|
||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
The IPCR Initiative advocates for a combination Community Visioning Initiatives, "Community Teaching and Learning Centers" with ongoing workshops, and "sister community" relationships as a way of generating an exponential increase in our collective capacity to overcome the challenges of our times. A more detailed autobiographical sketch is accessible at my Collected Writings website (www.writingsofstefanpasti.net ). Since July, 2011, my focus has been on a long term project “IPCR Critical Challenges Assessment 2011-2012”. The IPCR webpage for this project is http://www.ipcri.net/Critical-Challenges-Assessment.html . There are ten critical challenges which currently make up the draft “Table of Contents”, which is accessible at the above webpage. Also accessible on that webpage are drafts of sections of the assessment which have gotten far enough along to share. In particular, the “Statistics and Observations” parts for Critical Challenge #3 “The end of the era of ‘cheap energy’ (particularly in reference to peak oil)” and Critical Challenge #7 “A Marginalization of the Treasured Wisdom of Religious, Spiritual, and Moral Traditions” (both containing over 60 pages of excerpts from many related sources) are accessible from that webpage. Here are is a list of six of the eight key IPCR documents accessible from The IPCR Initiative homepage: “A Four Page Summary of The IPCR Initiative”; “39 Suggestions for Preliminary Survey Questions (in preparing for Community Visioning Initiatives)”; “Draft Section #7 (‘Commentary’) A Marginalization of the Treasured Wisdom of Religious, Spiritual, and Moral Traditions”, “The IPCR Journal/Newsletter (Winter 2011-2012 issue)”, “1000Communities2” (‘1000CommunitiesSquared”); and “Brief Descriptions of The Eight IPCR Concepts”. (Two other key IPCR documents are described below.) A recent outgrowth of the above mentioned “Assessment” project is an IPCR document titled “A 15 Step Outline for a Community Visioning Initiative (CVI)” (from 2008 IPCR document, with minor modifications) (28 pages). This “15 Step Outline” document describes the kind of CVIs advocated by The IPCR Initiative, provides an example of collaborative problem solving at the local community level—and provides an example of the kind of problem solving which requires that each of us (not just those in power) “actualize in our own lives” practices and processes which turn polarizing circumstances into collaborative efforts (which make best use of the knowledge and skills each one of us has). There are difficult challenges ahead. We will need the best efforts we can make at working together to overcome such challenges. The most recent IPCR document: “Calling ‘the better angels of our nature’: A Multi-Angle View of the Debt Crises” (January, 2012) (398 pages) was initially meant to be the “Statistics and Observations” part for the Debt Crises part (Section #6) of the “IPCR Critical Challenges Assessment 2011-2012” project. Due to accumulated evidence and unfolding events, it became a preview of what the final report for the whole “Assessment” project might look like. Readers looking for a quick overview of the document can refer to the “Table of Contents” of the document, which is accessible from the IPCR homepage, and from the “Assessment” project webpage (at http://www.ipcri.net/Critical-Challenges-Assessment.html . An 8 page "Introduction" is also accessible at the above mentioned locations. Here are two excerpts from the “Introduction” to “A Multi-Angle View of the Debt Crises”: “Again and again, in references to the debt crises, there is mention of the need for ‘economic growth’… Unfortunately, the kind of ‘economic growth’ which is most often being referred to includes a vast array of ‘enterprises’ which require the continued exploitation of flaws and weaknesses in human nature, fragile ecosystems, and already significantly depleted natural resources—and which are much of the reason why cultures of violence, greed, and corruption have become so common that most people believe they are inevitable (from the ‘Introduction’).” “Many of the issues which have resulted in the debt crises (and many other critical challenges) are problems which are at the very core of our difficulties with being human beings…and thus will require much more than the usual amount of problem solving, if we are to ‘change course’.” There are “many danger signs flashing now”; but also many pathways which represent solution-oriented activity. People can, one by one, decide to deliberately focus the way they spend their time, energy, and money so that their actions have positive repercussions on many or all of the action plans which emerge from Community Visioning Initiatives. This is the message that most IPCR documents and resources support, in one way or another. For a Peaceful and Sustainable Future, Stefan Pasti, Founder and Outreach Coordinator The Interfaith Peacebuilding and Community Revitalization (IPCR) Initiative
|
 |
|
||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
About Me
Issues of Interest
Active Rank: #49714
Stefan Pasti's Content
Recently Posted
