I wonder if we wouldn't become more gracefully productive by recognizing that we are all living cells with organisms like cities, bioregions, continents, and the earth itself. Could we lessen our stress, become healthier and more whole, if we saw our work as simply helping these organisms realize their living wholeness?

Daniel Kemmis, Mayor of Missoula, Montana (1995)

Environmental problems are community problems. We all have a responsibility to enhance and protect the planet that we inhabit. The solutions to these problems rest in the hands of individuals and communities of citizens. They will require the actions of informed citizens willing to tread more lightly on the planet and to move their neighbours to make the commitment to do the same. They also will need governments to develop the political will and legislation to stop the senseless destruction of the planet we all share.

Environmental problems are also transdisciplinary problems. Although most of the students reading this book will be taking a community psychology course, the conceptual framework utilized in this chapter integrates material from multiple disciplines, including ecology, ecological economics, biology, general systems theory, psychology, sociology, planning, and popular education.

The solutions to global environmental decline are coming from individual citizens and communities of people who value the resources of the earth, and who believe in freedom, justice, democracy, and equality for all of the people who inhabit the planet that we share.

Kidner (1994) has argued that, as a discipline, psychology has been mute about the environmental crisis because its ideological preconceptions are similar to those of the ideological-economic-technological systems which are largely responsible for the crisis. Even though the health of the natural ecology is fundamental to the well-being of people, the transactions between individuals and the natural world remain largely unconsidered in community psychology research and practice. While community psychologists have adopted ecological concepts from the field of biology and have postulated ecological principles as a frame of reference for their work (Kelly, 1966, 1970; Trickett, 1984; Trickett, Kelly, & Vincent, 1985), the focus has been on social ecology rather than on natural ecology or on the transactions between human systems and the natural world. That is, the transactional analyses legitimate a worldview in which people are seen as separate from the natural environment rather than as interdependent with it. Further, few community psychologists have been actively engaged in "change of the system" work (Bennett & Foy, 1987; Prilleltensky & Nelson, 1997). This is particularly problematic in the face of the burgeoning global ecological crisis.

There is evidence, however, that these attitudes may be starting to change. Recent community psychology textbooks (e.g., Dalton, Elias, & Wandersman, 2000) have included environmental psychology in their descriptions of conceptual perspectives for describing ecological context and its impact on individuals. Further, there have been some high-profile, intensive, and longitudinal community-level studies of the psychological effects of living in close proximity to toxic disasters (Baum, 1987; Baum & Fleming, 1993) and toxic waste sites, and of citizen activism in response to these conditions (Levine, 1982; Stone & Levine, 1985; Rich, Edelstein, Hallman, & Wandersman, 1995). Excellent work also has been done in researching and popularizing the area of community-based social marketing as a means of fostering sustainable development (McKenzie-Mohr & Oskamp, 1995; McKenzie-Mohr, 2000).

The Environmental Crisis, Psychosocial Dysfunctions, and Macroeconomics

A significant transformation has been taking place in North American communities and in communities around the world during the past 50 years. Accelerated economic growth has placed extraordinary demands on the ecosystem, demands which exceed what the earth community is capable of sustaining.

As a result, we are witnessing a burgeoning of social disintegration and environmental degradation in almost every country in the world. In the last century, people have managed to destroy much of the planet's "living capital," which took two billion years to create. The evidence is everywhere - ozone-layer depletion, climate change, epidemics of new diseases such as AIDS, an expanding population, and the loss of biodiversity, fish stocks, agricultural land, forests, and the global water supply. All of this is in addition to the social and economic injustices discussed earlier in this book.

The relentless and insatiable quest for economic growth and the pursuit of profit for its own sake have served as the organizing principles for public policy in North America and in countries around the world, and are the central threats to the earth community. The requirements of an economic system driven by a growth mentality have been the main causes of the global environmental crisis and the crisis in community. The documentation of the ecological costs of the growth orientation pursued by conventional macroeconomic policies is overwhelming.

Daly and Cobb (1989), two internationally respected economists, foresee current global economic policies leading civilization to a dead end. They argue that contemporary economic growth has meant an exponential increase in the extraction of resources from the environment and the emission of waste products into the environment - all with little regard for the exhaustion of natural resources, pollution, or the human community. The bottom line is that "we are living by an ideology of death and accordingly we are destroying our own humanity and killing the planet" (Daly & Cobb, 1989, p. 21).

Psychologists and other professionals who have been interested in mental health issues have observed that environmental factors give rise to stress, overpower the coping mechanisms of the individuals they affect, and undermine mental health (Cowen, 1977; Epp, 1986, 1988; Horney, 1937; Lalonde, 1974; Lazarus & Folkman, 1984; Rappaport, 1977, 1984). Among those environmental stressors, Cahill (1983) includes structural characteristics of the macroeconomy. The link between macroeconomic conditions and psychosocial dysfunctions is further substantiated by Seidman and Rapkin's (1983) literature review and Wachtel's (1989) in-depth treatment of the psychological underpinnings of our insatiable desire for growth.

Economics: Chrematistics or Okonomia?

Environmental issues fit Mills's (1959) discussion of "public issues." Public issues transcend the local environments of individuals and their inner lives, and have to do with the organization and structure of social and historical life. They are connected to an economic paradigm that measures human welfare in relation to the Gross National Product (GNP). Some scholars (Daly & Cobb, 1989; Wachtel, 1987), however, observe that the tendency to treat the GNP as a general index of national well-being is a fallacy of misplaced concreteness that ignores many social, psychological, and environmental costs.

According to Daly and Cobb (1989), the GNP is a poor measure not only of national welfare but also of income. True income, they argue, is sustainable - and the GNP subtracts neither the expenditures associated with economic growth (such as degradation of the environment) nor the social costs of development. Further, in the GNP, harmful consumption (e.g., of unhealthy fast foods and tobacco) is viewed favourably because it appears as an indicator of "growth." The income accounting of GNP does not calculate the maximum amount that we can consume without impoverishing ourselves; thus, Daly and Cobb conclude, we are living beyond our means.

Accordingly, Daly and Cobb advocate a paradigm shift from the present-day economics of chrematistics - "the manipulation of property and wealth to maximize the short term monetary exchange value to the owner" - to the economics of okonomia - economics for "the larger community of land, of shared values, biomes, institutions, language and history" (1989, p. 138). The key to economics for a sustainable future, they contend, is to acknowledge the carrying capacity of the ecosystem and to understand that the economy has a proper scale relative to the ecosystem. Only in this way, they argue, can we avoid extinction.

Loss of Biodiversity

The loss of biodiversity serves as evidence of the threat to the earth's structural and functional undergirding systems - its atmosphere, chemical fabric, and biological essence. The loss of biodiversity and global climate change introduce a new class of problems to the prototypical complex adaptive system called the biosphere (Levin, 1999) - problems which threaten its internal organization and capacity to maintain itself. Few people fully understand the significance of biodiversity to the sustenance of life or the implications of its loss: With the increasing loss of ecological systems, we are speeding up our own extinction.

One of the most serious aspects of the loss of biodiversity is the exponential rate of environmental destruction. An ecosystem may be attacked in hundreds of ways from hundreds of sources, all at once, and not always with warning. Because of the interdependent nature of the ecosystem, the extinction of some species can speed up extinction rates overall. Environmentalists label this phenomenon exponential environmental destruction (Suzuki, 2002). The net effect is the creation of a biodiversity deficit, "where species and ecosystems will be destroyed faster than nature can create new ones" (Coddington, 2002, p.27).

Ehrlich and Holdren (1971) argue that the most significant event in the two-billion-year history of life on earth has been the ascendancy of the Homo sapiens species. Only 10,000 years ago, the human population (numbering only about 5 million) was but one of many species of large mammals living on this planet. As a result of the agricultural revolution, the human population had risen to 500 million by 1650, and now exceeds 6 billion. This exponential population growth and its accompanying agricultural, industrial, biomedical, biological and technological revolutions have come with staggering costs to biodiversity at all levels - from large mammals and old-growth trees to the smallest of organisms. Humanity has realized enormous achievements (such as the exploration of space), but we have failed miserably in living in harmony with nature and in eliminating global injustices such as poverty and hunger.

Agriculture, Food, and Environmental Degradation

There have been serious consequences to the globalization of the food system. The economic colonization of the global food system has forced many countries in the Third World to stop growing crops necessary for the subsistence of their population and, instead, to sell cash crops for export as a means of paying their foreign debts. Further, it has diminished the capacity of local areas to produce their own food, contaminated the food with herbicide and pesticide residues, and reduced the nutritional value of the food itself.

Environmental degradation is one of the most serious elements of the crisis in agriculture. The protection of the biodiversity of farm soils is essential to agriculture, the environment, and human and animal health. Yet industrial methods of farming such as monoculture (reliance on a single crop or livestock) have contributed to the loss of hundreds of millions of tons of topsoil each year to erosion, have dramatically reduced essential biodiversity in agricultural soils, and threatened the integrity of the soil and our ability to grow healthful food. The industrial paradigm of agriculture, which has been promoted by public policy, relies heavily on the use of farm inputs such as chemical fertilizers, pesticides, herbicides, fungicides, irrigation, and large-scale equipment for working the land, planting the seeds, and harvesting the crops. Modern farm strategies - along with the lack of regulations for the disposal of toxic animal wastes, the environmental and health risks associated with feed contamination, and the problems in the meat packing and food processing industries - have become an ecological disaster.

Closely related to the health and environmental risks posed by our food supply system is the unhealthy nature of our diet. Schlosser (2002) argues that high-sugar, high-fat, fast-food diets have had staggering health impacts on citizens around the world. They increase the risk of heart disease, hypertension, certain cancers, and diabetes. In the United States, where 25% of the population eat at least one meal a day from a fast-food outlet and where fast-food is served in school cafeterias, obesity is the second highest ranking cause of death (approximately 60% of adults and more than 20% of children are overweight). And, as Schlosser notes, the United States is exporting its fast food and dietary problems: U.S. beef exports have increased to 2,417 billion pounds in 1999, up from 40 million pounds in 1970; Coca-Cola is now Africa's largest employer; and Mexico surpasses the United States in per capita consumption of Coke (Lappe & Lappe, 2002).

Water

Barlow and Clarke (2002) posit that the degradation and the depletion of the world's water supply is perhaps the greatest threat to the survival of our planet. The world is running out of fresh water: The Third World is already facing a water crisis (which endangers human beings and other species) and, they argue, other areas of the world, including North America, are on the brink of one.

Not only are we polluting of our fresh water supply, but in some cases, Barlow and Clarke (2002) argue, we also are using water at a greater rate than ground water reserves can be replenished by precipitation. They assert that unless we change our ways, as much as two thirds of the world's population will experience severe water shortages in the next quarter-century. They observe that global water consumption is doubling every 20 years - more than twice the rate of human population growth: "Put in economic terms, instead of living on fresh water income, we are irreversibly diminishing fresh water capital. At some time in the near future, we will be fresh water bankrupt" (p. 15).

Environmental Degradation and the Crisis of Governance

It is the responsibility of a government to govern in the interests of its citizens and to protect the commons (the natural and social ecology of individuals and societies). However, influenced by a business-first ideology and by their close relations with the corporations that cause pollution and other environmental problems, government officials often abdicate this responsibility.

On June 13, 2002, the United States announced proposals to amend its Clean Air Act to make it easier for utilities to expand coal-burning power plants. Buck Parker, executive director of the environmental law firm Earth Justice, argued that this amendment would result in millions of tons of additional pollution, and made a powerful analogy to the recent disclosure of the feared "terrorist" dirty bomb: "With the release of this report the Bush administration dropped a dirty bomb and its going to cost thousands of American lives." David Anderson, Canada's environment minister, believes the proposed changes to the U.S. Clean Air Act could result in more pollution drifting into Canada (K-W Record, June 14, 2002, p. A-3).

The power of some elite transnational corporations has been consolidated by international trade agreements - such as the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) - which are backed by the World Bank, the World Trade Organization (WTO), and the International Monetary Fund (IMF). This increased power has resulted in a crisis of governance. Governments around the world seem unable to protect the commons against the ideological and legal-political-technological forces of economic globalization. Increasingly, governments are giving corporations a new set of rights which have no responsibilities to the welfare of individuals or community tied to them. Under NAFTA, virtually any government action (including action to protect the health of the country's citizens) that interferes with a corporation's reasonably expected profits can result in an obligation to pay millions of dollars in damages to the corporation.

Summary of the Big Picture

The earth is in serious trouble. Around the globe, we see countless examples of life-threatening environmental problems which are the results of unsustainable, large-scale human activity. Indeed, we have almost become inured to the daily reports of ecological devastation. Most of us want to breathe clean air and drink safe water. Yet our environmental problems persist and, as they are multiplied across diverse ecosystems and communities, they increase exponentially with each passing year.

While there is serious cause for concern, there are also thousands of examples, involving millions of citizens, that give us hope that we can save our troubled planet (Roberts & Brandon, 1996; Barlow & Clarke, 2001; Korten, 2001; Lappe & Lappe, 2002; Suzuki & Dressel, 2002). As grim as things may seem, I can't imagine what the world would look like today without civil society fighting for its rights.

VALUES, PRINCIPLES, IDEAS AND STRATEGIES

Values and Social Change

"When we begin to believe that there is a greater joy in working with and for others than just for ourselves, then our society will truly become a place for celebration."

Jean Vanier

Prilleltensky and Nelson (1997) have identified the values of community psychology as being: (a) health, (b) caring and compassion, (c) self-determination and participation, (d) human diversity, and (e) social justice. I believe that a shift in emphasis toward these values can make feasible a more harmonious balance with nature. So far, our relationships with nature have been largely absent from community psychology's conceptual models of ecological context. But I believe that community psychology's values must, in their definitions of ecology and well-being, explicitly embrace the natural environment (Bennett, 1992; Bennett, in press).

A main argument of this chapter is that the choices which individuals and societies make regarding their relationships with the environment are informed by values. Our economic system and our relationships with nature have gone astray and out of control because we have lost sight of what is really important. In this chapter, I join an increasing number of critics who argue that the dominant value that is influencing the escalating global environmental crisis is human greed - an insatiable appetite for economic growth and wealth. These appetites have disrupted the psychological foundations of well-being - for individuals and for our societies. It is my view that we have choices; we can prevent the eco-catastrophe that is facing our civilization and attain a harmonious ecological balance. To do so, though, we need to make a fundamental shift in values from an economic definition of well-being to a more holistic one.

There are an expanding number of world-wide social movements based on the desire to create a world that works for all -- a fight for life, democracy and well-being. Examples include: Ekins, (1992), grass roots movements to promote self-reliant and healthy alternatives; Hallman (2000), a global movement to enhance spiritual values for earth community. Korten (2001), the Global Movement For A Living Democracy - seeking transformative justice through non-violent means; Sarkar (1992), the emergence of green alternative politics that began in the 1970s in Germany; Shiva (1988), the growing social movement of women in the third world fighting for survival and the environment; Mies & Shiva (1993), the ecology and feminist movement and the meaningful advancement of some ecofeminist subsistence alternatives.

Fundamental Principles: Justice and Accountability

"It is the awareness of having faults, I think, and the knowledge that this links us to everyone on Earth, that opens us to courage and compassion."

Walker (1999)

Justice, accountability, and appropriate process are important aspects of social change. When there are power imbalances or an abuse of power, it is especially important to name problems, and to hold people and governments accountable for their actions and values.

A broad scientific consensus exists, for example, that increased CO₂ emissions and other human-produced greenhouse gases are precipitating warming of the global atmosphere and contributing to disastrous climatic changes. Since 1989, governments have been negotiating to address climate change under the auspices of the United Nations. Scientists and non-governmental organizations (NGOs) have been important contributors to the negotiation process.

In 1992, at the Rio Earth Summit, the first major agreement was adopted. From a justice perspective, there were two significant aspects to the treaty: (a) that the governments of the world acknowledged that they must work together to solve the problem and that some countries have more responsibility for the problem than others, and (b) that there is an urgent need to stabilize greenhouse concentrations in the atmosphere - by reducing the annual emissions of CO₂ by more than 60% - to prevent dangerous anthropogenic interference with the climate system.

By December 1997, governments had negotiated the Kyoto Accord, a specific protocol for reducing emissions to a level still considerably higher than that called for by the scientific community. An important element of the Kyoto negotiation process was the "Justice Statement" presented by the delegation of the World Council of Churches, which transcended the legal negotiations and was directed primarily at the lack of moral conduct of the world's rich nations:

The Power of Ideas

"Until we have a reasonable idea of where we want to go, we are unlikely to get there."

David Korten

Why are we facing environmental degradation and death in a world so rich with resources? Fromm (1973) argues that we all have the power to create realities which defy common sense and are destructive to our lives and to future generations. If we follow a map of ideas which are destructive to the environment and the planet, we can be destroyed. But we can also choose to follow a map of ideas that leads us toward a long and healthy future.

Among the many ideas that can contribute to the transformation work which points us to sustainable living, are: (a) schooling for emotional intelligence; (b) understanding health as wellness; (c) developing eco-cities; (d) promoting eco-literacy; (e) reclaiming agriculture; (f) promoting biodiversity; (g) reforming banking practices; and (h) providing tools for living simply.

Schooling for emotional intelligence. Goleman (1995) presents well-documented arguments to indicate that modern society lacks emotional literacy and would benefit from the idea of schooling for emotional intelligence. He argues that emotional intelligence: (a) meaningfully contributes to reducing self-centered focus and impulses; (b) strengthens character, moral conduct, self-discipline, and empathy; and (c) is essential to both democracy and a healthy society. In recognition of such arguments community psychologists have developed intervention programs in schools and other settings, for children, youth and adults (e.g. Caplan, Vinkour, & Price 1997; Shure, 1997; Weissburg, Barton & Shriver,1997). In 1995, health promotion and prevention-oriented action researchers joined to establish the Collaborative to Advance Social and Emotional Intelligence (CASEL). The mission is to advance the social and emotional competencies of children and adolescents (Dalton, Elias, & Wandersman, 2001).

While Goleman and others have argued for schooling the emotions in the public schools, I think that there are also strong arguments to introduce such programs into business schools and for corporate executives and government leaders. Indeed, the evidence provided by the examples in this chapter strongly suggests that the leaders of North America's government and corporations lack the body of skills which emotional intelligence represents - character and moral conduct.

Understanding health as well-being. When Marc Lalonde served as Canada's minister of health and welfare, he proposed a policy document which recommended that Canada's health system make a profound shift to incorporate an orientation toward wellness. The document, New perspectives for the health of Canadians (Canada, 1974), argued for a holistic approach to health which highly valued the health of the natural and social environment. The Lalonde report was a significant government document. It represented a "paradigm shift" in thinking about health because it argued that the major improvements health would emerge not from changes in health services but primarily from changes in lifestyle and in the environment. The concepts of the Lalonde Report have since been added to by others and implementation strategies have been developed. In 1986, the first International Conference on Health Promotion was convened in Ottawa, Canada by the World Health Organization (WHO). An influential and enduring document was produced, the Ottawa Charter for Health Promotion. The document focussed the importance of health promotion as a process of enabling citizens to improve their health, and defined health promotion as extending beyond healthy lifestyles to well-being. Also in the mid-80s Healthy Communities projects were initiated in Europe and in Canada. In Canada, the intiative has been called the Canadian Healthy Communities project and includes all types of local governments and communities.

Developing Eco-cities. It is possible to restore cities so that we can enhance various forms of human exchange - goods, money, ideas, different forms of concourse - and improve our quality of life (Engwicht, 1993). In 1975, for example, Richard Register and his colleagues founded Urban Ecology, an organization dedicated to planning and revitalizing cities based on ecological principles. Among the paradigms and social movements on which Urban Ecology was based were "healthy communities, appropriate technology (AT), community economic development, social ecology, the green movement, bioregionalism, native world views, and sustainable development" (Roseland, 1997, p. 4). It is interesting to note the similarities in values between the principles and concepts of community psychology and the paradigms for creating ecological cities.

Among the many viable manifestations of these paradigms and concepts in American and Canadian cities, community gardens provide an excellent example. Community gardens are plots, typically situated in urban areas, for people who don't have access to land. They are used for growing food and for connecting people to the land and to one another.

Promoting Eco-literacy. The resurgence of school gardens has provided children with an option to grow their own food, prepare it, share it with their peers and teachers, and preserve it to extend the season. School gardens can help children to re-establish their connection to nature and to food as a social and cultural good. They can also serve as a viable alternative to fast foods. Lappé and Lappé (2002) report that one fifth of California schools now have school gardens, and thousands more have been sprouting up across the United States. With curriculum development assistance for eco-literacy, students start to make connections between seemingly disconnected parts of life (e.g., the connections between the regular consumption of fast foods and soft drinks and the problems of childhood obesity) and learn to develop an ecological perspective.

Reclaiming Agriculture. Pirages and Ehrlich (1974) introduced the concept of the dominant social paradigm (DSP) to describe a society's frame of reference. The DSP mostly values: (a) a bigger-is-better growth orientation, (b) survival-of-the-fittest social and corporate Darwinism, (c) strong faith in globalization of resources and markets, (d) strong faith in science and technology, and (e) control over nature. Working within the DSP, people have created wastelands and destroyed vast areas of our planet.

At a cultural level, I have witnessed the power of transcendence in my Amish neighbors' relationships to community and human-nature interactions. The Amish farmers live in harmony with the natural world. The Amish worldview stands in sharp contrast to the dominant social paradigm (DSP) of the global industrial society. Baltaz (1998) provides other examples of ecologically minded Ontario farmers who, like the Amish, are transcending the reductionist notions of modern industrial agriculture and the DSP. For these practitioners, farming is a way of life, a way of working with nature. Sick crops and animals are symptoms of imbalances between management practices and nature, and these farmers recognize that they must address the source of the problem and the holistic approach to a solution transcends the industrial quick-fix approach.

Promoting Biodiversity. For the past several years, organic agriculture has been the fastest growing sector in North American agriculture. The movement has been driven by consumers who are searching for food that is produced without the use of pesticides, herbicides, and antibiotics. However, because it does not fit the DSP, the ecological farm movement has not benefited from the support of either governments or the knowledge sectors of society. Cuba, on the other hand, has made a national commitment to the development of sustainable farm practices. Cuba's accomplishments serve as a positive example of what is possible, when there is the political will to take such action.

To meet its economic challenges, Cuba has been slowly transforming its industrial methods of food and fibre production into a more sustainable, self-reliant, low-input-use, and organic-farming style of agriculture. The government has given priority to ensuring that there is food for all and to becoming self-reliant in food production through encouraging: (a) the use of animal power and traditional farming knowledge, (b) the aid of Cuba's network of research laboratories and research stations, and (c) the benefits of a well-educated populace. The research stations and the country's traditional farmers have helped Cuba move successfully toward the goal of total elimination of agro-chemicals through the use of agro-ecological methods. In comparison with other Third World nations which have faced food crises, Cuba stands alone as a country that looked primarily to its own resources to solve the problem. As such, Cuba represents a wonderful natural experiment of a nation on a journey to transform its entire food production system to sustainable agricultural methods.

Reforming Banking Practices. The Grameen Bank (Bangali for "The Village Bank") has accomplished what many thought to be impossible - building a "micro-credit" system for the poor. The Bank, which was founded in Bangladesh 20 years ago, now has approximately 2.5 million borrowers and more than 10,000 employees. The liberating work of the Grameen Bank includes reclaiming Bangladesh's fishing ponds and reviving traditional crops. Microcredit is expected to be extended to 37 million people in 2002 - all of whom live on less than $2 a day - and to 100 million by 2005. The model of the Grameen Bank has been so successful that it has been replicated in 56 countries. It has been growing at an exponential rate because people have been empowered to help one another (Lappé & Lappé, 2002).

Providing tools for living simply. For more than 20 years, the Working Centre, in Kitchener, Ontario, has been assisting people to acquire tools for living. The Centre's spirit is captured in the words of Christian Agaard, a local newspaper columnist, "A few people with a few tools can do extraordinary things for their neighborhoods. It is street level democracy that sows community gardens and fixes bikes for people who can't afford main street rates." The community tools projects of the Centre have attempted to respect and enhance a simple way of living that honors people and the environment. Following in the footsteps of E.F. Schumacher (1973) - one of the world's most influential thinkers since WWII. (London times, 1995) - the Centre practices a form of community and household economics which starts and ends with people and their desire to be self-determining and living in ways that are harmonious with nature.

The Working Centre does not provide services or formal programs; rather, it provides a setting where citizens can meet formally or informally, around concrete resources, to determine ways in which they can become involved in personal and community development. The Centre provides access to tools, support, and assistance. Citizens are given the opportunity to discover their own dreams and opportunities for relationship building. The Centre is described by its founders, Joe and Stephanie Mancini, as "an independent instrument of self-help community development." The Working Centre's diverse projects demonstrate a remarkable intelligence about the necessities of everyday life, about the creation of community and about the need to facilitate a balance between the human needs and the health of the natural world. One illustration is their clean air intiatives.

Imagine no possessions, I wonder if you can

No need for greed nor hunger nor folk with empty hands

Imagine all the people sharing all the world

You may say I'm a dreamer, but I'm not the only one

I hope someday you'll join us and the whole world will live as one

John Lennon, 1971

This chapter has provided an introduction to the central environmental issues and problems and to some of the values, concepts, ideas, tools and examples of sustainable alternatives that people are pursuing. It represents one community psychologist's way of thinking about the challenges and the alternatives. I hope that you will build on this way of thinking and the examples introduced in the chapter, and join with neighbors and friends and the millions of people worldwide who are successfully finding answers to environmental problems.

World history changed on September 11, 2001, when a group of terrorists who had no fear of death demonstrated the vulnerability of the United States, the most powerful nation on the planet. I believe that the lesson of September 11 is that we cannot have peace and security without eliminating world poverty, hunger, environmental degradation and global injustices. With First World countries having failed to live up to the Rio Accord of 1992, and with the United States and Canada having failed even to ratify the Kyoto Accord of 1997, the need for a global ethical framework based on justice for all is clear. The problem of modern government is that it has taken a fragmented approach to world affairs and has uncritically embraced economic globalization, which favors profit over community wellness and environmental stewardship. We all need to ask questions about how we live: Is it just? Is it sustainable? We need to make a commitment to build consensus that terrorism against the environment will be resisted.

What can citizens like you and me do to reduce and prevent the health-threatening environmental pollution that surrounds us? I suggest that you start by answering some questions to measure the size of your own ecological footprint. To a greater or lesser extent, we are all participants in the destruction of the planet. We are part of the problem and we can be part of the solution.

The university students with whom I work have found the exercise which follows a useful way to start the process. After you respond to the questions, it can be particularly helpful to join with others in your class to discuss the experience.

General Resources

Here is a list of some selected names and addresses of settings that can help citizens who wish to become involved in ecologically-minded research and action. The settings listed are valuable resources and can assist you to link to hundreds of other resource settings.

Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives (CCPA) An action research and advocacy organization on diverse public issues. National office: www.policy alternatives.ca

Council of Canadians A Canadian citizens' watchdog organization invlved in a diverse range of social and environmental issues. email: <inquiries@canadians.org>; www.canadians.org

Conservation Ecology www.consecol.org email: questions@consecol.org

Electronic peer-reviewed scientific journal on conservation themes with 10,000 subscribers.

Cuba: Sustainable agriculture www.foodfirst.org/cuba;www.cityfarmer.org/cuba

Resource on Cuba's agricultural revolution.

Environmental Rights Action (ERA) A Nigerian-based organization which disseminates information on the human and environmental abuses of transnational corporations in the third world. email: <eluan@infoweb.abs.net> or <obebi@infoweb.abs.net>

or <oilwatch@infoweb.abs.net>

Greenpeace Canada www.greenpeacecanada.org tel. 416-597-8408

Greenpeace USA www.greenpeaceusa.org tel. 1-800-326-0959; 202-462-1177; fax. 202-462-4507

Greenpeace International Keizersgracht 176, 1016 DW Amsterdam, the Netherlands tel. 31 20 523 6222; fax. 31 20 523 6200

Greenpeace has active campaigns on diverse issues. Sometimes the campaigns are listed separately. Start by going to their main site.

Institute for Policy Studies in Washington www.seen.org

Good information on big oil corporations and their links to World Bank Funding.

International Forum on Globilization www.ifg.org

A San Francisco-based organization of approximately 60 leading activists, scholars, and economists engaged in public education work on diverse environmental issues.

John Ikerd, "Sustainable agriculture -- A positive alternative"

www.ssu.missouri.edu

Rainforest Action Committee www.amazonwatch.org

An active NGO concrned with drilling in ecologically sensitive areas of Central and South America. The Union of Concerned Scientists www.ucsusa.org

Consists of hundreds of prominent scientists who have organized to disseminate research information on diverse global environmental

issues.

The International Rivers Network www.irn.org

A worldwide network of activists and professionals working for policy changes and community-based river management.

The Natural Step The list of conditions by which to live.

Canada: jmacdonald@naturalstep.ca www.naturalstep.ca

USA: tns@naturalstep.org

The Sierra Club of Canada email: <sierra@web.net>; www.sierraclub.ca/national

A very active and effective environmental organization.

The Small Planet Fund www.smallplanetfund.org

Supports groups across the globe who are re-embedding economics in values that sustain land and community.

Utne Reader www.utne.com An outstanding alternative magazine with regular contributions and contacts on sustainable activities.

World Wildlife Fund www.panda.org

A global organization with action programs that are particularly effective in the third world.

YES! A Journal of Positive Futures An excellent resource for people in search of sustainable alternatives. email: <yes@futurenet.org>; www.yesmagazine.org

References

Ashton, J. (1992) The origins of healthy cities in J. Ashton (Ed.), Healthy cities Buckingham, England: Open University Press.

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Bio-sketch

Edward M. Bennett is Professor, Department of Psychology and Co-ordinator of the Graduate Programs in Community Psychology, Wilfrid Laurier University, Waterloo, Ontario, Canada. He is the co-founder and a past senior editor of the Canadian Journal of Community Mental Health. Ed has been actively engaged in community-based research and development work for over 30 years. Since 1992 he has worked with the Old Order Amish of Ontario on land use planning challenges and sustainable agricultural practices. He has helped to initiate several community-based economic development ventures including a goat cheese co-op, and a certified organic, community shared agriculture setting - the Fair Share Harvest.