourage reusable bag use at grocery stores, pharmacies, and convenience stores. Plastic bags are a primary component of urban litter. And urban litter is the primary component of marine pollution. You may not know it, but you’re probably already paying for that because plastic pollution costs California families hundreds of dollars annually in hidden cleanup costs. Retailers distribute approximately 19 billion plastic carryout bags annually. Imagine the real damage that much plastic can do to the environment. For more information and to support the bag ban, visit www.cawrecycles.org.