Xmas 2009: We are cut from one Spirit

I am sitting at the edge of Junin Pablo, a small tribal Shipibo village, 700 souls, way deep into the rainforest of Peru. There are no roads leading to Junin Pablo, everything travels by boat or an occasional missionary water plane. It is hot and humid, and it is easy to fall into a reverie listening to all the exotic sounds and bird cries.

Some Shipibo children enter my slow day dream, their voices quiet and curious. They look with large questioning and loving eyes, they touch with small and shy chuckles.....my blond hair is still a novelty.

They don't even fathom how they are bestowing gift upon gift so freely, every smile penetrating into the convoluted web of damaged relationships that is me, and slowly putting me back together, healing me inside. Forced to understand my humanity in their light, despite of being white, despite being born into  privilege compared to them, suddenly I realize that my wholeness depends upon my capacity to identify with them --not just in this moment, but in one's actions, in one's practice. Compassion, equality, communion, even enlightenment, they are just words, unless they are practiced -- they require bringing awareness to our way of live, our investments, our consumption, our (political) choices--our every move, and understand our impact on the global system.

If you are a buddhist, or if you want to walk any spiritual path for that matter, now is the time to realize that the children of the 3rd world, the poorest of the poor, are our teachers, and 'letting go' must be our path. As my dharma brother Baker Roshi once said in a lucid moment:"....detachment is our biggest gift....". We have to let go of what we are supposed to be (our families expectations and the endless barrage of media imagery and propaganda telling us who we are supposed to be), to become who we are. We are not the selfish, diminished, damaged charicatures that inhabit the census of capitalist' relations and the scorecard of rich versus poor. We are far more than that --we are equal humans beings, born naked on this earth, and paradoxically, we need each other to fully manifest ourselves. We are cut from one spirit and we breath the same air.

My attention turns back to the children. They embark a hollowed out tree trunk to go fishing in their still pristine lake, a far branch of what eventually becomes the great Amazon. In the current scheme of things:

At best their land will be monetized as a carbon off-set (so that someone else can pollute elsewhere) - at worst their lake will become another oil well. In either case they may have to move. This is the reality of one dimensional Capitalism.


These Shipibo children don't know that their fate is decided in Washington and in Wallstreet and in the offices of Climate Negotiations on Cap and Trade, such as just happened in Copenhagen. Their fate depends on how we in the developed world see ourselves....our willingness to share the earth's abundance realistically. That was really what was on the table in Copenhagen. We need to evaluate what these children are offering us, without exacting a price, fiscally or in climate debt. I am not talking just in economic terms here: They are the link to our original humanity, our authentic being, they are the caretakers of the forest, the garden. Tell me, at this point: what is that worth ?

And there is one more thing I want to say. People in the developed world often think that ultimately our problem is one of overpopulation --and who can't agree that there are too many of us ? Yet I would like to bring some sophistication to this notion.
As I mentioned before, Junin Pablo, the village deep in the Peruvian Amazon counts about 700 Shipibo and probably over 40% of those are children, at least 300 or so. The Shaman himself has at least 7 we know of. The Shipibo still enjoy making children (and no condoms around) and see children as the ultimate gift of Patcha Mama, the green, breathing & damp, pulsating and undulating, the hot moist 'Ronin Dragone', the magical snake singing everything into existence.

That is Great ! But looking at that a little longer we sober Dutch folk say:"WAIT ....that is too many children --that is bad for the future of our planet.." And that is true too.

                                      Katya in the rain forest

Bon visiting her chinese friend Bobo with Bobo's
Dutch mother Suzan in Amsterdam

I think back of that moment in the forest, closing in on the faces of the Shipibo jungle children and then my own one daughter comes into focus.  See how responsible ? -- I don't have 7 children --only one. She just turned 16 now.
Like all other parents we have tried to give our child the best. In her case that means that she has attended private and special education and has already travelled in Asia, Europe, Mexico and within the US itself with extensive stays in the Netherlands, in Bali, in France, Italy, Nepal, Mexico, Japan, New York, California, etc. All meant to give her a global awareness.

Then there is an even more sobering thought: my own one daughter whom I love and adore, already used up more resources, more 'carbon credits' --then all the children in that Shipibo village Junin Pablo will most likely use over their whole live times combined. And I am not even talking about myself and my carbon footprint....

What I am trying to get at here, is that it is not just a question of climate change or overpopulation or carbon. What humanity is facing is a question of justice and equality and solidarity. That involves all of us. It actually does....question the American way of live... and that should be on the table....

This is my Xmas message 2009 and my wish for 2010:  Happiness to all,
Willem Malten

Here are some videos with the Shipibo kids. In the first clip you'll see their Junin Pablo school with shaman Pancho Mahua thinking aloud about the role of Shipibo traditions and language in modern education and in the second one, our young friends go fishing in their abundant lake.
By the way --if you double click the pictures above (or anywhere in the vortex blog) they will enlarge.  Enjoy.

Copenhagen: Great Danger/The Plan....

A very dangerous gordian knot of illusions, expectations and emergencies is  quickly developing in Copenhagen. It is  becoming clear that the developed nations are not willing to commit to what is needed both in ecological terms and in terms of global justice and equality. The Americans are willing to commit to a 17 % reduction over the 2005 levels. It is like a bad joke, or worse a slap in the face of the vulnerable. They are the politics of genocide by starvation.


On the other hand there are the poorer nations and their representatives who think this may be their moment, now or never. They think the rich are still rich and Obama is a cool guy, and they are willing to fight for a real commitment. But the cards are stacked against them. Increasingly they have only a few tools left: civil unrest and demonstrations is one of them as evidenced in Copenhagen, but also in the more spontaneous and unpredictable food riots that have happened in the last few years. 


Once more some of the developed nations made a secret attempt to circumvent the international forum of Copenhagen (and the Kyoto Protocol). A memo was leaked out that indicates that the US, Great Britain, Denmark and others, agreed on (weak) emission standards for themselves, and make a 'grand' gesture of $10 billion dollar per year in wealth transference to make up for the climate harm done mainly to developing poor nations. 


The implication in this leaked memo is that inequality will be institutionalized, with people in the developed nations being able to consume twice as much energy than people in the developing nations, with poor nations expected to make the sacrifice.....this is a question of power. Obama will try spin this laughable farce as a victory when he finally arrives in Copenhagen......this is plan B......

The expectations of the developing countries and continents are so much higher. Why ? Because they have to deal with the immediacy of the global climate crisis and poverty all at the same time. Crisis are everywhere you look: Sub-sahara, Maldives, Philippines, Mekong Delta, Syria, the Amazon,  Bangla Desh, Borneo -- one way or another all these areas and so many others are suffering from Global Weir-ding.... The Erratic Times.....Or as Vandana Shiva calls it "Climate Instability".   Millions are on the run from hunger and desperation.

Unfortunately these emergencies are rarely seen and remain unacknowledged in the American Media and politics. Any deeper analysis of the 'Gestalt' of climate change -- droughts followed by floods-- is simply missing. People in America have to start speaking louder in solidarity with the poor and alleviate poverty and hunger.

What perhaps a lot of the delegates from the developing nations in Copenhagen don't realize is that Poverty and hunger are not just their fate. In the USA which still calls itself the richest nation on earth, there is a growing gap between "haves" and "have-nots". The  "North and South" divide is happening within America itself, with fifty million people suffering from hunger at times here, including 18 million children.

Meanwhile the government is financing it deficits and its bank buddies by printing money, some of it reluctantly underwritten by China....I say to the delegates in Copenhagen: you can do that yourself --print money all you want!  I don't want sound cynical, what I mean is this: Don't count on America to make any significant contribution --the value of money either comes from gold, from real economic activity or.....from military power. America is a military power  financed by borrowed foreign money and an absolute need to control resources for its insatiable appetite --the spiral of debt and military   aggression is rooted here.  The US feels vulnerable because it is.....It realizes, perhaps more than the rest of the world, that it has become what Mao called a paper tiger, more than ever before.

My recommendation is this: If the developing nations want a change in attitudes, they should strategize as an economic force. Hire a guy like Max Keiser, economist extraordinaire with lots of experience in Wallstreet itself, as consultant and get to work. The developed world needs the poor for all kinds of reasons I don't want to go into here. But trust me --in this situation there is all kinds of leverage ! It is like a house of cards. How did Jesus say it again about the "first" and the "last" ?

For now, with the economy in shambles, Obama has put all his eggs in the basket of military power and Wallstreet War profiteers, and goes all the way to Oslo to pontificate not about peace --but about just war. To my ears, Obama's words never sounded more hollow or Orwellian, and I hope that, after study of the facts, the Nobel committee will see the gravity of devaluating the Nobel Peace price by prematurely awarding it to Obama, and call him loudly on his mistakes and if necessary, take away his price. Things of that magnitude, The Nobel Peace Price, have to have meaning....

It is no wonder that Cap and Trade is the preferred option for the developed world. Cap and trade monetizes the Climate, and capital interests will see opportunities to make money --but this model doesn't do anything for the understanding of the real issues here.....the fulcrum of pollution, consumption, inequality and their relationship to environmental degradation (and vice versa). Climate change and it devastating economic impact, already is the primal cause of conflict. Access to water is in dispute everywhere --most likely even in your own city or state, and certainly between nations. To think that one can just walk away from Copenhagen without taking responsibility for the ensuing unravelling of civilization is naive.

The delegates of the developing nations want results: commitments on "climate debt", commitments on reparations and the financing of a green leap frog development program that puts developing nations on the very vanguard of new green technologies. Ten billion will not do that:"it will not be enough to pay for the coffins that will be necessary", as one of the African delegates remarked. They had been thinking that minimally 195 billion per year will do the trick. A sum like that could actually easily be raised in a very simple and effective manner, and here is the idea:


Tax Carbon (gaz, coal, oil)  at every stage it changes hands. And tax the oil companies and end-consumer most. Put these funds coming  mainly from the consuming nations -- the rich-- into an internationally administrated fund dominated by the interests of developing nations. The fund will provide for an equitable transference of wealth through restauration, conservation, and reparation of the natural world and the human habitat within it. It will address the needs of the many --not the few. 
(I don't know who could run such a fund, I would like to think it is the UN).

Technologies, and leap frog development into a green transformation of energy and sustainable agriculture practices, water management, etc., employing many -- they all need to come from this fund. The management of this huge fund will aspire to the values of equality and justice throughout, and its sole task is to make immediate investments on the local level in local communities --globally. The fund will dedicate its work to the 7 generations to come.

The responsibilities here would be awesome. We will be forced to widen our focus and invite religious principles here to avoid widespread conflict and lift the whole impasse out of its confinements. True religious leaders of all kinds should have a role in the vision of a good live for all and keep the discussions on track by infusing it with a spiritual calling. The Green patriarch for example has defined certain acts against nature a sin......   Now that is a new beginning..... A glimpse of a Post Capitalist World.

The model of directly taxing carbon at every transaction, could take away all the hocus pocus that will be allowed in the Cap and Trade model. It will cut the Gordian knot. Carbon Tax is simple, it is verifiable, and with enough awareness raised around the globe it is do-able.....Politically Attainable -- if there is enough populist pressure.

Lets face it: green transformation will not come as long as a carbon based economy is perceived to be "the cheaper way to go" by the people on top of the hill. It is not. In so many ways Copenhagen is about the true costs that have been incurred due to the Climate Instability this carbon economy has wrought. Now it is obvious that if one calculates the true ongoing costs, a green economy would be much cheaper and the developing nations should hop to it, enabled by such a fund.

Power versus the Masses are on a collision course here.....great danger....great opportunity.....

Here are some of the links to the great Copenhagen coverage of the issues and demonstrations done by Amy Goodman and her crew of Democracy now. Author & Journalist Naomi Klein: Fate of Planet Rests on Mass Movement for Climate Justice: 

Vandana Shiva speaks out in Copenhagen 

On the protests and arrests in Copenhagen 
On Cap and Trade versus Carbon Tax