Positively Occupied

Thank you for your cover story on Occupy Santa Barbara [ This Is Not Your Daddy’s Protest, 10/27/11]. I appreciate every letter and article that states a positive goal of Occupy. What is often missing in Occupy so far is a clear message of one thing they are for, not many things they are against.

Studies indicate that chronic unemployment in the face of corporate profits and expansion is indicative of another wave of mechanization. Whereas robots took many of the industrial and manufacturing jobs, now electronic devices are taking many of the local jobs that could not be outsourced, like the checkout line cashier and the postal worker. A positive message on this would be that it is up to the consumer to make the difference.

Refuse to use a self check line; wait a little bit in line so that someone can have a job! Have your bank send out a statement by mail, even if you bank online! Watch for chances to exercise your consumer power! Large banks with inappropriate influence in Washington, D.C. control most of our savings. Switch your savings to small, local credit unions that do not pay lobbyists and candidates, and do not ask for bailouts when they fail.

One of the candidates for president said that Occupy protestors should not ask the wealthy to give more, they should become wealthy. Although it is not likely that we can all be wealthy, we can all support one another by buying locally made or grown products and by trying to produce something locally for our neighbors to use. Much of the pollution that contributes to climate chaos is produced by the transporting, warehousing, and distributing of products from far away. I have worked in the Philippines to assist poor farmers in methods of natural production that reduce pollution and raise the yield of their small plots.

My mentor Father Begnino Beltran direct markets the surplus yield to the poor in the cities, making both poor farmers and city dwellers self sufficient and more prosperous. He will speak and show a power point on his method of empowering the poor while reversing pollution and climate chaos at the Veterans Memorial Building Monday November 14 at 7 p.m. Admission is free!