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Ten Key Values

Personal and Global Responsibility

By Brent McMillan

Greens express commitment to global sustainability and international justice through political solidarity and personal lifestyles based on "living lightly." As we become more responsible, we move into community. Community is the basic unit of Green politics, because it is personal, value-oriented, and small enough for each member to have an impact.

We encourage individuals to act to improve their personal well-being and, at the same time, to enhance ecological balance and social harmony. How can we encourage people to commit themselves to lifestyles that promote their own health? How can we encourage simplicity and moderation in a gluttonous culture? As we become more responsible to ourselves and the planet we tend to eat lower on the food chain. We have a responsibility to help those less fortunate than ourselves ... if they want help. But we can't give what we haven't got. So we need to make those changes in ourselves first.

In all our community interactions, we affirm that human beings have the potential to be good, loving, worthy, and cooperative. How can we have a community-controlled education system that effectively teaches our children academic skills, ecological wisdom, social responsibility, and personal growth? In 1987 the number of shopping malls surpassed the number of schools in the United States. How can we resolve interpersonal and intergroup conflicts without just turning them over to lawyers and judges? How can we take responsibility for reducing the crime rate in our neighborhoods? Greens reject the criminalization of social problems. It's estimated that roughly 80% of the prison population in the U.S. is there for drug- and alcohol-related problems. Our country imprisons a larger percentage of its population than any other country outside of the former Soviet Union. How can we respond to human suffering in ways that promote dignity?

We join with people and organizations around the world to foster peace, economic justice, and the health of the planet. How can we be of genuine assistance to grassroots groups in the Third World? What can we learn from such groups? How can we cut our defense budget while maintaining an adequate defense? We advocate an end to all loan programs to promote capital-intensive, high-technology/highly mechanized chemical agriculture. We call for the restructuring of the World Bank and other financial institutions to serve ecological development and subsistence food needs of the Third World instead of cash crops for export. We support the policy of providing and transporting foods in emergency situations to starving people wherever they are located, while we also support the development of community-based sustainable agriculture in the countries. The Green vision calls for a global community of communities; affirming the immense diversity of heritages, life-styles, and peoples, while recognizing the necessary emergence of a shared global perspective, kinship, and concern.

The outward problems that we face today are the manifestations of a spiritual crisis. Therefore successful solutions will be based on spiritual principles. Although we need to be careful in how we link spirituality and politics, we cannot embrace the politics of ecology without embracing spirituality. Spirituality will give us the healing power we need to rebuild ourselves, our neighborhoods, and our communities. As per the Hopi migration myths, those who emerge into the fifth world will do so by building a closer relationship with the earth for spiritual reasons, not just for reasons of survival.