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1992

Wanted: Enemies of the Earth and Greenwar International

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Published in an abridged form in The Book of Visions: An Encyclopaedia of Social Inventions, Institute for Social Inventions, 1992 (Edited by Nicholas Albery)


Proposal

Creation of two new organizations: Enemies of the Earth and Greenwar International. The former would be a lobbying group designed to influence and inform. The latter would be involved in more direct action, especially against any opposition.

The motto "Know Thyself" might be appropriately shared by both.

Summary

These bodies would function as "counterparts" to Friends of the Earth and Greenpeace International. Their purpose would be to focus attention on the efforts of those who are endeavouring to degrade or destroy the Earth in one way or another, since at this time such people do not have institutions which allow them to be explicit and upfront about their intentions and the consequences of their initiatives. If the Earth is to be the scene of an archetypal battle between its Friends and its Enemies, then it is only fair that the heroes on both sides should be appropriately honoured.

Needless to say it is to expected that people may be somewhat shy about declaring their membership in either body. They will need assistance. So we need a small trust of "well-wishers" to set up the legal structures and to administer the secretariats. The trust could then invite nominations for membership from people who have demonstrated outstanding commitment to the degradation of the Earth. Criteria will of course have to be carefully elaborated to filter out the less committed or to allocate them to a secondary category of membership ("associates", etc).

Since the membership is honorary, members can be invited to make voluntary contributions but otherwise will not be under any obligation. Expenses can be taken care of through a small fund set up by the "well-wishers". As in any serious organization, profiles of members will be carefully built up to indicate the domains in which they have demonstrated degrading capacity or in which they are anxious to do so. These profiles, with addresses, can be published in directory form as has been done by The Institute for Social Inventions. They should provide a source of income to cover general expenses.

Members might be pleased to receive a membership certificate (with wax seal) suitable for framing on an office wall. This will help them to indicate their standing in the international community. Special programmes for their children could be envisaged: Junior Enemies of the Earth and Junior Greenwar International. This would be designed to help the children recognize the esteem in which their parents' activities are held. Workcamps could be arranged to give them opportunities to learn about new possibilities for Earth degradation -- tips which they could pass on to their parents. The motto "Know Thy Parents as Thy Future" might be appropriate.

Of course there is no point in just having another letterhead organization. Effort should be put into regular contact with the members to discover whether they have come up with any new degrading ideas. This contact could also be used to inform them of innovative initiatives discovered by their peers. Members would find this most useful as a means recognizing that they are not alone but are part of a broad strategy by which the Earth will finally be destroyed --if not in their own lifetime, then in that of their immediate descendants.

With sufficient energy on the part of the secretariat, many additional activities could be added to give legitimacy to the organizations. A research program could be initialed to discover the most vulnerable features of the global ecosystem and make recommendations for disruptive action or action to counter moves to reduce such vulnerability.

A nice "zen" possibility, for those who appreciate the dots in the tao symbol, would be to establish a category of membership for those who recognize that (despite their best efforts as friends of the Earth) they are as much a part of the problem as part of the solution. Such people might form the core of "well-wishers" -- a sort of "committee of the shadow".

Finally of course, a panel, modelled on the Nobel Prize Committee, could be appointed to select annually --on the basis of nominations -- Laureates in different domains such as: War, Eco-destruction, Disinformation, Cultural Degradation, Health Depletion, Deprivation, Weapons Research, Conspicuous Consumption, Betrayal of Hope, and Human Misery. There may be some difficulty in coming up with an attractive amount of prize money, but this might be negotiated with a far-sighted drug baron -- as was the case with arms-manufacturer Nobel himself.

Thought needs to be given to the argument that such a project would be counter-productive (need to be positive, give the baddies the wrong ideas, polarization, etc). My view is that the "opposition" is doing so well, that their bright boys have no trouble in keeping several exploitative steps ahead of the home team. Pointing to vulnerabilities sharpens the focus of the home team's efforts, etc.

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