This is such a consequential essay, Bill. Thank you for the information, perspectives, and most of all for the links to resources. I believe this to be one of the most important letters to the public. Thank you!
I sent this as an email to you, Bill, before I saw the comment button! Sorry ---
Well, for climate change to really register, it has to speak forcefully & very directly to the incredibly selfish, absolutely deluded modern human - and jolt his ironclad ideological comfort zone. Selfish modern humanas can dodge the heat with air conditioning and by avoiding nature. It's all astonishing -- but the dodge is about to collapse.
We saw it coming this past year when insurers wanted to stop insuring our (organic blueberry) farm here in British Columbia (I'm a US citizen). We salvaged an insurance plan - at $8,000 a year!!! Most of the farms here are now uninsured. Last I heard, the average farmer in Canada makes $10,000 a year.
To me, the included link to an article in The Hill yesterday holds the key to finally change some of even the most "willfully stupid" minds/hearts. This could be the inescapable (and tragic) lightning bolt to open intentionally blind eyes:
It's hard to dispute Gunn-Wright's argument about the lack of equity in the distribution of green dollars. But it isn't all bad; if green dollars go to red states, they give the people in those states, people who get those new jobs, skin in the game. People's political choices tend to follow their interests. When those dollars show up in their paychecks, they'll be less likely to oppose further green action, and maybe even support them.
Just wanted to flag, the article you linked to on billionaires buying land outside of San Francisco, said their plans were to turn it into a sustainable energy-powered / pedestrian-friendly layout “ideal” city… which was not as bad as you had made it seem, would be good if more developers were trying to create more cities this way and doesn’t seem like it’s the billionaire escape plan I’ve read about as well… (buying ranches in NZ and building bunkers somewhere).
“ Despite a vast array of empirical facts beyond any shadow of reasonable doubt, despite thousands of scientists’ lifetime work accumulating hard data, and without a single piece of peer reviewed, documentation to the contrary, we are again witnessing another moment in which the persuasive force of evidence and with it, earth’s future hangs in the balance.
All because some extremist political voices, holdout nations, and vastly vested interests have declared war on facts and science. All because they distort for political or personal gain what science and common sense dictate we humans must do to put our house in order. These interests would choose a destructive status quo over the opportunity to build a clean energy economy which can rescue our future, put millions of people to work and leave us all safer, stronger, and more secure.“
I know this was from back in August , Just checking in to thank you for writing this one ✨
We do, indeed, need a universal vision and a well-thought-out plan, expertly communicated. I believe the plan is Degrowth, the Green New Deal falls well short.
Biden's efforts, hindered by a Republican Party gone fascist, falls well short. While he has issued far fewer drilling permits than most past presidents, issuing any is simply unacceptable at this point. I believe Willow in Alaska is militarily motivated in competition with Russia and China for Arctic resources made available by ice loss, and found ample evidence for this hypothesis, much of it in military reports I found online.
This country is so divided now, I'm not sure even a leader as inspiring as MLK could overcome. However, we must keep trying. Thank you for your good work, Bill.
Bill, with your comments about the Reverend Martin Luther King, I'm reminded of the moral clarity that King, as a church leader, gave to the civil rights movement. At the same time, the Berrigan brothers, two Catholic priests, established a similar moral clarity when they commenced the antiwar movement of the sixties.
Pope Francis is filling some of that spiritual gravitas for climate change and the environment with his encyclical Laudato Si, and as you mentioned, he plans a follow-up to the document in about a month.
Yet the U.S., the world, needs more than the Pope to spiritually combat climate change. Is there someone--a priest, a minister, some religious leader--to inspire others to action as Martin Luther King and the Berrigans did in the sixties?
Hey Bill - Much Respect on your tireless fight to slow down and hopefully end Global Warming. Could you please shine some light on the darkness that is the successful Republican agenda of outlawing investment in ESG Stocks in State run Pension Portfolios across the country? The divestment of fossil fuels movement you have been advocating for over the last bunch of years was having big success until this road block. This banning of Environmental, Social and Good governance (ESG) investing is counter to free market enterprise. Surely at least half of sane investors would like to divest from fossil fuels at this point of a global climate crisis? So maybe there should be a couple of pension fund options as a solution - for sane and insane peoples retirement pension funds? Divestment in the market place is the only way we will beat Big Oil - because most politicians are in their evil greedy pockets. Sane Democrats need to focus and gain back some power in State governments to be able to fight this Republican insanity to continue to invest and support the fossil fuel industry - when the world is literally burning up in real time!
“the climate movement is perhaps the first truly global campaign, designed to bring everyone who lives beneath our shared sky on board.”
Yes.
And also, no.
The climate movement feels to me to have lost its way. It is a movement that is not moving.
Or rather, it is moving in circles. Promise are made. yay! Promises are broken. What!
The movement is moving in an infinite loop of inaction.
Why?
Because it actually lacks a vision, a design, that is truly global when it comes to the practical question of How?
Instead, it perpetuates with a passion the status quo duopoly of Markets vs Government, Private vs. Public, Politicians vs Corporations.
In the face of rapidly accumulating evidence that neither Corporations nor Politicians are constituted with the power to “bring everyone who lives under our shared sky on board”, the climate movement willfully refuses to lead a bold inquiry searching for insights into human social decisions making that can give us the new learning about ourselves, as humans, that can inform the social innovations we need to evolve before we can truly campaign together globally.
The prophecy we need is not “Make government make business”
It is “engage as stewards of our shared future”
The point of engagement?
Money.
This is the hard truth the climate movement is afraid to embrace: money makes the world go ‘round.
If you truly want to change the world, to motivate a truly global campaign , you need to find the money with the mission, the duty and the scale to move people together, globally.
Just now slowly reading an amazing book - The Beak of the Finch, which was published in 1995 and probably written a couple of years before that. It won a Pulitzer and I believe BIll blurbed it. Along with one of the best, especially at the time, description of the wonders of evolution (variation, selection and replication), Jonathan Weiner spends many pages warning about the perils of global warming/heating/chaos. Very impressive for the time.
Thank you for these words on MLK. I so appreciate your insights.
This is such a consequential essay, Bill. Thank you for the information, perspectives, and most of all for the links to resources. I believe this to be one of the most important letters to the public. Thank you!
I sent this as an email to you, Bill, before I saw the comment button! Sorry ---
Well, for climate change to really register, it has to speak forcefully & very directly to the incredibly selfish, absolutely deluded modern human - and jolt his ironclad ideological comfort zone. Selfish modern humanas can dodge the heat with air conditioning and by avoiding nature. It's all astonishing -- but the dodge is about to collapse.
We saw it coming this past year when insurers wanted to stop insuring our (organic blueberry) farm here in British Columbia (I'm a US citizen). We salvaged an insurance plan - at $8,000 a year!!! Most of the farms here are now uninsured. Last I heard, the average farmer in Canada makes $10,000 a year.
To me, the included link to an article in The Hill yesterday holds the key to finally change some of even the most "willfully stupid" minds/hearts. This could be the inescapable (and tragic) lightning bolt to open intentionally blind eyes:
https://thehill.com/policy/equilibrium-sustainability/4180007-climate-change-raising-risks-of-financial-disaster-for-home-owners-insurers-and-bankers/?email=a5827bf851ca168c25e2889715ca089344b905c4&emaila=6ac3fe8520f465fd733c5d830f272138&emailb=16b43da859d327080c44bc26a6e47b7da095f4e7a7bebbe7bd6c01186a0d42d3&utm_source=Sailthru&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=08.30.23%20RS%20Climate%20change
It's hard to dispute Gunn-Wright's argument about the lack of equity in the distribution of green dollars. But it isn't all bad; if green dollars go to red states, they give the people in those states, people who get those new jobs, skin in the game. People's political choices tend to follow their interests. When those dollars show up in their paychecks, they'll be less likely to oppose further green action, and maybe even support them.
Just wanted to flag, the article you linked to on billionaires buying land outside of San Francisco, said their plans were to turn it into a sustainable energy-powered / pedestrian-friendly layout “ideal” city… which was not as bad as you had made it seem, would be good if more developers were trying to create more cities this way and doesn’t seem like it’s the billionaire escape plan I’ve read about as well… (buying ranches in NZ and building bunkers somewhere).
“ Despite a vast array of empirical facts beyond any shadow of reasonable doubt, despite thousands of scientists’ lifetime work accumulating hard data, and without a single piece of peer reviewed, documentation to the contrary, we are again witnessing another moment in which the persuasive force of evidence and with it, earth’s future hangs in the balance.
All because some extremist political voices, holdout nations, and vastly vested interests have declared war on facts and science. All because they distort for political or personal gain what science and common sense dictate we humans must do to put our house in order. These interests would choose a destructive status quo over the opportunity to build a clean energy economy which can rescue our future, put millions of people to work and leave us all safer, stronger, and more secure.“
I know this was from back in August , Just checking in to thank you for writing this one ✨
We do, indeed, need a universal vision and a well-thought-out plan, expertly communicated. I believe the plan is Degrowth, the Green New Deal falls well short.
https://geoffreydeihl.substack.com/p/degrowth-the-vision-we-must-demand
Biden's efforts, hindered by a Republican Party gone fascist, falls well short. While he has issued far fewer drilling permits than most past presidents, issuing any is simply unacceptable at this point. I believe Willow in Alaska is militarily motivated in competition with Russia and China for Arctic resources made available by ice loss, and found ample evidence for this hypothesis, much of it in military reports I found online.
https://geoffreydeihl.substack.com/p/massive-alaska-willow-drilling-project
This country is so divided now, I'm not sure even a leader as inspiring as MLK could overcome. However, we must keep trying. Thank you for your good work, Bill.
We either agree together or die separately.
Can the clear and present dangers of climate change win the hearts and minds of deniers, corporations and politicians? I wish I had faith.
Bill, with your comments about the Reverend Martin Luther King, I'm reminded of the moral clarity that King, as a church leader, gave to the civil rights movement. At the same time, the Berrigan brothers, two Catholic priests, established a similar moral clarity when they commenced the antiwar movement of the sixties.
Pope Francis is filling some of that spiritual gravitas for climate change and the environment with his encyclical Laudato Si, and as you mentioned, he plans a follow-up to the document in about a month.
Yet the U.S., the world, needs more than the Pope to spiritually combat climate change. Is there someone--a priest, a minister, some religious leader--to inspire others to action as Martin Luther King and the Berrigans did in the sixties?
Once again, Bill, you're right on top of it. I'm using this post as a hook for my "Crisis Watch" column for United Methodist Insight.
Hey Bill - Much Respect on your tireless fight to slow down and hopefully end Global Warming. Could you please shine some light on the darkness that is the successful Republican agenda of outlawing investment in ESG Stocks in State run Pension Portfolios across the country? The divestment of fossil fuels movement you have been advocating for over the last bunch of years was having big success until this road block. This banning of Environmental, Social and Good governance (ESG) investing is counter to free market enterprise. Surely at least half of sane investors would like to divest from fossil fuels at this point of a global climate crisis? So maybe there should be a couple of pension fund options as a solution - for sane and insane peoples retirement pension funds? Divestment in the market place is the only way we will beat Big Oil - because most politicians are in their evil greedy pockets. Sane Democrats need to focus and gain back some power in State governments to be able to fight this Republican insanity to continue to invest and support the fossil fuel industry - when the world is literally burning up in real time!
“the climate movement is perhaps the first truly global campaign, designed to bring everyone who lives beneath our shared sky on board.”
Yes.
And also, no.
The climate movement feels to me to have lost its way. It is a movement that is not moving.
Or rather, it is moving in circles. Promise are made. yay! Promises are broken. What!
The movement is moving in an infinite loop of inaction.
Why?
Because it actually lacks a vision, a design, that is truly global when it comes to the practical question of How?
Instead, it perpetuates with a passion the status quo duopoly of Markets vs Government, Private vs. Public, Politicians vs Corporations.
In the face of rapidly accumulating evidence that neither Corporations nor Politicians are constituted with the power to “bring everyone who lives under our shared sky on board”, the climate movement willfully refuses to lead a bold inquiry searching for insights into human social decisions making that can give us the new learning about ourselves, as humans, that can inform the social innovations we need to evolve before we can truly campaign together globally.
The prophecy we need is not “Make government make business”
It is “engage as stewards of our shared future”
The point of engagement?
Money.
This is the hard truth the climate movement is afraid to embrace: money makes the world go ‘round.
If you truly want to change the world, to motivate a truly global campaign , you need to find the money with the mission, the duty and the scale to move people together, globally.
No corporation has that money.
No government has that money.
We have to find it somewhere else.
Just now slowly reading an amazing book - The Beak of the Finch, which was published in 1995 and probably written a couple of years before that. It won a Pulitzer and I believe BIll blurbed it. Along with one of the best, especially at the time, description of the wonders of evolution (variation, selection and replication), Jonathan Weiner spends many pages warning about the perils of global warming/heating/chaos. Very impressive for the time.
This country is playing Russian roulette with the planet and their futures...it's a level of nihilism or delusion that's unfathomable.