I last wrote on January 19. I went the whole month of February with no posts. I thought any times about posting but then the day would get away from me and no posts.
ROOTSTECH 2024 was Feb 29 to March 2. I listened to Thursday morning sessions and a couple afternoon sessions as I drove to Idaho and then was at my parents. Didn’t see much on Friday while taking care of Mom. Went in person Saturday morning and attended a class and then got to see and hear Kristen Chenoweth sing and talk.
I bought a Mylio membership at the Expo Hall. It will help me get pictures organized and safely stored.
Tonight I attended the Democratic Caucasus for House District 44. I am now a vice chair of the West Jordan 060 precinct. There was only myself and a gentleman named Wyatt Frampton there from our precinct, so he is the Precinct chair and delegate.
I joined the Democratic party because it is not right that the Republican Party has so much control in the state of Utah. I sincerely disagree with many of the bills passed by the state legislature this session. Especially the bills the dismantled diversity, equity and inclusion offices, that didn’t fund Medicaid for more people or provide services for the disabled, the bills that promoted book banning, etc.
I need to get involved and try to be part of the solution and open my mouth.
I am reading a book called Less is More How Degrowth will save the world by Jason Hinkel. It is a fascinating read and puts into words so many concepts about wealth, inequality, injustice, and misuse of natural resources that have been floating around somewhat nebulously in my head for years.
Jason confronts the paradox of unsustainable growth in world with finite resources. He calls capitalism “growthism” because it only ‘works’ if there is ongoing growth. For over 500 years elitists have raped this planet and people to make themselves obscenely wealthy. They will continue to push their agenda of growth because that is what keeps them wealthy and powerful even though it is devastating the ecology of the planet and driving escalating poverty, social injustice and inequality.
Jason talks about how elitists create conditions that exploit the labor force mercilessly. I have never felt like I was being exploited but in just the last 5 days, the case management department continues to cut staffing because, somehow, the data says we are “overstaffed.” I realized that when I get so anxious at work trying to get it all done and when I work late, that is a form of exploitation. Of course, there are millions of people who are exploited so much more than my discomfort and frustration at my working conditions. But, the degree of exploitation aside..it is still my patients and consumers everywhere who ultimately suffer in some way while the elitists continue to collect record profits.
The book is filled with sobering facts. “The richest 1% have accumulated wealth worth $158 trillion, which amounts to nearly half of the world’s total [wealth]. “
“Data from 2010 indicates that around 400,000 people died that year due to crises related to climate breakdown –mostly hunger and communicable disease. No fewer than 98% of those deaths occurred in the global South. Rich countries will suffer only 1% of climate related deaths within their borders.”
Jason’s degrowth philosophy in a few sentences:
“We must choose to limit growth ourselves. We need to organize the economy so that it operates within planetary boundaries, to maintain the Earth’s life-suporting systems which we depend on for our existence. “
His statement reminds of my question formulated on the bus ride from Banos to Cuenca in December 2022: “What is a sustainable global standard of living?”
I know that I have more than I need of sheltered space, goods, and resources. I want to figure out how to not be wasteful with what I have and to redistribute with love and wisdom my over abundance. Just as happiness and meaning in life don’t correlate with my personal GDP, global measures of happiness and meaning/purpose are not tied national GDP or wealth accumulation, growthism.
These pictures reflect some of the experiences and people that make my life so blessed.