Peace is much more than the absence of war

The people with the most to give are the ordinary people, not the politicians, lawyers and the generals. Ordinary people have been quietly speaking to us and they know what they want:

• Leaders with humane vision
• A system they understand
• Representatives they can trust
• An economically fair world
• Respect for the ecosystems of the planet
• A reason to get off the treadmill and do something of real value

The task is to put these universal wants into practice. Here are some ideas to get us off the starting blocks:

1. If you are fortunate enough to have a free vote, don’t vote for rhetoric and don’t not vote out of apathy. If you don’t like the candidates on offer either stand for election yourself or find someone worthy and work hard to put them in place. There is not a do-nothing option.
There are 46 million voters in the UK, 169 million in the US. If half of these people took the issues seriously we would have global change.

2. If you think your taxation/legal/ political system is unnecessarily complicated, then it is. Choose leaders who seek to simplify and give them your unbending support. Find alternatives yourselves, put forward new ideas. Do some research; take a look at the links COEXIST puts out every week.

3. Our planet is suffering, and unthinking we add to the wounds every day. So stop!
Walk more, buy local produce, eat less meat, buy less ‘stuff’. Get busy with local groups. The rain forests cannot replant themselves overnight.
How about signing up to www.1010uk.org and joining thousands of others who have pledged to cut their carbon emissions by 10% in 2010.

4. And why wait to get off the treadmill?
The remarkable Phil Stebbing is a fine example. He has stepped away from mainstream tv and into a place of his own making. As a filmmaker, Phil has dedicated the next few years of his life to bringing us back to the reality of the relationship between humans and nature. On September 9th his team embark upon a global journey of epic proportions. The aim is to document sustainable living practices before they are lost to us. He knows we are on a tight deadline, and his objective is to create an economic, environmental and spiritual plan for the sustainable management of the Earth’s resources. His team are funded by donations alone. Go to www.thelifeline.tv and follow the journey.
Phil recently won the Best Independent Documentary award for his film Deadline where he highlights the terrible wrongs being done to the oceans.