Yesterday, on a local SF bay area radio station, I heard an interview with Martha E. Gimenez, a retired professor of Sociology at the University of Colorado at Boulder. The interview centered around her essay in the December 2007 issue of the Monthly Review magazine titled “Self-Sourcing: How Corporations Get Us to Work Without Pay!”. I’d like to preface that I am not endorsing this particular magazine, the radio program on which this interview aired or for that matter the author. I say this because I wouldn’t want the left leaning, pro-labor ideologies that may surround this person or this magazine distract you from the point that I’m wanting to make or for that matter the key points that she tries to make(not to mention that I know very little about this magazine).

We’ve all used self-checkout systems at grocery stores, Homedepot, even airline counters by newcomers like Virgin America. We’ve fumbled through the learning process of (more…)

… helping to bring greater awareness in their own unique way about wind-energy.. I just wanted to help spread the word and the warmth..

Adam smith’s notion of the “invisible hand” has been quoted and misquoted many time in popular media and by many of our dear friends who wish to hold on to the belief that “capitalism” is the best institution in the world and that “market forces” are natural and necessary for a healthy society.  In cases where a specific industry is in a dire need of government regulation, opponents are quick to say that businesses must be left alone to self-regulate because the tenants of capitalism, supply and demand will fix all quarks in the system.  Those of us who don’t buy the text-book ideology are often ridiculed , but today on the heals of an “economic stimulus package”, we can once again point to how we do not, nor can we fully practice capitalism in the truest sense of the word. What is about to happen in the congress and with the help of the president and the Fed is an artificial manipulation of the markets in order to satisfy the status quo of wealth, consumerism and ultimately unfettered greed. Sure the package will have various ramifications, short term, long term, some positive and some perhaps negative, some intended and some unintended. None-the-less, we are once gain reminded that what we’ve been led to believe about our financial systems for years is in fact an illusion. Institutional economic collapse has happened before the reality of “globalisation” and it is happening again today with the complexities of globalisation… We don’t need a PHD in economics or listen to CNN to figure this out. The underlying human suffering and the desire to backfill happiness with wealth and power in an unprecedented rate globally I feel is closer to the truth of our current situation, and only once we are able to truly internalize this can we create solutions that will bring prosperity for everyone.

Its another fitting occasion today after the meltdown of global financial institutions that we are once again reminded that the way to get us out of the mess caused by the sub-prime loan fiasco is to increase our individual spending.. Is it me or everyone who has their fingers on the monetary policy of this nation(an other global financial partners) are out of sync with reality. It was greed and the desire for consumers to want more “stuff” that got them into trouble in the first place. How quickly we forget the true reasons behind the sub-prime meltdown..it wasn’t people with bad credit but people who had eyes bigger than their stomach… Somehow we are told that the way to fix the current problem is with a solution that caused the problem in the first place… What are we going to hear next from the Fed : “we must relax lending policies so that we can bring back more sub-prime loans?” We are ripe for a change in how we consume, how we measure health of our societies, how we take care of everyone so that artificial financial situations don’t devastate us? Remember the time in human history where the only societal crisis was a natural disaster like a volcanic eruption or a flood? I think we all know how we got ourselves into this current mess…

Hello everyone,

ConsciousCurrents officially goes live today. What a more fitting day to usher in this blog than the eve of the full moon in Aquarius. Full-moon being a time of heightened energy and Aquarius representing the ushering in of the new age. I have been told that astrologically Aquarius represents the sign of friendship, brotherhood and community. I can only wish this upon this blog.

Hooman

The title of this post could very well have been “An open letter to Peet’s Coffee”. In terms of frequenting any one coffee shop, Peet’s has always stood high on my list due to their beginnings in Berkeley, but even with that accolade, they are not the highest on my list because they don’t carry an entire line of organic or fair-trade products(Certainly not in any of their fancy drinks) Today another blow caused Peet’s to fall down another rung on my list. They’ve begun selling “sugar-free” lattes and mochas. The sad part is that their fancy posters don’t mention the fact that they put splenda and arethretol into their syrups (I actually had to ask them what made these new drinks “sugar free”)… In case you’re wondering about the negative health impacts of Splenda, just google it and you’ll get a waterfall of links to keep you researching till the wee hours of the night, but here is a link from a source that I like (www.mercola.com) only because he has good research documents, not necessarily because I think he’s always giving the best advice.

http://www.mercola.com/2000/dec/3/sucralose_dangers.htm