Response-Ability

Over the course of the last 50 years, so many markers have indicated a decline in the quality of human life -- even as we race, with increasing acceleration, down the path of seemingly greater technology, efficiency, and centralization.

The massive growth and consolidation of our financial systems, food production, healthcare and technologies has, counterintuitively, given us a world that is unsustainable, a population that is increasingly sick and drug-dependent, and communities that are more and more alienated from one another despite the technologies that are meant to link us. The political systems that we have in place throughout the world, meant to help alleviate these problems, have become incrementally broken with each passing year as corruption and infiltration by corporate interest overtake the fight for the Common Good.

A brief survey of U.S. statistics in any area confirms this:

A recent study by the CDC found 48.7% of the U.S. population had used at least 1 prescription medication within the last 30 days. 1 in 10 Americans reported taking 5 or more medications in the previous month. These medications were taken to treat many illnesses but the bulk were to treat chronic ailments such as cardiovascular disease, high cholesterol, diabetes, high blood pressure and depression; all diseases which have a strong diet/lifestyle component.

Sugar consumption in the U.S. has gone from less than a kilogram per year in 1700 to over 50 kilograms per capita, annually in 2000, with a concurrent prevalence of obesity rising from about 5% in 1900 to over 40% in 2000.

Calorie intake has gone up about 400 calories per day from averages taken in 1970. And yet so many people become sick from nutrient deficiencies in our food, resulting from our farming practices, we are literally starving in the face of “plenty”.

And the food that is polluting our insides is polluting our outsides as well:

About 10 billion animals in the U.S. are raised for dairy, meat and eggs each year.

Factory farming accounts for 37% of methane emissions, which has 20 times the global warming potential of CO2.

Deforestation to support factory farming emits about 2.4 billion tons of CO2 annually.

Large scale animal factories must use antibiotics routinely to promote growth and compensate for illness due to crowded conditions. These antibiotics enter the environment via the food chain creating more and more resistant bacteria, adding to human sickness.

Our economies, which are fueled by the accumulation of wealth rather than sharing valuable resources, are becoming part of the problem

The fractional reserve system of banking, which creates wealth through the creation of debt, has unbalanced world economies and created huge populations of economic slaves, trapped in a crumbling paradigm of material acquisition as the crowning jewel of all achievement. Our human communities are becoming eerily similar to “factory farms”, growing debt in crowded conditions to provide wealth for a few.

Despite the “first world” conditions that we have created in the U.S., we have ceased to thrive. As the forerunners and leaders of these modern systems that are sought after and replicated throughout the world, we are not only sick but increasingly unhappy. Suicide has surged to the highest levels in nearly 30 years with increases in every age group except older adults.

We have become sick in our bodies, minds and hearts. Solutions that seemed to work in the short-term have brought us to the cliff’s edge. Our spirits cry out to once again find health, meaning, joy and connectedness in a world that for many has become bereft of those things.

A systemic illness requires a holistic cure. A remedy that heals at all levels beginning with individuals, moving to local communities and beyond, re-thinking and re-setting ourselves, our cultures and our institutions to align with new, sustainable values. We need to heal and we need to join together to do that.

The Remedy, in its essence, is about that healing. It requires a return to personal responsibility; or as I say, personal “response-ability.”

2019 will bring its changes, for good and bad. Let’s hit the reset button. What The Remedy advocates for is the healing of individuals so that the institutions and governments that we have created can also heal. We want to bring back health, clarity and joy to everyone we touch so that the communities that we serve can benefit from the change.

What does response-ability mean? It is our ability to respond to ourselves, our loved ones, our community and beyond. Each and every one of us can change ourselves. And in doing so, we can change the world. It is my fervent wish that in this New Year we all begin the journey of a thousand miles by taking that first step.

Be responsible for yourself, make the changes that you know need to be made. Reach out to your families and communities to rejuvenate the whole. The problems that I mentioned earlier will dissolve in the face of that dedication. With each personal change, the world moves closer to a solution.

So, my New Year’s wish is to encourage personal growth with an eye toward changing the planet. Let’s all strive to respond to the challenges of the new year to the best of our ability; in the spirit of unity and peace. Love and Light.