Converging Storms: The Crises of Energy, Capitalism and the Environment

This is session number 2, but there is room for more participants if you missed the first one.

A great mix of activists, environmentalists, educators and concerned persons participated in the first session. The six workshop organizers and the participants are sure to make this a very educational and interesting workshop series on issues of great importance.

Note: You should pre-register if you plan to attend this workshop (though you likely could register at the event up if you arrive at 9:30). Se the details at www.studiesforglobaljustice.org.

Eric Einem

Converging Storms: The Crises of Energy, Capitalism and the Environment
March 16 - June 1, every other Sunday, 9:30 AM - 1:00 PM.

Studies for Global Justice invites community, labor, political, economic, and environmental justice activists to a six-part study series. This series has been updated from Spring 2006. The workshop will take place at Highland Hall, 104 N. Avenue 56, Highland Park, CA 90042

INTRODUCTORY GET-TOGETHER: Sunday, March 16, 9:30 am - 1:00 pm - Introductions, brief overview of approach to series, new registrations, and distribution of course readers - Film Forum: "The End of Suburbia: Oil Depletion and the Collapse of the American Dream," with group discussion and refreshments.

SCHEDULE OF STUDY SESSIONS: Sunday, March 30- June 1, 9:30 am - 1:00 pm, Every other Sunday except April 20 not skipped.

For more information Call: (323) 297-1983 visit www.studiesforglobaljustice.org Advance registration suggested due to limited space and materials. The registration fee is $40 Reg Fee/$10 Low Income (no one turned away for lack of funds).

DESCRIPTION OF STUDY SERIES:
"Converging Storms" is a new Studies for Global Justice (SGJ) study series on the intersection of peak oil, global capitalism, and environmental crises. We will examine issues associated with a global system whose petroleum dependency and imperative to expand is precipitating, and colliding with, the ecological realities of diminishing fossil fuels, global warming, resource depletion and contamination (food, water, land, etc), species extinction, and over-population. What is the nature of the environmental crises now challenging the global system as we know it, and what is its systemic relationship to capitalism? Why do we think this issue should influence our analysis of everything from Hurricane Katrina to the political economy to the War in Iraq? And what should activists be doing about it?
While too many environmental reforms never fully address the global and systemic dimensions of current ecological problems, too many systemic, anti-capitalist analyses never fully address the centrality -- or urgency -- of the energy and environmental crises. Can lifestyle politics and incremental policy reforms adequately deal with the scope of, and power behind, such vast and deeply-rooted challenges as peak oil and global warming? Can socialists afford to wait for the end of capitalism to "fix" things, and how would that system's demise really solve the immediate and scientific realities of finite resources in a finite (and life-threatened) global habitat? SGJ invites all of you to join us in considering whether, and how, we should centrally position the earth's ecological crises in our overall assessment of global capitalism today, as well as in the development and application of our current strategies for progressive social change.
SPONSOR:
Studies for Global Justice is a Los Angeles-based group of socialist-minded activists that coordinate study sessions on the history, nature, problems, and complexities of 21st- century capitalism. Our mission is:
--To provide an inclusive and respectful space for the discussion, debate, and systemic and multidisciplinary analysis of capitalism that uses popular, participatory, and collective learning.
--To create an educational atmosphere that bridges activism and study.
--To encourage participants to use this learning not only for their own intellectual development, but also as a means for generating power for political and social change in their communities, and for creating viable democratic socialist alternatives to the capitalist system.
CONTACT:
To contact SGJ, please call (323) 297-1983
or send email to info@studiesforglobaljustice.org