"Change The Course"--- Invitation to join the TEXT discussion group

This is an invitation to join an on line text discussion among people who already recognize the full severity of the human predicament:
        a) existing conditions, (2/3's of the world'spopulation don't get enought to eat)
        b) expected scenario, (billions of scaracity/conflict driven deaths this century)
        c) the intransigence of social structure, and
        d) underlying human predispositions,
and still want to change the course.

Please view this video.  It contains the foundation and design of the project.

If after viewing the video, and you have read the discussion context below, and feel you can make contributions or want to hear what others contribute Please reply to Alpert@skil.org and you will be added to the group.

Best regards,

Jack Alpert                          Text summary of video.

--------- discussion context ---------

Members of "Change the Course" have stopped debating if civilization will collapse this century. They believe unless humankind changes the course billions will die, and the environment will be reduced to ruins.

Members already know:
        a) Overshoot is the most powerful descriptor of
                who and what will be injured this century.
        b) Preventing these injuries requires eliminating overshoot.
        c) The most powerful way to reduce overshoot is rapid population decline.
        d) Global population, reduced by a factor of more than 100,
                resolves existing inequity
                accommodates earth's declining support, and
                reverses expanding social conflict.
        e) managing overshoot is more complicated than just d) but it's a requirement.

Members already know and do not have to be convinced that:
        improving:      recycling, energy efficiency, and waste procedures, or
        stopping:        carbon emissions or population growth
will not eliminate overshoot; thus it will not prevent collapse, die-off, or eco-destruction.

Members do not have to be convinced that: feeding the starving,  redistributing wealth, and improving conflict resolution will not reduce overshoot; nor will educating woman, delaying marriage, open access to birth-control, or facilitating choice.

And finally, members would vote for civil control of total number of births for purposes of implementing rapid population decline. Members believe civil limits on births appear to injure less people than continuing on the present path.

The goal of this discussion group is to help another person vote for civil constraints:
        on procreation,
                (also, degree of hierarchy, and use of the commons)
when they produce a peaceful and sustainable civilization.

The vote follows from a view of reality that includes
            the severity and immediacy of the existing predicament,
            the weakness of present action to address it,
            a target peaceful and sustainable human community, and
            a working path toward it
                        which includes:
                                    Finding recipes for "one-on-one conversations" that
                                                successfully impart the above reality.
                                    Repeating these one-on-one successes until
                                                a consensus constituency exists.
                                    The constituency implements laws to eliminate overshoot.

The discussion group's goal is:

        to identify and make available the content and process
        of successful one-on-one conversations that bring a
            person to
                        see reality,
                                    get another person to see reality and
                                                vote accordingly.

If you have an interest in contributing to this effort, and want to be added to the
"Change the Course" discussion group (or just to listen) please reply to Alpert@skil.org.

If you know of a person who would be interested please pass this invitation along to them.

Jack Alpert
The front page of www.skil.org contains updated invitations movies, and archived content for Change the Course.