My body finally rebelled against the heat last night. I think, physiologically, my body has been expecting the heat to ease off and the humidity to subside, as if I was only subjecting it to an eight-day sauna and would soon step back out into sweater-weather in Boone. I awoke this morning and felt physically and mentally frustrated; a full night's rest had become an eight-hour wrestling match. As Shani's 85-year-old father explained to me with a laugh, "It's always hot here, and sometimes it rains." My advice to any man who finds himself in a culture near the equator where men are expected to wear pants? Find some linen ones and a gracious grandmother to alter them as fast as you can. (True story: two pairs of Pierre Cardin, 100% linen pants for ~$30 total. Truer story: Uchita's mother was extremely kind to me and hemmed them by hand in less than a day, the saint.)
I realize my post from yesterday was a downer, and I'd like to clarify one thing: I really wish the UN would work. With all the silly tea-party spasms in the US about the UN being the root-of-all-evil and the path-to-one-world-government-slash-eternal-hellfire-and-slavery-for-Americans, I'd not want anyone mistaking my criticisms for such unexamined pandering. The problem with the official UN process is that it was NEVER wholly supported by the developed world. Since its inception in the brief spurt of high-minded ideals that followed WWII, the UN has been forced to limp along, trying to live up to beliefs in peace and justice while tackling the world's most serious problems. It seems to me that the UN is one of humanity's most noble experiments, and I believe that we have collectively failed to make its dreams a reality. I also struggle to see how its mechanisms can be reformed, or if such a path would even be worth treading. As far as sustainability processes go, Rio+20 will be the pivotal event. As I've joked before, Rio will be our "Last+20 chance to save the planet!" We'll see what happens there. Actually, I'll probably be there in person, rooting for progress, peace, and sustainability governance.
But my involvement will not be with the official processes. Nay, I'm convinced that the most hopeful paths towards equitable economies for all and the survival of our species on a warming planet lie in civil society initiatives. Civil society, as I've come to understand it, is the political space within which citizens can organize to pursue their interests, independently of governments. It is also the space from which they can appeal for change in their governments. Civil society consists of NGO's, independent (not corporate-owned) media, labor unions, and religious organizations. Here, I believe, is where we can find the freedom to do good things and join the ranks of those who are already doing so.
I was continually struck at CSD19 at the sheer amount of creativity bursting forth from civil society organizations, all while their governmental representatives were tangling themselves in unimportant nuances of grammar one floor below. For example, I helped Uchita launch the Millennium Consumption Goals Initiative, which is now in its infancy stages. The MCGI are designed to correlate to and complement the Millennium Development Goals of the UN. The main gist is that while the MDG are targeted at the poor who have too little, the MCG are targeted at the rich who have too much. On a finite planet like ours, we must address the overconsumption of the rich with the same ardor we address the underconsumption of the poor. Well, actually, the Development Goals have failed, so I hope we can do better on ALL fronts from here out. I like to think of the MCG as an opportunity for the rich, who currently lead overconsumptive lifestyles and who experience some of the lowest rates of happiness collectively, to re-engage right livelihoods and lifestyles where sufficiency is the dominant value and generated wealth will be shared. It's an interesting initiative, and its already bearing fruit. The Chairman's summary of CSD19, though I haven't read it myself, reportedly contained hopeful references to the MCGI, and scholars and activists are already rallying around the concept, contributing intellectual content in the forms of blogs and reports. At this stage, it has yet to take an implementable form, so the members of the MCGI (which includes me) will spend the next three months (conveniently the length of my internship) determining its shape. This is something I believe in, so I'll keep the updates coming as work progresses. We've not had a chance to work on the MCGI since CSD19, so that's on the docket for next week.
The other main event I participated in was the issuance of a report by Uchita called "SCP Governance: A Guide for Rio+20". (SCP, remember, stands for Sustainable Consumption and Production.) Uchita's report, and the panelists who responded to it, dealt with institutionalizing in the UN the mechanisms for governing for SCP. Realistically, none of the analysis will result in real changes to the UN system, but the point, I think, has been to frame a model of an international-governance mechanism capable of dealing with the intricacies and complexities of sustainable consumption and production. The discussion varied between governmentally pragmatic to downright philosophical; I enjoyed being part of it. The road to Rio will likely see many such reports from civil society members, some who aim for reform and others who are more concerned about the mechanisms for change and good governance, whether or not they will be heeded by the UN.
I'm about to not have internet until Monday, so forgive my curt ending. It's a strange adjustment to not have connectivity at any given moment. Admittedly, it's taking some conscious work to remain comfortable without cellular or internet service. I'm catching up on some good reading, however, and will soon begin to more fully explore Sri Lanka on my own. Having a weekend without serious work-plans is a phenomenon I've not enjoyed in a long time!
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