Foreword
Production crew
Contents

CONTENTS

Big history of environmental change
"Human history can be seen as a process of dominating progressively more food chains, then distorting those chains to produce more food for humans", economic historian TONY DINGLE says. The most destructive stage in this ecological imperialism began in Europe with the 'sustained economic growth' of industrialisation. But sustained economic growth also means sustained ecological disequilibrium.

Reading the Australian landscape - full text >>
Western ways of seeing the world have allowed the scientific community and others to perpetrate great atrocities against indigenous peoples and against the planet, geomorphologist JIM BOWLER says. At a time
when scientists are realising that "the mechanical view of nature is no longer adequate" we are also being challenged to come to terms with the original inhabitants of this country whose culture has "never suffered
the rupture between body and soul, between mind and matter, between humanity and nature." What might this mean for the future of Australia?

Dangerous experiment
Earth is not all bountiful, science and technology cannot solve all our problems, and life did not evolve here because this planet is a hospitable place astronomer Rachel Webster says. "We have no idea how far we can disturb our planet's physical systems and still have it more or less right itself we have the example
of the runaway greenhouse effect on Venus, our nearest neighbour.

Green pornography
Aesthetics and aesthetic perception are part of the problem of environmental degradation, sociologist MALCOLM DRYSDALE says. Environmentalists can learn from feminists that 'we need to challenge language
and visual representation as key carriers of ideology if we are to avoid being taken in by yet another beauty myth.' Email drysdale@netconnect.net.au.

Weaving webs
"What we like to call 'the environmental crisis' is simply the natural consequence of our materialistic, horizontal, two-dimensional view of ourselves and the world," philosopher JENNY CRAWFORD says. But once again, Westerners are beginning to see ourselves not as 'individuals' but as "creatures embedded within a network of physical and social relationships that are not only essential to us, but actually constitute us as human beings." Such a shift is essential if we are ever to find a sustainable way of living.

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Model worlds
We shape the world by the models we use to explain it physicist ALAN ROBERTS says. But how do we 'explain' what is happening in Bosnia? Or the growth of Iraq's nuclear industry? Or how real people behave in social systems when they are free to make their own choices? There are many models of human
systems and one of the most dangerous is called 'economic rationalism'.

Travelling to an ancient rhythm
Throughout history, human societies have been thrown into chaos by the collapse of their resource bases, economist FRANCIS GREY says. Post-industrial societies face the same destiny unless we acknowledge our absolute dependence upon nature and learn to live in an ecologically sustainable way. "The challenge of the age is not whether we can technically achieve this goal but how we can harness the political will to achieve this end with a species whose propensity is not to look beyond its nose.

Transforming the ship of state
Market rationality recognises and values goods and services that can be captured and commodified but cannot value environmental public goods such as clean air, ecosystem resilience and diversity, political
theorist ROBYN ECKERSLEY says. "It is only recently that many green activists and theorists have begun to ask the crucial questions: if we accept that the state has a role to play in addressing the ecological crisis,
then what form might that role take? How might ecological concerns be articulated and managed through the state?

Living face to face
The local is being subsumed by the global, nature is being subordinated to the technological and personal relationships are becoming increasingly transitory and disembodied, political scientist PAUL JAMES says. Life doesn't have to be that way - if we consciously nurture meaningful relationships based on reciprocity,
interdependence and shared history.

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Psychology of change: why is it so damn hard?
Studies show that women tend to be more concerned than men about environmental issues such as pollution, resource conservation and economic growth, psychologist TONY LOVE says. We need to explore the psychological factors behind the gender stereotypes which influence individuals' reactions to collective
environmental threats.

Philosophy and community: thinking and meaning
Education can be 'something wonderful' philosopher LAURANCE SPLITTER says, when classrooms are transformed into 'communities of inquiry' where students engage in reflective conversation to ask some of the big questions of life. Like 'What does it mean to be a person in the world?' 'What makes life worthwhile?' 'How should I treat others?' 'How can I tell what is true?'

Imagining the divine
"Imagination is the faculty of producing mental images of what is not present or has not been
experienced" theologian LESLEY-ANNE CURRAN says. It is this active imagination which will lead us to an authentic spirituality that is holistic, inclusive, experiential and lifegiving.

Green dimensions of multiculturalism
Multiculturalism enriches and enhances the wellbeing of all Australians MIKE ZAFIROPOULOS says on behalf of the Federation of Ethnic Communities Council. All communities should consider the hard issues of lifestyle, land management practices, industrial technology and urban planning when they think about the future.

From being precious to precious being full text >>
Swedish cars, alarm systems, mobile phones and specialised insurance products are all designed to make us feel more 'secure' but real security is more a process of 'letting go' to find new ways of becoming, ecologist FRANK FISHER says. 'For we humans are nothing if not human becomings, always in the process of change.'

Beyond gloom and doom
Unless we see and experience nature as a vital expression of our being and potential becoming, we will never really care for the wellbeing of this planet' eco-psychologist PETER COCK says. 'But how hard it still is
to stop and listen to the voices of the earth, to sit with nature and allow her to empower our psyches!

What happened to ESD?
'Within one generation, we need to radically reorient global economic activities - energy consumption, resource use and the associated distribution of wealth and power - if we are going to address the major problems for life on earth caused by population growth, habitat destruction, pollution and climate change', says policy analyst PETER CHRISTOFF. Was the Commonwealth Government's Ecologically Sustainable Development strategy a serious attempt to nudge Australian's economy along this path, or was it a corporatist plot to neutralise the environment movement?

Personal reflections
The most significant barrier to ecologically sustainable development is probably fear of change, say ecologist Felicity Wishart FELICITY WISHART HELEN ROSENBAUM. 'All of us who care must keep trying to maintain the dialogue, identify and bring down those barriers to change (and) paint the vision of a
better way '

PRODUCTION TEAM

Cappuccino Papers was published by Imagine The Future Inc, and produced by Merrill Findlay (commissioning editor), Lisa McGindle, Jenny Lee (text editor), Paul James, Sarah Niner, Marion Buckton (designer), and John Howe. It was printed at Arena Printing on Harvest paper made in South Africa from sugar cane waste and plantation pulp. The cover stock was a light card made from 100% recycled postconsumer waste. The Cappuccino Papers team acknowledges, however, that the processes associated with the production of the paper and the printing could not yet be considered truly socially and ecologically sustainable.

Copyright Imagine The Future Inc 1995

Last revised 6 July 2005.