Dear Friends,
While
we feel may feel vulnerable to Trump Derangement Syndrome for many
reasons, it is important to keep our eyes upon the main event, a crucial
chapter of which is laid out in this solidly written piece of
historical reporting from the Times.
It is
important because it is an accurate picture of who we are as a species
in this era: short-sighted, deluded by a privileged sense of
invulnerability, prone to denial and obstruction of truth, stubborn,
indifferent if we are not directly affected, reluctant to consider the
fate of fellow suffering humans, let alone our own progeny both in the
near future and in the distant, almost unimaginable far future—and
utterly dependent upon the special courage and heroism of a very small
number of people, like the climate scientist James Hansen, who refused
to be muffled or sidetracked. It is hard to look at ourselves in this
picture, but necessary if we are going to act effectively, without
giving in to the passivity of despair after decades of drifting in the
passivity of indifference.
Though the article
does not cover this, the issue of climate is inseparable from the issue
of war, and the opportunity cost of expending vast funds on military
equipment needed for the very mitigation of negative climate effects
that will cause more wars.
The future
foretold in this article has arrived. Along with fury at the criminal
stupidity of pulling out of the Paris Accords, I also cannot help
feeling uneasily complicit—can you?— in the fate of hundreds of millions
of fellow humans who are drowning in the floods of Bangladesh,
succumbing to heatstroke in the streets of Mumbai, or losing everything
in the fires in California or Greece. The relationship between their
fates and our own choices has become inescapable.
I
recall a seminar, one which included climate in its themes, I attended
some decades ago during the time of the events recounted in the article,
where a participant, a man in his thirties, suddenly burst into tears.
When asked by seminar leader Don Fitton what was troubling him, he
sobbed, "The trees! What will happen to the trees!" I remember thinking
he was annoyingly over the top, a bit of a self-dramatist. Now I think
his response was prophetic and deeply sane, at least in comparison to my
own smug condescension. In fact, the trees are probably going to be
fine, as they flourish on increased concentrations of carbon dioxide.
Too many of our fellow humans, let alone our children and grandchildren,
maybe not so much . . .
There is enormous
solace and promise in the scientific story of the universe and distant
past history of Earth, in which still-mysterious powers are guiding the
direction of a further surprising unfolding. Life has come through so
much, even if the changes were accompanied by cataclysmic destruction in
such meta-events as the five major mass extinctions. We are in the
midst of the sixth—20,000 species a year ghosting into nevermore.
Industrial society has given us many boons, but we must now apply our
immense mammalian creativity, our deep innate capacity to care, to
figuring out what our role might be as humans in the total system,
beyond consumerism—not only to stop degrading our only home but to bring
forth the restorative powers that are already rooted in the gorgeous
intelligence of the natural world, waiting to nourish us if we can work
with and not against them. As Paul Hawken has pointed out, millions of
committed people are participating in organizations whose mission aligns
with those powers.
I urge you to send this link to the Times article to as many people as possible.
In hope,
