Over the past three weeks, we have received a number of communications seeking clarification regarding what we mean by lifeboats.
SAILING AWAY FROM THE WRECK
We mean, community-scaled projects that embody a way through the fog & away from the sinking wreck of terminal extraction. Far enough way, that the lifeboat does not become sucked into the abyss as the sinking accelerates from temporarily manageable leakage to catastrophic scuttle.
In opposition to the hulking wreck of extraction, consumption and mutual exploitation, lifeboat projects convey values of regeneration, connection and mutual aid. Lifeboats come in many shapes, from place-based or mission-based schools through to ecovillages and regional food sovereignty initiatives.
Consider for example, an alternative school project flourishing within a small city here in New England, one that many have written off as doomed by drugs and post-industrial dereliction: Lawrence, MA.
This particular lifeboat has been christened with the auspicious name: Esperanza.
Daily life within the school is governed by an embedded ethos of restorative justice:
That is the sort of ethos that will be required on board the lifeboats, sailing away from the spinning wreckage. And the sort of transformative school that does not just imagine a better future, but anticipates it, through daily practice.
˜˜˜˜˜˜˜˜˜
Desperado Philosophy 