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Hello,

Blogs are a familiar feature on the internet - where users post content in an accumulating manner, with comments, and search options, etc. They facilitate expression and exploration, and via attached comments, also debate and synthesis.


Reading and
Navigating Blogs

Our blogs are quite powerful. Each writer can post, as is typically the case. Sustainers who have the option can also post, however. All Blogs appear in the blog system, and sometimes also in content boxes the top page of ZNet - and always via the left menu of the top page - and can be found via searches, etc.

Commenting on blogs follows the blogs, attached at the bottom, and blog comments, like all others, are also visible in many places that show comments including in the forum system. In addition, the entire blog system gathers content for everyone - but one can look at the accumulating content in many ways.

  • For example one can look at one writer's efforts - so one is seeing what is effectively a blog system for that one writer, or Sustainer.
  • One can also look at the content by topic, seeing blogs that are tagged as being about a certain topic - or place, as well. Thus, when doing that, it is a blog system about a topic, or a place, with many contributors.
  • One can look at only writer blogs, or only sustainer blogs, as well.
  • One can look at blogs for particular Groups, too.

All this is easily done using the left menu. Searches allow even more variables and refinements.


Creating Blog Posts

If you are a Sustainer with permission, and are logged in, you will see a link in the left menu for you to post a blog - and you can use that to post one, and then tag it various ways (such as with a topic or place, or a group tag), and once you do, it is in the system with you as the author.

You can also use the console button to the left to post a blog - anytime and from anywhere in the site, as long as you are logged in.

Meanwhile, enjoy the blogs - and, by the way, if you are a Free Member or a Sustainer with a ZSpace page, of course you can put one or more content boxes on it, pulling blog links of any sort you may want to filter for, for example, by you or by your friends or by others - and by topic, about places, for groups, etc.

Blogs

586022

Chris Voss's Blog

Web Address: http://www.zcommunications.org/zspace/chrisvoss
Bio: Chris and his wife are working on starting a small farm in northeast Texas.  (More)

All Voss Blogs

Recent Voss Content

Zblogpost_icon Blog Posts

Climate Change and Progressive Change

By Chris Voss at Jan 23, 2008


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The myriad ways of dealing with the approaching climate crisis gives those of us on the left many opportunities for a non-centralized, diverse, self-managed movement that we can build on to create alternative institutions opposed to capitalism. The coming energy revolution will be by necessity diverse and non-centralized. This movement should be encouraged and helped along by us on the left. 
 
The overwhelming scale of the crisis of climate change gives us so many entry points into a society seemingly closed to the left for so long. It is quite obvious to many observers that the market will never be able to produce the necessary changes to steer us away from climate disaster. That market failure along with the necessity for changing the way society produces and consumes energy is a vast opportunity. At every level of society, from workplaces to homes, and everywhere in between, we need to radically alter our vision of energy consumption. Why not use that re-visioning process to also re-imagine our social structures: from capitalism’s defining institutions to the way we create laws to our educational system.
 
By playing an active role in the movement that’s working to move away from unfettered greenhouse gas production to a move sustainable energy infrastructure the left can begin to introduce other important changes as well.  Take for example the recent no-coal initiatives by grassroots groups like Step It Up. Those groups committed to a vision of a carbon-free economy understand that there needs to be alternatives and that those alternatives by necessity will be largely local and decentralized in nature. Organizing to make those alternatives viable can take place in tandem with organizing alternatives to capitalism and authoritarianism. Folks can understand why their energy production should be decentralized as much as possible. It is not that far of a stretch to get them to realize that all aspects of social organization can benefit from collaborative, decentralized, participatory structures such as those in a participatory economy and participatory polity.
 
The progressive, peace and justice, revolutionary movement has every incentive to lead the way toward a green society. Our alternative institutions that will be the building blocks of a new society should be powered by sustainable energy. In turn, we will reduce the need for wars of conquest and end capitalism’s antisocial death grip on society.
582867

No Impact Man

By Small, Brian at Apr 17, 2009 16:36 PM

I just discovered your blog from you  helpful 'Step It Up' comment. "The myriad ways of dealing with the approaching climate crisis gives those of us on the left many opportunities for a non-centralized, diverse, self-managed movement that we can build on to create alternative institutions opposed to capitalism. The coming energy revolution will be by necessity diverse and non-centralized. This movement should be encouraged and helped along by us on the left.  " This paragraph reminded me of this No Impact Man Blog I had been looking for. When I first stumbled upon him I thought he was just a cute gimmicky kind a guy Van Jones might make jokes about but here he's talking about changing society and chiding people for commenting on compost more than civil disobedience.

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Re: Climate Change and Progressive Change

By Lingg, Louis at Feb 01, 2008 02:25 AM

I definately agree that any progress on the left and in ecology must come from dencentralisation. Something missing from your article is the cold, hard fact that any sustainable/eco-friendly energy production only becomes viable with a vastly smaller economy. Of course, this means sacrifices.

We on the left shouldn\'t be afraid of saying this loud and proud. There is no harm in saying the hard truth. people will not be scared away from the movement when the alternative is global catastrophe. Here in France this concept is known by radical economists as "decroissance". I could translate that as "shrinking the economy".

Keep the good work Chris, nice to see positive blogs!

Josh

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664276

gReENs is parity, but parody

By Addison, "R" at Jan 25, 2008 09:26 AM

Mr. Voss introduces a viable \"peace\" methodism, because that is beyond modernism, in the sense that all the variables are in place. However, the needful and dire consequences of a socialist-Pact in not in place, when one considers that only \'25\' of the current 50 states, are included in the pNAC backlash swing of invite polity by parity, but leave parody \'in-There\'? The other 25-States must be accounted and the accruals must include more coalition of the gReENs no-devisive accords--very heavily rooted in Existentialist theories of post-Modernism, or naught? submitted by \"R\" Addison

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