My writings - and those of others.
Power
I watched the PBS Frontline program on Biden earlier this week. it’s something of a rags to riches story telling how Biden saw John F. Kennedy’s rise when he was a teenager and decided to imitate it - in spite of not having the financial resources of his model. Both men had influential fathers. The irony of following a model that produced tragedy for both was all too real in this story. Death was always in the background of the climb to power.At one point we see Biden weeping as he watches his son Beau speaking at a convention as though he might be a future presidential candidate, but knowing what others didn’t - that the son would soon die of a brain tumor. It is not a surprise that the president has been seen as a healer since he had too many times to have to heal himself. It’s also not a surprise that the parents who lost their sons in the flight from Afghanistan resented it when Biden said that he knew who they felt at such a time of loss, then spoke about his son, not theirs.
When we’re down, we get up - the ongoing mantra - was a resolution that could help anything but the march of time. Power is attractive when we get it, and its not surprising that we want to keep it. But ultimately what we do with power speaks to our own agency. No one could push Biden out no matter how much they might have wanted to. Perhaps his finest moment should be the one when he made the painful choice to not get up, but to step down. He deserves some time to grieve the loss of something he spent most of his time preparing for. Coming out of that is a hope for a return of that amazing smile. Elders have a role as our indigenous brothers and sisters know.
How About Real Intelligence
I’m reading in the Washington Post this morning that visual artists and photographers are already feeling the blows of artificial intelligence by having it steal their images. They are leaving the social media that claims copyright for anything they post there..
Last night I attended an event jointly presented by the Toronto Symphony and Tapestry Opera - a master class for four rapidly rising women conductors. The program, also jointly supported by the Vancouver Symphony, is intended to create more gender balance in this professional field. It was wonderful to watch each of them privileged to work with seasoned professional musicians as well as being tutored in a good humoured way by a master conductor. This is the second of these master classes I have attended watching some of the same young professionals, and what a pleasure to see growth as they continue building their careers.
And what I heard were one time performances. Perhaps they have been recorded and will appear online later. But nothing can duplicated hearing it as it was - with the drama and immediacy, and sometimes the improvement as the conductors repeated a passage after direction. No mashup by a machine can ever duplicate it. We need to experience real events in real time created by real artists - in concert halls and galleries.
Please feel free .. .
Coming back from an appointment I stopped to look at a paper surrounded by sticky tape and left on the sidewalk. It said, “Please feel free to take it”. My guess is that it was originally posted to something left on the street. It’s not uncommon for folks to leave something near the sidewalk that they don’t want any more. If someone else can use it, that’s a good thing.
But the slogan made me think of how we treat the natural environment. Earlier in the morning I was reading Marilynne Robinson’ new book, Reading Genesis, where she points out that unlike the Babylonian culture that existed when the book was written, that creation was a gift, and that the gift was also supported by promises of continuity, even when the recipients behaved badly. We appear to be slow learners. We still feel free to help ourselves.
Communication
I’ve been impressed for some time by Climate Outreach in the UK. Their small team studies effective ways to deal with the climate crisis - and a couple of my own recent presentations show how other writers use ones that provide hope. Here are some of the key findings from their 2024 report on how Britain Talks Climate. Read the full report.
They found that no demographic or segment of the general population opposes climate change as a reality that requires action.
People believe climate change is the job of government - without necessarily feeling that their current government is doing enough.
They want to work with others in tackling it - not just on an individual basis.
How we talk about it matters:
Don’t assume that others don’t think it matters. They do. They will differ on the process, but they do care.
Don’t make people more worried. They are already anxious enough.
Talk about the progress that is already underway and its benefits.
Make the connections - a healthy planet, a resilient nature, our own well being.
Recognize that for many change is scary and times are hard.
Things to avoid
That climate change is all about more hardship and sacrifice.
Drastic approaches that are against common sense
Pitting different aspects of nature and climate change against each other.
The also have good ideas about images and what ones work like the one used here.
Real News
We’ve been so immersed in Fake News - and my schadenfreude has been operating overtime as I read about how the National Enquirer, beloved of the supermarket checkouts a couple of decades ago, helped to provide some to get “You Know Who” elected in 2016. Who knew who the originators of such Fake News really were? It’s surprising that the instigator didn’t take the credit.
Last evening a few of us online in a climate centered group asked how we best engage others to attention to the climate crisis. I an watching a local seniors advocacy group become angry at banks and oil companies, and we are all watching the young follow the tradition of sixties protests because, like us, they can’t help reacting to the never-ending bad news around us on TV and social media. The issues are long-standing and complicated. The response of the young can’t be nuanced; they are not looking through the eyes of times they did not live through. I admire can their courage even when protesting involves misunderstanding and recklessness. But the perspective of my more than eight decades, I’m not sure that it is the only approach - or that of the seniors who imitate them. For now, I choose to look at positive things that are happening and put my support there.
One such is from Solved, referenced in the previous post. Here’s a quote:
“City-led climate action, because it is real, effective, and timely, can offer hope that we can address climate change. Why? Because taking proven solutions underway somewhere. and using them everywhere is the best - and increasingly the only- way to act with the urgency that science shows we must.” p.16. Solved, Paperback edition
See the book under resources here and get a copy. You will be encouraged and find ways to act.