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"Blessed Unrest" by Paul Hawken- Book Review

What a refreshing reminder of the good in the world! The back cover of the book advises if you've lost faith in the good in people and the world, to read this piece- and I totally agree.

Hawken and I have a same kind of realistic optimism. We don't know that we will heal this planet, but we know we can.

I had the distinct pleasure of hearing Hawken speak as a keynote at the Living Future conference in May 2013, Seattle. His outlook translates into his every word of his speeches and his book.

In Blessed Unrest, Hawken compares the environmental and social justice movement as an earth-scale immune system. It gets underrepresented, but is constantly working and succeeding despite our actions allowing new 'viruses' in.

I have a LOT of brain food from this book, but you'll have to buy your own copy to get all of it! However, I will share a couple of nuggets here-

"The way we harm the earth effects all people, and how we treat one another is reflected in we treat the earth"

"...we are nature; literally, in every molecule and neuron. We contain clay, minerals, and water; are powered by sunshine through plant life; and are intricately bound to all other species from fungi to marsupials to bacteria. In our lungs are oxygen molecules breathed by every type of creature ever to have lived on earth, along with the very hydrogen atoms that Jesus, Confucius, and Rachel Carson breathed"

Hawken retells the legend of Skeleton woman, and ventures to re tell what she values:
"She believes that the right to self sufficiency is a human right; she imagines a world where the means to kill people are not a business but a crime, where all crimes against women are crimes against the earth, and all crimes against nature are crimes against humanity, where families do not starve, fathers can work, children are never sold, and women cannot be impoverished because they choose to be mothers. Skeleton Woman does not see a time when a man holds a patent to any living thing, or where animals are factories, or where rivers belong to stockholders. Hers are deep and fearless dreams from slow time. She will not be quiet or be thrown back to sea anytime soon"

 OK just one more of my many, many favorites:

"If you don't believe in the Future, unreservedly and dreamingly, if you aren't willing to bet that somebody will be there to cry when the Clock finally runs down ten thousand years from now, then I don't see how you can have children. If you have children, I don't see how you can fail to do everything in your power to ensure that you win your bet, and that they, and their grandchildren, and their grandchildren's grandchildren, will inherit a world who's perfection can never be accomplished by creatures whose imagination for perfecting it  is limitless and free"

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