My writings - and those of others.
Teachers
It is quite wonderful to discover an interesting character in a novel and then find that it is based upon the life of a real person. In this case it is Suzanne Simard, who appears in Richard Power’s The Overstory.
What she has discovered after years of forest research, and its dismissal by other scientists, is that trees in a forest, like people, have relationships - and one tree may act as a protector of other younger ones. We can learn from the forest’s wisdom. We know that people use networks; what she has found is that there are similar patterns in the plant world. In the same way that thoughts and feelings are hidden within our unconscious, there are similar ones in the plant world unseen and underground.
I’ll le her speak for herself here:
COP 26 - the Takeaways
These are the key points of agreement after two weeks of COP26 conferring.
Fossil fuels were named in the final report for the first time. The young were furious when language was weakened, but the words were at least used, if watered down. Now that the need to reduce their use is on record, no matter how weakly, a new degree of accountability can begin.
A fund for loss and damage is not included. This, of course is terribly discouraging for those who have been the most damaged by fossil fuel use in the richest countries. Some of them are already under water.
A 1.5 degree target increase still exists - but in a less than adequate way. Projections of actual results based on current realities and the announcement of actual future plans lessen the possibility of it happening.
The timelines for report national results are higher. That, at least, is good news. Most countries want to have good reputations and there are now better methods to separate results from aspirations or as Greta would say, blah, blah, blah.
The young are awake and aware. One hundred thousand of them were present for the conference and many of them were not old white men, but young women of colour. The young are getting older, will have increased influence and they are not going to depart from activism any time soon. Politicians who want to be re-elected need to take note.
All in all, some progress, but there is still a glaring need to speed things up. Let’s hope the young people keep on the case, and inspire the rest of us to support them.
Playing with Words
As I wait for the final results of COP 26, I have to find something else to write about to end the week. I am taking a course online and the subject yesterday was “Interiority” - not a word that I ever use. That sent me on a search which I posted on the course site - and I’ll share something of it here:
I'm going to have some fun with words. I became curious about the term, "interiority", because before starting the course - or perhaps before reading Thomas Berry - it was not part of my everyday vocabulary. Canadians, like me, straddle both British and American English. I started with the hard copy of my Concise Oxford Dictionary published in 1982. The word wasn't there. I moved on to Collins British dictionary online to find this: "the quality of being focused on one's inner life and identity". If the Oxford English Dictionary had allowed me to see when the word first entered the language, I would have gone there, but there is a paywall. Collins did help with a diagram. It showed brief use for the first time in 1778 - 0.07% - and then the word languished or fell off completely until 1978 when it took off at 0.33% use. But that’s not a very big number either.
I moved on to the American Merriam-Webster. It had this to say: Definition of interiority
1: interior quality or character
2: inner life or substance : psychological existence
When we are little kids, using big words gives us a sense of authority and superiority - and it also makes us part of an in-group. For me, one of the challenges of Berry’s New Story - is telling it in words that other people understand. "Story" is a simpler word. For more fun, I went back to Collins and tried translating story into French, German and Italian. In each case it brings up a native word in the language histoire, Geschichte, storia. When I tried the same thing with Interiority, this is what came up - intériorité, Innerlichkeit, Interiorità. The German seemed to have a better word of their own. The others sounded as though they adopted the English one.
When we watched Robin Wall Kimmerer this week, several in the course commented on her warmth and simplicity as it comes through in the sound of her voice and her demeanor. It's isn't as though she can't use big words when she chooses to. I've just finished two of her books, Gathering Moss and Braiding Sweetgrass. Her naming of mosses reveals a scholar who can joust with any biologist and win hands down. For me, interiority has a cold and rather scientific sound - like an empty and sparsely furnished room. But this playful research brought a phrase that I can work with - "inner life" - because it sounds as though it comes from the wisdom of the heart. It still combines an adjective and a noun. To spur myself and others to act, I have to turn a phrase into a verb. The video for this section of the course on the global brain with the outline of the human body is also a big help in showing us what it means to live - both inside and outside our skins.
A good teacher once heard a student say, "I feel very creative". The teacher asked "So what are you going to create?" "Oh I didn't mean that I was going to do anything about it. It's just how I feel today".
That's why I never use the word "creativity" either. But "create" is a verb I like.
Progress not Perfection
This blog is becoming a site of qualfiers as COP 26 proceeds. Among the recent complaints are too many old white men, so here is a refreshing message from a different cohort.
The young East Indian CEO, Svanicka Balasubranian was watching it from home on her family’s farm, where over several decades, ground water has fallen by more than half resulting in crop failures. She recognizes the frustration of many with lack of progress, but has some wise things to say.
First, when we tell stories we have to stop painting them as black or white and introduce some nuance. Few stories in the media are as glamorous or positive as they sound in terms of generating results. She sympathizes with the young, but at the same time, their dismissal of every effort may not be helpful either.
Second, we have to become more holistic. Favorite agendas can blind us to the strengths of other options. Often the agendas - especially in their marketing efforts - are filled with self-interest. It doesn’t hurt when opposed groups like Nestle and Green Peace actually sit down together and see what they can come up with that might work for both.
Third, the silos long decried in the government and corporate sectors are just as evident in the stakeholders of climate change. There are no single silver bullet solutions, she says, To over-engineer one, may be a waste of time and energy. It is more like a jigsaw puzzle with many pieces needed for completion. What matters is accountability in particular situations. Solutions may indeed be local rather than universal and the point is how much positive small changes can happen.
Small measures can indeed have good consequences. You can see what she says about that in her TED Talk.
Better but faster
I enjoy Fareed Zacharia both in his writing and online hosting - and frequently listen to “Here’s My Take” in his Global Public Square broadcast. Here are some of the highlights of that today re COP26. There is some good news amid all the doom and gloom that too many journalistic reports convey.
100 nations have agreed to reduce methane fuels.by 30% by the year 2030. These emissions have been avoided up to now and they are major polluters.
By that same year, the same 100 will end deforestation and will provide funds to back that up
130 trillion will back up investments to reach net zero emissions of 1.5C by 2050.
The costs of solar and wind power are going down - 89% for solar and 70% for wind. Lithium- iron battery prices are down by 97%.
But we have to do more and speed up our emission reductions. Every aspect of the way we live is affected - the cars we drive, the food we eat, One cow emits 250 pounds of methane a year. We can’t be too scared to act - but we better not be in denial either. Zacharia quotes author John Doerr who makes these points for us as individuals to urge our individual governments to work on:
Decarbonize the electric grid.
Protect nature.
Work with other governments across the world to come up with policies that work - a good example is working together to produce and initiate the use of solar panels.
Follow good examples - like the State of California and Hawaii. Both set goals that were transparent and were open about results.
Most of us want a better world. We need to pay attention and participate as citizens who care and work with our politicians to take action.