Musings

In spite of ignoring social media lately, I liked this image that a son recently published on his personal news feed. There were some flat earth indications on other things I have read recently.

The admirable EcoChallenge is sending me Thirty Days of Readings on Systems thinking with daily articles and videos. I intend to learn more from these and undertake a a study of a recent organizational situation that has gone badly to see whether there are lessons to be learned using this approach. But there are also connections with the flat earth thinking and other recent readings that I can make immediately.

Fareed Zacharia writing his weekly column in the Washington Post and also presents it as an introduction to his weekly show on CNN. His interviews are excellent and the introduction is worth a watch for its own sake. He asks:

“The current Republican congressional delegation includes people who insist the 2020 election was stolen, have ties to violent extremist groups, traffic in antisemitism and have propagated QAnon ideologies in the past. At the state level, it often gets worse. Mainstream Republicans have tolerated these voices and views for years. Can the party finally find a way to control them?” He goes on to say that in any political party or institution what has to be controlled is the outer fringes of the organization.

On Saturday, I read that there was a protest in Edmonton against Covid-19 health measures. It involved hundreds of people starting from Lethbridge. Global News noted:

“The protest was organized by the “Walk for Freedom Alberta” group. That group claims to stand up for rights and freedoms and “peacefully promote breaches to our civil liberties across Alberta.”

The Mayor of Edmonton protested the protesters by noting that the pandemic is not a hoax and that some behind the protest may be connected with known hate groups. Canadians can spare any self righteousness when we view our neighbours to the south.

The theme of supposed unfairness continued this morning (Feb. 22) with and article in the Globe and Mail reporting on a defiance coming from a western church congregation. While many churches with limited reopening in Ontario have noted that there was not a single case of infection, the article begins with a story about a small church in Saskatchewan. On Christmas Eve 15 people gathered for an early service with all the proper precautions in place - and no masks, no singing. But afterwards one sick person discovered that more than 12 had contracted the virus. In Edmonton, a pastor remains in jail for opening his church in contravention to restrictions. His attorney is trying to make the case that that freedom of religion is more important than public health.

Public health has also led to similar conflicts in British Columbia. The Provincial Health Officer, Bonne Henry, argues that services of worship unfortunately have elements most likely to cause the spread of the virus. These are gatherings of people from different households - over an extended period of time, held indoors in buildings often with poor ventilation and activity can include singing. The congregation is also likely to contain elderly persons with pre-existing conditions. It’s a recipe for high risk - and that’s why I avoided any such opportunities in Ontario when live services still existed. I administered a registration system for one and was startled to see who wanted to attend - primarily the highest risk group. Perhaps they just didn’t care whether death came sooner or later.

Yes - sometimes rights are infringed upon. But it’s difficult to see a small number of people championing their own rights above those of a broader community. Generally Canadians see things differently than their American cousins and I find it depressing to see individualism topping (I refuse to Trumping or former-guying) society as a whole. I can understand making comparisons with bars or restaurants in Alberta - but why not advocate for their sharing concern for the common good by closing until it is safer.

When it comes to common good, there was better inspiration in the Globe’s business section with an article on leadership where Mi’kmaw educator Marie Battiste was interviewed. She is a retired professor from the University of Saskatchewan, an honorary member of the Order of Canada with four honorary doctorates and many other citations.

Her current research asks us to think historically and aims to assess the teaching of our history sad history of the treatment of first nations peoples and how to improve the teaching of indigenous knowledge. Here are some of her insights:

• Understand your own skills and talents and how you can use them to best understand and serve your purpose.

• Indigenous ways of life embrace a more holistic worldview, anchored in the understanding that we are all interconnected.

• When we understand how we are related, we better understand our obligations and responsibilities to one another, to the earth and to the seven generations to come.

My father wrote a family history which told us of more than seven generations past - and part of that story is one of our white privilege in spite of many hardships along the way. I commend this wise indigenous leader’s reminder of our role in learning the truth in assessing our science and our society. A long view shows us the importance of the systems of which we are a part and the ones we determine.

Governance - Sage Advice

We discussed some of the basics of morality in the west in a discussion groujp yesterday. From our European perspective the scriptural documents appeared to be the guidelines for morality even when they were made more general with terms like care and compassion. But it reminded me of something that I read in Brain Pickings, where the writer sends us back to Confucius, living in the east between 551-479 BCE.

“The ancient Chinese philosopher and statesman Confucius recognized the indelible link between personal and political morality, recognized that interpersonal kindness is the foundation of social justice, recognized that democracy — a form of government only just invented on the other side of the globe in ancient Greece, not to take root in his own culture for epochs — begins in the heart.”, she says.

Confucius made a connection “between personal good and public good rooted in purity of heart and discipline of mind” – a relevant directive for current politicians.

How does one get there? It means an orderly and disciplined home environment, which means moving back to individual responsibility, developing priorities around what is important – and seeing these as organic categories, looking at these with the mind and moving back for final evaluation by the heart. With these in place, one can work back to through the steps in ascending order leading to good governance at local and regional levels - and ultimately to national and international ones that have developed long after Confucius.

What if these were the steps politicians took – as opposed to trying to stay in office as their only imperative?

Plastics - Everywhere

Bill McKibben has noted this week in the New Yorker that we have to stop burning things - and notes that trading wood for oil based material may create as many problems as it was thought to solve. That may be a topic for another time. He goes on to discuss the prevalence of plastics in our lives.

Who knew the extent? He interviews Judith Enck, who tells him:

“Microplastics can be found in everything from drinking water to soil to beer to table salt to a cup of tea. In fact, we’re all ingesting roughly a credit card’s worth of plastic each week. Stunningly, scientists recently found plastics in human placentas.”

Enck, who formerly worked in the Obama administration, is a visiting professor at Bennington College and the president of Beyond Plastics, It starts by framing the plastics trifecta - focusing on the three most prominent single use products that can be replaced - and suggest that citizens in the US approach all levels of government to ask for their banning. Canadians can take note. See if you can guess the three most villainous pollution products. They have even created a sample bill to send to legislators, making the case that single use banning is less effective than looking a bans for one product individually.

This is a really good site. Go to it and take advantage of all the resources it offers. There are a number of concrete actions that citizens can take - from writing tea companies to asking food delivery companies to hold the plastic in their packaging. Individual actions are good - but they have to be supported by going to the source of the polluters and telling them what we think.

Never Underestimate - Science Moms

I was originally made aware of the importance of climate scientist Kathryn Hayhoe through the University of Toronto’s School of the Environment lecture series in 2019 where they claimed this outstanding woman as one of their own. A Canadian by birth. Hayhoe began her studies here before becoming the Political Science Endowed Professor in Public Policy and Public Law in the Department of Political Science, a director of the Climate Center, and an associate in the Public Health program of the Graduate School of Biomedical Sciences at Texas Tech University.

 But never underestimate the power of a woman – and a mom – and also a scientist. She has brought the three together as the lead in a new initiative to help us guide the next generation in the important area of climate change.  After meeting a young mother frightened about the world of the future for her child, Hayhoe realized they had a common situation and concern. Her approach is creative – channel fears into action.  Talk to your family and friends about it – but even more importantly, become an advocate in the places where you have agency – local schools, local governments, churches and local agencies and other levels of government.

 Hayhoe recruited five other prominent women scientists and a funding body to begin a ten million dollar educational project designed to educate and empower mothers – grandmothers like me can also join in. It will pay for advertisements featuring the women scientists that will run nationally and follow with ads focusing on states in the US where climate change is already showing significant effect. It’s a long term project that is expected to last for five years and you can read about it here.  Its website site includes helpful resources and starts the process with outlining myths and facts.

 In a “half the sky” framework, moms matter to politicians and advertisers.  Both can tap into their existing concern for climate change.  What this project gives them is some straightforward ways to act.  Moreover, they will have confidence in the leadership of woman scientists providing them with talking points and the ability to debunk common myths. Among them:

• Climate change isn’t settled science.

• Climate change is a natural phenomenon.

• Climate change is way off in the distant future.

• It might get bad but we can handle it.

• There is still time to address it (but not too much).

 You might check your own response to these statements and see if you are clear on the facts.  Next you can view the resources – some for moms and some to share with their children as well as TED talks. There is a sign up sheet for Americans and a similar one for Canadians and other parts of the world would be useful.

The final reminder is that individual small steps are important – but significant action involves government legislation.  We have to have the right information and we have to urge those in positions of power to act on it in important and positive ways. Exploring these materials is a really worthwhile way to spend some time during our current lock down.

The Coming Decade's Work

Bill McKibben has changed the narrative from the incredible events of the past week that have been termed surreal – and only now have to be recognized as all too real.

The good news that a black man from the American south finally can be elected to the Senate was swamped by a riot and what to do about it as well as increasing hospitalizations and deaths from the pandemic.  At the same time we forget that we are now we have passed the half way mark for dealing with the climate crisis.

 The following were milestones:

• Prior to 1990 scientists and oil companies study the effects of climate change

• 1988: James Hansen testifies to US congress

• 1990: Climate change is recognized as a problem by the public1992: The Rio Earth Summit initiates attempts to deal with it as an international problem

• 2050 becomes the target year for carbon neutrality

 McKibben goes on to say that the 1990s and the first decade of the 21st century were basically a waste of time in addressing the issue. Oil companies and politicians united to make nothing happen and the Copenhagan conference in 2009 failed, as did the US Cap and Trade legislation in 2010.

 But after that evidence was hard to ignore. We could not ignore rising temperatures, fires and floods.  Solar energy and wind power developed and became cheaper. Activism started from the ground up and politicians now had another force than oil companies.  The Paris Conference in 2015 had new commitment internationally.  The US president didn’t help but momentum was there.

 It has to continue. Scientists tell us that to keep on track we have to cut emissions by half by 2030.  Moving the goal posts simply won’t do. That means several changes

• An end to new fossil fuel infrastructure – which McKibben says may include the closing down of Alberta’s tar sands

• Retrofitting of buildings to make them more energy efficient

• Changes in transportation – including how we move ourselves

• Stopping of Deforestation

• Less use of carbon in food production Elimination of tax support of fossil fuel industries

These things have to happen now – and everywhere. There are some positive changes, including the diminished size and strength of many oil producing companies, the growth of electric cars, and positive responses from governments, especially the incoming Biden team. It’s the next 500 weeks that have to make the difference.

 There is encouraging news.  United by dealing the pandemic, cities of the world are uniting to work together as well as pressuring other levels of government to act.  You can find out more about the organization here and watch the brief video below.