I admit, I am intrigued. I met the DL when I was a boy in Dharmsala in 1967. My family was there on a visit to the Tibetans in exile because my father, a Foreign Service officer at the US Embassy in Delhi, had arranged several million in aid to the Tibetans. Staying for several days with the family of the DL’s sister changed my outlook on life: to be among people who had every reason to be angry and were not impressed me. Still does. Want to see where this story goes.
The book seems great so far, looking forward to the next chapters! I think there's also an old tradition of peacemaking in the Americas that is much older than Gandhi and Thoreau - in fact, the Great Peacemaker of the Haudenosaunee is an inspiring example of non-violent conflict resolution (inspiring enough to the Founding Fathers)
I also concur with Carlos and am enjoying the book. Hope that the DL gets a lift from a compassionate EV Uber driver who plays loud Hip Hop music for the DL.
One often overlooked early Americas non violent / pacifist / organizing leader is the British man George Fox (1624 -1691). He was in the American colonies from 1671 - 1673.
George Fox was the founder and organizer of the worldwide Quaker / Friends movement. In the UK, the Quakers were the fist institution to divest from fossil fuels with much inspiration from the likes of Bill McKibben. https://bit.ly/3BH7xda
This Labor Day is my 72nd one. I started working in the family business when I was 5 in Peoria, Illinois. But for me, Labor Days have changed over the years.
Labor Day has come to be known as the end of the summer season, but its origins have nothing to do with barbecues or mattress sales and everything to do with oppressive working conditions.
And now we have oppressive climate crisis conditions.
Activists and individual states (not Jim Crow Mississippi!) recognized Labor Day well before President Grover Cleveland signed a law making it a federal holiday in 1894. Always observed on the first Monday in September, Labor Day is intended to celebrate the achievements and contributions of proud American workers and union members.
The Industrial Revolution (the start of our climate crisis) brought with it tough working conditions that required many people to work long hours nearly every day of the week. It prompted organized strikes and rallies and on September 4, 1882, New York City held its first Labor Day parade at the urging of the Central Labor Union.
Mother Jones (only a spiritual relationship) was a famous labor organizer. She led workers in some big coal miner strikes which turned deadly when coal mine owners hired security people. Her famous war cry was: “Pray for the dead, and fight like hell for the living.” Little did Mother Jones know then about our present day climate crisis and that the coal should have been left in the ground.
From a 100 years ago, we cannot think of Mother Jones as a global warming “denier” or "enabler". The science and truth was not there then as it has been in these past 33 years when James Hansen testified before the US Senate in 1988.
And sense about 1988, Bill McKibben has become one of the climate activist warriors of our time. For those volunteering for the ThirdAct, his hard labor and volunteerism is an inspirational and worthy cause for this generation and future ones.
Hansen testified: "Global warming has reached a level such that we can ascribe with a high degree of confidence a cause and effect relationship between the greenhouse effect and observed warming. It is already happening now" and "The greenhouse effect has been detected and it is changing our climate now...We already reached the point where the greenhouse effect is important."
Hansen has been particularly critical of the coal industry, stating that coal contributes the largest percentage of anthropogenic carbon dioxide into the atmosphere. He also acknowledges that a molecule of carbon dioxide emitted from burning coal has the same effect as a molecule emitted from burning oil.
I put “denier” in quotes because the enemies of science (and of us all) are endlessly malleable shapeshifters. Once they can no longer deny the existence of man-made global warming, they shift and keep on shifting so no one can ever pin them down. In this, they mirror the defenders of slavery 230 years ago, who created the modern world’s first corporate PR campaign and provided an example for all who have followed.
Perhaps this comparison isn’t harsh enough. One day, the attack on climate science and this climate crisis activists will be seen as shocking as was those who defended slavery.
There are people who grew up in a 20th and 21st century where the carbon economy was natural: the way the world was and would always be. Slavery was equally natural to the plantation owners, slave owners and slave traders as well as to the bankers who financed this business. To them it was 'natural' and it had always existed, everywhere on Earth.
The pro-slavery lobby for this bondage Labor was as well funded then as the fossil-fuel lobby is today, and just as relentless. In slave times, as soon as one fake position was exposed, another took its place.
The PR arguments change but the intent of the fossil fuel industry and the Republican politicians like Senator Mitch McConnel and the trade groups that support them remains the same ... slow roll it / deny it and keep us in climate bondage so they can profit more from coal and oil.
Could be me, but I tried to subscribe, and got the message that the account "couldn't process live charges."
What a great read to begin my Friday! Thanks.
Super excited for more. You go Bill McKibbon!
I admit, I am intrigued. I met the DL when I was a boy in Dharmsala in 1967. My family was there on a visit to the Tibetans in exile because my father, a Foreign Service officer at the US Embassy in Delhi, had arranged several million in aid to the Tibetans. Staying for several days with the family of the DL’s sister changed my outlook on life: to be among people who had every reason to be angry and were not impressed me. Still does. Want to see where this story goes.
I hope you enjoy it--having borrowed HH the DL as a character, I'm a tad nervous...
I only met the man when I was 12 in 1967, but he had an infectious laugh then and I suspect he would laugh now and say: “Proceed!”
i've been operating on that premise...
The book seems great so far, looking forward to the next chapters! I think there's also an old tradition of peacemaking in the Americas that is much older than Gandhi and Thoreau - in fact, the Great Peacemaker of the Haudenosaunee is an inspiring example of non-violent conflict resolution (inspiring enough to the Founding Fathers)
That gives me something to go look up! Thanks much!
I also concur with Carlos and am enjoying the book. Hope that the DL gets a lift from a compassionate EV Uber driver who plays loud Hip Hop music for the DL.
One often overlooked early Americas non violent / pacifist / organizing leader is the British man George Fox (1624 -1691). He was in the American colonies from 1671 - 1673.
George Fox was the founder and organizer of the worldwide Quaker / Friends movement. In the UK, the Quakers were the fist institution to divest from fossil fuels with much inspiration from the likes of Bill McKibben. https://bit.ly/3BH7xda
This Labor Day is my 72nd one. I started working in the family business when I was 5 in Peoria, Illinois. But for me, Labor Days have changed over the years.
Labor Day has come to be known as the end of the summer season, but its origins have nothing to do with barbecues or mattress sales and everything to do with oppressive working conditions.
And now we have oppressive climate crisis conditions.
Activists and individual states (not Jim Crow Mississippi!) recognized Labor Day well before President Grover Cleveland signed a law making it a federal holiday in 1894. Always observed on the first Monday in September, Labor Day is intended to celebrate the achievements and contributions of proud American workers and union members.
The Industrial Revolution (the start of our climate crisis) brought with it tough working conditions that required many people to work long hours nearly every day of the week. It prompted organized strikes and rallies and on September 4, 1882, New York City held its first Labor Day parade at the urging of the Central Labor Union.
Mother Jones (only a spiritual relationship) was a famous labor organizer. She led workers in some big coal miner strikes which turned deadly when coal mine owners hired security people. Her famous war cry was: “Pray for the dead, and fight like hell for the living.” Little did Mother Jones know then about our present day climate crisis and that the coal should have been left in the ground.
From a 100 years ago, we cannot think of Mother Jones as a global warming “denier” or "enabler". The science and truth was not there then as it has been in these past 33 years when James Hansen testified before the US Senate in 1988.
And sense about 1988, Bill McKibben has become one of the climate activist warriors of our time. For those volunteering for the ThirdAct, his hard labor and volunteerism is an inspirational and worthy cause for this generation and future ones.
Hansen testified: "Global warming has reached a level such that we can ascribe with a high degree of confidence a cause and effect relationship between the greenhouse effect and observed warming. It is already happening now" and "The greenhouse effect has been detected and it is changing our climate now...We already reached the point where the greenhouse effect is important."
Hansen has been particularly critical of the coal industry, stating that coal contributes the largest percentage of anthropogenic carbon dioxide into the atmosphere. He also acknowledges that a molecule of carbon dioxide emitted from burning coal has the same effect as a molecule emitted from burning oil.
I put “denier” in quotes because the enemies of science (and of us all) are endlessly malleable shapeshifters. Once they can no longer deny the existence of man-made global warming, they shift and keep on shifting so no one can ever pin them down. In this, they mirror the defenders of slavery 230 years ago, who created the modern world’s first corporate PR campaign and provided an example for all who have followed.
Perhaps this comparison isn’t harsh enough. One day, the attack on climate science and this climate crisis activists will be seen as shocking as was those who defended slavery.
There are people who grew up in a 20th and 21st century where the carbon economy was natural: the way the world was and would always be. Slavery was equally natural to the plantation owners, slave owners and slave traders as well as to the bankers who financed this business. To them it was 'natural' and it had always existed, everywhere on Earth.
The pro-slavery lobby for this bondage Labor was as well funded then as the fossil-fuel lobby is today, and just as relentless. In slave times, as soon as one fake position was exposed, another took its place.
The PR arguments change but the intent of the fossil fuel industry and the Republican politicians like Senator Mitch McConnel and the trade groups that support them remains the same ... slow roll it / deny it and keep us in climate bondage so they can profit more from coal and oil.