The United Nations, Focus, and the One Point Zero Solution!!
One Point Zero
Howard Fairbank
Fri 2 Sep 2016 23:53
ANL Bindaree's position today: 09:44.10N 139:11.40W
'From the Bridge'
A Hot Windless Day Feet over the side! Just very Special, out here and there were whales afar today!
Well just nine degrees to the equator now and it is hot! Yesterday was just one of those perfect sunsets with the whole ‘pond’ like a mirror around us. Marek, the ‘deck cadet’ from Slovakia, is on his final voyage before hoping to qualify as an Officer, eventually found me and I pointed out the whales to him, and the sunset, and we had a good chat about life and our relationship with Nature etc…. I can see how easy it is for these guys to just work and sleep and forget the context, but as I shared with him my 35 years of time at sea and my sextant based navigator crossing of the South Atlantic in 1979 I felt him respond. Almost like a slap that said: “Howard’s right hey, this is special and each day, each minute, each sunrise / sunset is witness to our magical place in Nature!”
A different sunset pic for ya!
All of us often take it all for granted, or worse, don’t have time, or even worse, just wait for the awesome stuff on TV with David Attenborough! I pose the question: Does the Discovery Channel etc. stuff present Nature as ‘US’ or is it all done in a ‘them’ and ‘us’ anthropocentric way? Maybe it's neutral, because the truth is the only way we can have a real relationship with Nature is to have a real relationship with Nature, not a TV / Movie or Social Media one….
I wonder how you found that ‘Environmental Identity’ blog of two days ago, and what it means for you? How Anthropocentric are you??? Is that identity serving your spiritual pursuits? Have you shared your thoughts with that special one in your life…Not ‘your loyal pet’??? ??? Ha-ha!
Today is a short ‘From The Bridge’, because the next subject is fiery, and ending full of hope and inspiration!
United Nations: The Anthropocentric Bureaucracy!
Following my cue yesterday this great article from Global Footprint Network (GFN) provides alarming context for today’s focus on the United Nations below:
I’m sure like me, you were astonished to the point of anger at a 427 page report covering ‘The Key’! 77 UN Sustainable Development Goals being seen as a master piece of truly helpful value for our ‘Sustainability Crisis’!! My anger rose as I paged through the first four pages of names of Leadership Council members! (many ex-Premiers, Government ministers, noble academics etc) Presented not in ‘bureaucratic shame’, but I presume to add political validity to the conclusions! Oh, but there weren’t conclusions: The purpose was merely ‘A Report a ‘Statement of Situation’!!
We all know this corrupt, responsibility ducking, self-enriching, and totally ineffective NGO culture, but this is at the extreme! If I still had my Business Turnaround hat on the hook, I’d love to put it back on and sort out the UN ‘Monster’ and all its co-dependent feeders. This is every Nation’s tax payers’ money totally wasted! I have inside info into the UN and how it works, and I know it’s one of the big Western World Crimes! Anyway, that’s for another day’s battle unless it becomes the main war!!
The point the GFP article is making, is that there is fundamental confusion at ‘the top’ of the World’s Powers that be as to what the REAL Human Development End Goal should be, and what ‘Sustainability’ actually means?? What’s more scary is that the GFN is pointing out that with all their high powered, and no doubt highly paid Council members, committees and consulting advisors, the UN doesn’t even see it's confusion???
Well, that’s not surprising when one understands the following three facts:
Firstly, the original noble intent of setting up the UN back in 1946, post the wars, a huge effort was needed to bring nations and the people of the world together again. Briefly, their ‘mandate’ was (and still is today) made up of four goals:
1. To maintain international peace and security.
2. To develop friendly relations among nations.
3. To achieve international co-operation in solving international problems of an economic, social, cultural, or humanitarian character.
4. To be a centre for harmonizing the actions of nations in the attainment of these common ends.
It doesn’t take a rocket scientist to see that these are totally Anthropocentric goals all about protecting Humans, and Humans being the centre of Everything. The Earth and Environment isn’t even mentioned! Not a problem for post war recovery, and a lot of good was achieved, but look what else happened:
Something big is happening here! It better be on-going ‘Success’!
The United Nations is compulsory funded by developed Nations, with ‘Minimum and Maximum’ funding range limits based on a nation’s wealth and ‘affordability’. Being the dominator and powerhouse it is, the USA is a whopping 27% funder, and is one of the few (only?) nations that always ‘pays in’ at its maximum limit! Implying it would pay more if it was allowed?
Good humanitarians / altruists one may conclude, but I remind you that both those words imply an element of ‘disinterest’ associated ie. Providing support with the only purpose being for the ‘target receiver’ to be able to make the best decisions for ‘themselves’! The support ‘provider’ not being vested / interested in the actual choice, merely the provision of good ‘choice support’! ie. an empowering, self-determination support, free of strings, chains or bridle and blinkers!
Will Western Ideology be Success for them???
The second element is about Western Ideology. The USA is the pinnacle of what Western Society Success is about. (The top tier, so called ‘most developed’ nations, not far behind) A year or so back, I found (on the internet) this accepted definition of the basis of Western Ideology:
“Western culture is a body of knowledge derived from reason. This foundation of reason has made possible a vast accumulation of understanding related to reality or nature, including human nature. The ideology is represented in several core ideals and values, which include Individualism, Happiness, Rights, Capitalism, Science and Technology”
The third and final piece in this scary picture, is that as ‘nobody’ wanted ownership for the ‘Inconvenient Truth’, Sustainability time bomb, the UN organization was ‘dumped’ with ‘Planet Sustainability’ custodianship as well. ‘Nobody’ has had the foresight to see that this isn’t a Global Warming / Climate problem, but a ‘Human Belonging Problem’ that is much more serious than the post War Humanity problem. In fact this Belonging Problem, could at times actually be in direct conflict with the UN Charter??
So as we see from this ‘Glossy but Useless’ SDG report and almost all the other UN reports for the past five years ‘Sustainability’ is relegated to some lowly spot lost in the 77 focus points. When one does eventually find it, there is very little mention of the highest level One Point Zero type sustainability priority, rather the more urgent, Poor Community, basic needs because that’s what the UN is mandated to do!
What is needed is either the UN Charter to be changed to include this new huge ‘Most Important Charter’ or ideally, a totally new, non-anthropocentrically focused, suitably empowered organization. One with clout at least on standing with the UN and able to be Planet focused.
The best that’s happened with the current structure is that the new UN 2030 goals talk about “Two Top Priorities”: “Humans and The Planet” ! “Top” is ‘TOP’, man!! It’s either one or the other that is number One priority! But anthropocentrics don’t give up easy hey!!
So there we go, in the UN we have an organization whose primary Mission, and core expertise has little to do with One Point Zero and the real Ecological Sustainability crisis, yet it supposedly has global responsibility! It’s being ‘funded’ by a bunch of ruthless capitalists whose very ideology has caused this unprecedented Human Belonging, Ecological and Spiritual crisis. Our almost terminal, but long time shattered, relationship with Nature???!!
I can see the funding capitalists’ vested interest perspective: “If the UN waste their time on vast consultants who deliver huge reports to vast committees, auditing a vast 77 ‘Focus’ points: Well, let them carry on lost in self-important committee, just keep them acknowledged and rewarded, and ever blinded from finding the Real Focus! The cost of their funding is a small price to pay for not upsetting our self-serving ideological path to our ‘Elite Success’!!”
This, I have no doubt is the sad reality ‘we’ people who care, are up against!
Having been one myself, capitalists are the most ruthless, focused ‘breed’ one can find, and so I also have no doubt that should the funders of the UN desire the Sustainable Planet goal, that same ruthless focus would latch onto a single, ‘Top Priority’ goal: Things would change ‘overnight’, with a supporting ‘lower goal hierarchy’ that enables Success to become an urgent reality!
That’s how success at sport, business and relationships happens. One has to focus on a simple clear Definition of Success, the one that is ‘Most Important’ and drop or de-prioritize all the ‘distractions’! I know that, you know that, they know that, and those at the top know how to focus better than anyone else! So in clearly allowing all this ‘bullshit’ to happen, they either don’t want Sustainability Success, or it’s not a Current Priority for ‘them’.
The jury is out, but my take is that it is the former reason as they have too much at stake, and ‘we’ need to fight this!
Maybe with Western ideology being ‘Rationally centered’ and also void of Spiritualism context, the leadership has blindness to the relationship void that exists? A void as evident in our long time broken relationship with Nature, and ‘The Chasm’. If this is the case ‘they’ need urgent ‘Spiritual and also a genuine willingness to acknowledge that their spiritual void is a flaw in their ideology. A flaw that could prove fatal for humanity!
The One Point Zero ‘Magic’: Providing Prioritization and Focus
Once one fully understands it, one will see that One Point Zero in its simple and yet all-encompassing Goal, is the perfect highest level, single Goal for Nations and Humanity today.
It is an overarching concept that is both visionary in its earthly, human spiritual context, yet practically goal setting in its measurable standards outcome. For Humanitarian issues this is pretty unique, and herein lies the ‘magic’ as it can be understood and embraced by all.
In its ubiquitous simplicity it is highly empowering and not requiring ethnic, religious, nations to comply with ‘the how’ the One Point Zero is achieved within each community domain. Rather than the pervasive roll out of the Western ideology system and requiring all to comply with its specific tenets here communities are free to design their One Point Zero. The only condition being that One Point Zero is non-negotiable, ie. the only requirement is that one lives within Nature’s resources and in line with behaviours that are worthy of being a full human creature of Nature and not a net, Taker ‘resident of The Planet’!
By taking on a One Point Zero goal at either a Global Level or a Nation by Nation level, the endless committees and debates that have gone on for years at UN, IPCC, etc, would be virtually eliminated! I took this journalist report backs after an IPCC meeting last year as an example of ambiguity and wasted effort:
“It is already clear that the commitments are insufficient to meet the UN’s goal of limiting future temperature increases to 2 °C above pre-industrial levels. It is difficult to say which countries should do more, but in an effort to move the process forward, climate scientists have started to independently assess the pledges. They have found that a Paris agreement to limit warming to 2°C would require unrealistic political compromises.”
With One Point Zero there are no fuzzy, ‘limiting temperature increase’ goals. Goals that, to be honest, mean nothing other than to provide a basis for negotiation and fight that can conveniently delay the need to ‘Do anything’. Look at all the fuzzy words like ‘pre industrial’, even “future temperature increases to 2ºC”? It’s all ‘nonsense’ as this is almost impossible to actually measure until there are years and years of data to be able to look back at and reference with huge statistical noise.
One Point Zero can be measured to the level of accuracy required fairly easily. Obviously it would need buy in from all on the method of measurement, but form, what I perceive Global Footprint Network or very far down the track of having the credibility and the measurement technology!
After years of trying to find my way, of trying to bring focus to a spiritual problem I saw, I was really excited when I saw the Global Footprint Network methodology and measurement capability.
However, for me, what the real Magic is with One Point Zero is that it is ‘Spiritually’ based and is really about our relationship with Nature. What we humans are really about and the how and conditions of how we remain flourishing residents of Nature’s Planet!
We need to ‘get on our knees’, apologize for breaking the relationship, ‘ask Nature for some time’ to ‘fix ourselves’, and then commit ourselves as one big humanity team to working as fast as possible to be in a position (One Point Zero) to deserve the relationship again! We should not expect help, mercy, empathy or leniency. Nature’s show goes on as if we are not going to make change, and the only thing that will change things is 'Walking the Talk', and the resultant behaviour outcome. Nature will only respond to a change of behaviour, not to our level of attempt or effort!
Wow man this just seems so easy. All we need to do now is get those Top Westerners to buy in and bring their focus Machine to bear on the simple Goal. The details of the how will flow out as the Chasm Crossing adventure preparation and planning are undertaken, and the realities of The Chasm unknown become apparent ‘On Adventure’!
Next blogs will be trying to help 'us' all understand some of the possible implications for a One Point Zero World.
