No Purchase Necessary
We live in imbalanced worlds. We have been taught to consume, that we have rights to everything at any cost to anyone. We allow our happiness to be defined for us so that it becomes an insatiable beast. We are outwardly fixated but inwardly demanding; the beast we unleash onto the world seeks satisfaction anywhere but with its master, rendering its master powerless. It is at this point we are told we can only solve our problems by working tirelessly on ourselves, because finding happiness within yourself does not sell products, unless it’s a jade egg (thanks but no thanks, Goop). Happiness as an idea IS real and it requires work that no one can tell you how to do, but that plenty are willing to tell you that you just don’t need to do (#gratitude: ‘just be grateful for what you have and then you’ll be happy’). Happiness need not be a selfish experience at the expense of others, society, the earth, or business. This is where we need to find a balance. Happiness can be even more complete when others are included in the process.
Your happiness is what you make of it and in your hands, but we live on a planet that needs to sustain you and itself alongside billions of others with whom we have to engage and it has to sustain us EQUALLY. The earth’s population continues to grow while rising temperatures make it more difficult to feed earth’s population. Structures of wealth inequality ensure that those who starve cannot afford to be fed. Most of the resources we built our civilization on will be exhausted with no guarantees that the meager remains will be shared equally. So how do we meet everyone’s needs? How do we keep going? How do we break the unhealthy cycles but keep the productive ones going? Let’s begin HERE at The Turn Left. By seeking an alternate path, by reminding ourselves that we are interconnected on this planet and rely on each other to survive. Let’s begin to theorize and plan for an all inclusive future.
This website is here as a platform for discussing global issues and envisioning global solutions. We seek to think about the problems that affect all of us irrespective of where we are on the planet and our socio-economic situations, and find ways of ‘resolving’ these problems in ways that all of us can benefit from with minimal (ideally zero) detriment to anyone. We realize the idealism behind such an endeavor, but if we continue to believe that it is not possible, then it truly will never be. This website is the beginning of a larger, long term project, which will unfold along the following lines:
The website provides a public forum for the discussion of various problems, issues, and crises. People are invited to submit short or lengthy pieces covering the issue at hand and theorizing solutions to the given problem. The goal is to foster an online community committed to developing mutually beneficial answers to the problems of the world. It is our hope that solutions will balance the benefits between society, the environment, and the business sector, ensuring that we can continue to live on this planet without destroying each other, causing each other pain, and maintaining a quality of life for everyone.
In cooperation with contributors to the website, The Turn Left members will seek to find ways to practically implement and test the solutions theorized on the website. If the solutions do not work, we will go back to the drawing board to find out why, then repeat the process.
Once a workable and practically applicable solution is realized, we will collaborate with larger organizations, companies and groups, creating networks and pathways towards eventually implementing these solutions and associated practices on a global scale.
We understand the implications one might draw from the name we have chosen for ourselves. It is not an indicator of left leanings per se, but more to do with the choice to seek something different from what exists already, an alternate path. We do not seek to overwrite already existing cultural beliefs or usurp political structures. The ultimate goal is for all of us to coexist on this earth in a mutually beneficial manner.