adopt Green politics, and a diversity of opinions within the framework of Green goals and values should be honored. However, persons who undermine the progress of Green political development by repeatedly trying to impose their own incongruous priorities should not be allowed to ruin the movement. One of the first orders of business during the movement's founding stage should be the creation of a statement of principles and goals, more detailed than the "four pillars," [grassroots democracy, ecology, nonviolence, social responsibility], to which all members would adhere. Although allegiance to such a declaration would not preclude the possibility of dishonesty, it would clarify the movement's expectations of its members. The German Greens have preceded their American counterparts in transforming holistic theory into political practice, and we can learn from their successes and errors. Some Green-oriented thinkers in this country are strict, almost absolute, decentralists. They maintain that the general lack of corruption in the federal government would also prevail at local levels if local government was made the focus of our system. Centralists, on the other hand, insist that impartial inspections and investigations, civil rights, control of acid rain, equitable allocation of resources, and countless other matters must be handled by a strong federal government. It is likely that a Green movement would opt for neither of those either- or positions but, rather, for a holistic both-and approach: appropriate governance. Green politics in this country would support a great deal of decentralizing in government, the economy, and energy production. At the same time, it might well support accountable, responsive federal power to safeguard the shared values of an ecological nonexploitative society. For instance, our federal government would determine that air pollutants must not exceed a certain level beyond which serious diseases result, but would leave the means of compliance up to each state to determine.. . . The tensions between the desire for autonomy and the reality of interdependence are but one conflict a Green movement would have to reconcile creatively. Mark Satin, editor of New Optkvis, suggests that people are decentralists in their hearts but centralists in their heads. Like the German Greens, who call for a global federation to address issues of ecological balance and peace, he feels, "We'll always need a referee.'!. . Although an effective Green movement in the U.S. will not manifest itself automatically, its potential far outweighs the possible problems. There are literally thousands of groups and periodicals that are working along the lines of Green politics. The Networking Institute [PO Box 66, West Newton, MA 02165] lists 2,000 such organizations, and New Options lists 1,600 change- oriented periodicals.... In our opinion, these groups are working with means and goals that are consistent with Green politics; together their membership is over 2 million. If a Green movement is to develop in this country, many of the organizers will probably come from these and similar groups. Moreover, we hope that local Green groups will contact these organizations for resource material in the various areas we have delineated. The first gathering might be a fund-raising picnic or fair or party at which Green values and goals could be discussed and community groups working in beyond- left-and-right modes could display material. Local groups might then decide to establish task forces for projects such as weatherizing the homes and buildings in a community as Fitchburg, Massachusetts, did, thereby taking their first step on the soft energy path. The Green organization might wish to conduct a "goals and futures project" to consider various scenarios for the future of their town, developing such policy-making tools for their local government as an agenda of long- range, intermediate, and short-term goals, along with analyses of issues and planning for legislative policies. The local groups could send representatives to biore- gional and eventually state and macroregional meetings as well, but it is important as the grassroots level develops to have some coordination at the national level. The business of a founding convention would include developing a statement of principles, deciding on the structure for the movement, suggesting guidelines for the process of a meeting, deciding on a name (some people feel "Green" is too narrowly associated with environmentalism in this country), and establishing a newsletter by which to convey ideas and inspiration among the local groups. Such decisions would require a great deal of preliminary work, of course. Several people interested in building a Green movement have suggested that an assembly could be held in late 1984 or early 1985. We have prevailed upon the staff of Nezv Options, the newsletter of Green politics in the U.S., to serve as a temporary clearinghouse for information about the development of a movement: Green Movement, c/o New Options, P.O. Box 19324, Washington, DC 20036 [202/822-0929]. They welcome reports from local Green groups and ideas about alt aspects of the movement. In addition, they would like to hear from people interested in supporting and working on the founding convention. It is certainly possible that Green politics could grow as quickly and as firmly here as it has in other countries. □□ © t984 hi/ Fritjof Capra ami Charlene Spretnak Within a week of receiving Green Politics, we learned that the news tabloid Green Light News had been initiated to inform organizations and individuals about the Green movement in the U.S. In fact, RAIN readers should have received a sample copy of Green Light News (unless we hid your name when we traded our list). Send your reports and thoughts on emerging shades of Green politics to Green Light News, 1 Liberty Square, PO Box 12, Ellenville, NY 12428; 9141647- 6903. New Options and RAIN will continue to monitor developments on the Green movement in the U.S. July/August 1984 RAIN Page 13
RkJQdWJsaXNoZXIy NTc4NTAz