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| PAUL
GLOVER ESSAYS: community
control of food, fuel, housing, health care,
planning, education, finance. |
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Quotes
by
Paul Glover
Glover is founder of Ithaca HOURS local currency, Citizen Planners of Los Angeles, the Philadelphia Orchard Project and other programs. Author of six books. "The following proposals are offered to the Occupy movement, to restore this American republic to control by its full electorate; to free its markets for the employment and enjoyment of all workers; to transfer control of money to its public and to establish responsible banking; to secure homes from seizure; to assure quality education and medical care for all; to refresh America's soil, water and air for the health of endless generations; and to rebuild its cities toward balance with nature." [2] November 2011 "All of America's institutions have become too big to change. Like sumo wrestlers in a basketball game, they move too slow. Big Government, Big Oil, Big Insurance, Big Finance, Big Agriculture, Big Highway, Big Education, Big Military, Big Prison, Big Police, Big Poverty-- these feed on disaster and control. They no longer exist primarily to fix problems, but to grow." [3] May 2011 "Community organizers are motivated to promote the dignity of the nation, the beauty of people and planet. They don't tolerate injustice. History depends more on such common folks than on presidents and generals. Democracy works because of their generosity." [4] January 2011 "Located in a low-income Philadelphia neighborhood, the Patch Adams free clinic will provide community-based health care that is genuinely non-profit, preventive, humane and fun. It is a refuge for doctors and nurses who want time to heal patients. It is a refuge for patients who want to be treated with dignity." [5] June 2010 "As usual, the future will be different. Philadelphia's responses to global warming and market cooling, high fuel and food prices, health unsurance, mortgages, student debt and war will decide whether our future here becomes vastly better or vastly worse. Whether we're the Next Great City or Next Great Medieval Village." January 2009 "Life gets higher ratings than TV." January 2009. "All national currencies are deep in debt-- indebted to nature-- because human economies extract from nature faster than we replenish." November 2007 "The world is coming to a beginning rather than an end. We have the knowledge, tools, creativity, and capital to proceed. Our challenge is merely to begin where we live, with whatever capabilities are at hand." --Metropolitan Ecology syllabus 2007 "Action without theory is reckless; theory without action is worthless." August 2006 "When conservatives don't conserve and liberals don't liberate, Greens become centrists, because we directly address the central concerns of average Americans for healthy food, clean water and air; for secure housing; for reliable health care and satisfying work. By contrast, Democratic and Republican party leaders are dangerous extremists, indulging extremes of violence and greed, converting global wealth and human decency into chaos." --Green Party Presidential candidacy, 2004 "I believe the 2004 campaign should speak to America foremost about grassroots alternatives to corporate destruction... The Green Party message should emphasize rebuilding, to inspire hope rather than cynicism. Railing against fascism is necessary but by itself insufficient. We reverse fascism ultimately most forcefully by pioneering better directions that can lift us all above the corporate treadmill. While Greens are horrified at corporate and consumer trashing of planet and society, our message is primarily confident and affirmative. Greens foster grassroots nonprofit and worker-managed enterprises that repair nature. Greens can govern to literally rebuild America's cities and suburbs, such that neighborhoods become energy-efficient; productive of food and fuel; respectful of water; safe and fun to live in. We can restore regional agriculture, rural economies, and habitat." --Green Party Presidential candidacy, 2004 "Creating is more fun than consuming." 2004 |
"The
era of road widening in our narrow valley will end. The era of
trollies, buses, bicycles, pedicabs, cargo bikes and pedestrian amenity
will accelerate. Center city will become home for thousands of humans
rather than cars, to the benefit of local businesses. The era of
poisoning our children with automobile exhaust will end. The era of
worrying about paying for health care will be replaced by free and
at-cost care through mutual aid clinics. The era of pooping into clean
water will yield to clean, safe composting toilets. The era of energy
waste will be replaced by energy efficiency. The era of throwing
America into landfills will end, as Ithaca becomes the nation's first
100% precycling and recycling city. The era of consumerism will
transform into an unprecedented celebration of creativity. The era of
discarding the young, particularly kids of color, will be replaced by
skills and work that give them pride and power. Likewise senior
citizens will find here lifelong appreciation for their capabilities.
The era of police respect for civil liberties will expand respect for
police. The development of creative work for all will reduce
crime." --Mayoral candidacy 2003 "An empire can do a lot of damage as it flails deeper into quicksand. Wrapping ourselves in flags does not pull us free. Permanent war justifies permanent unquestioned dominance by military and industrial interests." --Why the United States Will Lose this War, September 24, 2001 "Without the expansion of a Mutual Enterprise economy responsible to communities and nature, this present boom will bust, creating a Greater Depression than that of the 1930's." December 1997 "Dollars control people. Ithaca Hours connect people." October 1995 "War fans spit on the principles of the American Revolution when they charge obediently wherever their president points our flag. Many flag-wavers know little about the U.S. Constitution, but can explain soap operas and football in detail." March 1991 "While dissecting the universe scientists discovered that uranium, a metal invisibly boiling, can boil water to spark electricity. They believed the 'peaceful atom' would give cheap clean power. Recent years cause many to doubt this." December 1988 "Growth is a good thing, up to about seven feet tall, then it starts to get inconvenient. People eight feet tall bang their heads, their backs ache, their circulation slows, they spend more for food and clothes, and when they fall it really hurts. Who can they make love to? ---The same is true of cities. After a certain size they get more frustrating than exciting: People collide and anger turns to crime. Streets become dangerous, housing costs more, tax rates rise, schools teach less, structures dwarf people, air smells stale, water fouls and traffic slows no matter how wide the roads." September 1987 "San Carlos [Nicaragua] is piled on a hill by the river where the road ends at the jungle. Along three mud streets stand old board houses. Tin roofs bark at the wind. Trillions of green bugs clog the sky and carpet everyting like moss. Chandeliers of spider webs cover the light bulbs. Thousands of bats can't clear the air. At night grillos make loud glubbering sounds, in classic tropical movie style. Women sweep the dirt from the dirt in front of their homes, and walk to church. Dugout canoes carry men to fish and fish to market. The town swarms with kids, chickens and pigs." June 1986 "These new [green] laws, organizations and personal styles show understanding that, no matter how super our computers, we will never invent substitutes for food, water and air, that our nation will progress or erode with its soil, that ultimately the land is the law of the land." February 1987 "If we want a better future, we need to invent it." "Los Angeles: A History of the Future" first edition, April 1983 "Los Angeles is an army camped far from its sources of supply, using distant resources faster than nature renews them." December 1982 "Americans are everywhere very decent, magnificent and ignorant. They are generous and loveable; they hog the earth and blight the land. In every hill and holler, highland, forest, meadow and plain they will continue to mingle and to learn, by intelligent transition or headlong catastrophe, to bind their lives to the resources of the land." --Walk Across the USA 1978 |
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