<div dir="ltr"><div class="gmail_default" style="font-family:trebuchet ms,sans-serif"><h2 class="">The Call of Our Times</h2>
<div id="stats" class=""><span class="">Submitted by <a href="http://www.lietaer.com/author/gael1088/" title="Posts by blietaer" rel="author">blietaer</a> on September 3, 2010 – 1:38 am</span><span class=""><a href="http://www.lietaer.com/2010/09/callofourtimes/#respond">No Comment</a></span></div>
<p><a href="http://www.lietaer.com/wp-content/uploads/2008/08/trees.jpg"><img class="" title="trees" src="http://www.lietaer.com/wp-content/uploads/2008/08/trees-300x224.jpg" alt="" height="224" width="300"></a>Humanity is at a critical juncture. As Paul Hawken succinctly put it in his <strong><a href="http://globalmindshift.wordpress.com/2009/05/21/the-unforgettable-commencement-address-by-paul-hawken-to-the-class-of-2009-university-of-portland-may-3-2009/">memorable address</a></strong>
to Portland University’s graduate class in May of 2009, “civilization
needs a new operating system,” and fast. Why? Because many of the
socio-economic rules under which we operate were created under a
worldview that failed to recognize that the earth is a living system and
that every form of life has its unique and valuable place and purpose
in sustaining the larger web of life. By ignoring the conditions that
support the health of our ecosystems and communities, we have
inadvertently fouled our nest, and jeopardized the future of our
children. We are now awakening to the fact that the ways of thinking,
strategies and systems that made the industrial age possible, have also
fueled the myriad crises that are now upon us: great financial
instability, the breakdown of community, growing disparities of wealth,
resource wars, alarming rates of species extinction and ecosystem
depletion, and accelerating symptoms of climate change. As our food,
energy, health, education, economic and financial systems show
increasing signs of failing us, we are being collectively called to
harness our creativity and resources to take a major evolutionary leap.
<em>Transitioning from our self-destructive ways to life-affirming
understandings, lifestyles and systems is indeed the great work of our
times.</em><em> </em></p>
<h3>The Great Work</h3>
<p><em><a href="http://www.lietaer.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/05/great-work.jpg"><img class="" title="great-work" src="http://www.lietaer.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/05/great-work-196x300.jpg" alt="" height="300" width="196"></a></em>
How do we turn things around? How can we reverse the downward spiral
in which much of our world has been caught? The good news is that a
fast growing movement of communities, businesses, not-for-profits, and
governments around the world is hard at work on this very question.
Many experiments are under way on all continents, and there are already
many success stories and inspiring new models to point to. Neither
creativity nor good intentions are lacking, so why is it that so many
change makers around the world often feel that they are swimming
upstream? Is there a better and more effective way to harness and
direct all the creativity and energy unleashed by our current
predicament? My answer is ‘yes,’ but only if we start paying attention
to a piece of the puzzle that is currently not on our radar: our
monetary system.</p>
<h3>Re-inventing our monetary system</h3>
<p>For the growing movement of communities, organizations and
governments working to turn things around, the most daunting challenge
often revolves around money: How do we find the money needed to
transform our energy, food and health infrastructures, to eradicate
unemployment and create green jobs, clean up the environment, and ensure
that people have proper access to housing, education and meaningful
work? Have you ever wondered why cash shortage so bottlenecks our best
efforts and initiatives when we actually live in a world where there is
neither a shortage of things needing to get done, nor a shortage of
people wanting to do them?</p>
<p>The answer to this question has to do with the monopoly of the kind of money system we use, which is the <strong><strong><a href="http://www.lietaer.com/2010/09/2010/09/what-is-the-problem-with-our-current-money-system/"><strong> </strong></a></strong></strong>source of the scarcity which so many people experience, and the<strong><strong> </strong></strong><strong><strong><strong><a href="http://www.lietaer.com/2010/09/2010/09/what-is-the-problem-with-our-current-money-system/"><strong> root cause of a great number of our problems</strong></a></strong></strong></strong>.
Our money system was designed a long time ago and is now out of date.
It is particularly ill equipped to help us solve the pervasive
socio-economic and ecological challenges facing us today. In a <strong><a href="http://www.lietaer.com/birdseyeview/">bird’s eye view</a></strong>
of both my work and this website, I explain why the transformation of
our money system is critical to resolving the challenges of our times
and many of the issues you care about. I also explain that monetary
diversity is just as important to human survival as bio-diversity is to
the fate of the earth.</p>
<p>A number of pioneering governments, businesses and communities around
the world have successfully experimented with new monetary systems for
years, and with great results. We have at our disposal all the monetary
tools we need to reduce poverty, clean up the environment, and provide
access to meaningful work, housing and health care. It is now time to
use them on a larger scale. A world of sustainable abundance is
actually possible, but only if we are willing to upgrade our monetary
system so that we can begin to leverage true human wealth, which is our
energy and creativity. Will you please join me in making sure that we
do not miss this opportunity? Your own future, the future of your
children, and of this extraordinary planet is at stake.</p>
<p><em>Bernard Lietaer</em></p><p><a href="http://www.lietaer.com/2010/09/callofourtimes">http://www.lietaer.com/2010/09/callofourtimes</a><br></p><p><em></em></p><p><br><em></em></p>
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