I absolutely do believe that WE, The People, have the capability to accomplish this task!
What I wish we had was an organized, united, vision as was offered by Roosevelt. At that time all Americans heard the same message from the same leader, not through 20 different media platforms or a hundred different news stations, but one source… the radio. Families sat around and “watched” the radio TOGETHER‼️ So, EVERYbody together got the same message to organize. There is so much noise on technology today, not all from reliable sources, that it’s muddying and confounding the message. A good beginning will be if EVERYbody VOTES💙 and we are able to actually have a United Congress with the power of a united VOICE to affect change for the good of the people, for the good of the world‼️ We must VOTE💙 and Hope🙏🏻
Unless we have election finance reform, we cannot ensure that our "representatives" are not owned by the military industrial complex, the medical industrial complex, the pharma industrial complex and the fossil fuel industry. We have seen time and again that the people we elect as perceived agents of change, are quickly corrupted and controlled through the systemic bribery that masquerades as campaign contributions.
Same in Australia, we are hoping new legislation to regain integrity will be far reaching, enough to stop the bribes of the big end of town influencing policy here.
Indeed, Annemarie, this is the biggest obstacle to overcome in order to create a thrivable green world again! We can also approach the matter locally and work collectively outside the corrupt system in order to make progress visa vi ethical nonprofits as well as clean energy and biodiversity enterprises striving to turn the tide.
The biggest problem to overcome is the influence of the military industrial complex, and the forever wars that are driving us to the brink of nuclear extinction. America is a war machine, driven by evil people who benefit from the destruction and conquest of other countries.
Annemarie, not evil people necessarily but ignorant and innocent of what truly sustains life. Ervin Laszlo talks of the need to end bifurcation and build coherence for nature to survive. I recall an epidemiologist in the '80s, who gave a lecture at Mayo Auditorium at the U of Minn. He said it would take a few more hundred years to dissolve violence from within the DNA of humanity--he seems right, and I was saddened to hear him but haven't forgotten. I am a pacifist who abhors war and I think of it as a super failure of our species.
Wonderful! When we talk of the geniuses that have already mapped out an immediate path to put clean wind and solar to work at less cost and more reliability and efficiency than fossil fuels and nuclear - I would like to point you all to the work of Mark Z. Jacobson of Stanford - twitter @mzjacobson - see article https://beyondclimatepromises.ca/what-if-the-wind-doesnt-blow/ and Amory Lovins of the Rocky Mountain Institute. This presentation of his is worth watching - showing how efficient design retrofitting alone can drastically lower our energy needs. He retrofitted the Empire State Bldg. and saved 45% of energy costs which quickly paid for the price of the retrofitting. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0zjzMXBc7xE. Add to this sustainable and regenerative agriculture kissthegroundmovie.com and reduction of wastes and plastic (not to be missed film - The Story of Plastic) https://www.storyofstuff.org/sop-v72dpb1vzfx9iki2/ and we are really embracing solutions that are ready to be implemented now - with as Marianne said - a WWII-style/moon mission resolve. What I've mentioned are to examples of some of the geniuses ready to launch us into the beautiful/sustainable future Marianne alluded to. And the amazing news is that there are thousands, perhaps millions of more geniuses all over the world with solutions, as well. It just takes our care, awareness, resolve and perhaps the one thing that seems to be most lacking - cooperation. I wrote this line in a screenplay inspired by my greatest teachers, "The world can change in an instant of choosing cooperation."
Indeed, cooperation and collaboration are necessary ingredients to evolution--right now, however, it seems a war of ideologies has permeated too many psyches.
Thank you Marianne for your wonderful article. With regard to all the comments, all I can say is thank God for "A Course In Miracles." "I could see peace instead of this," ACIM W.34😊
“Americans realized what had to be done and came together to do it.”
At the moment, few Americans allow themselves to imagine the full horror that we are set up for politically (nuclear war with Russia), and in terms of climate change and other environmental damage. Therefore they do not have the motivation to change that Roosevelt was able to call upon.
Turning this around, our job, for those of us who care about the future, is to communicate with people we know and our larger networks about the reality of our existential emergency, and the systemic drivers that make things worse… with a view to developing enormous public will for transformational change
To be frank, brilliant people like yourself don’t help very much. You, like Richard Heinberg, David Korten, and the personal growth organizations such as the Shift Network and MindValley position yourself as 'fonts of knowledge'. You preach – or teach – to your students. But you make no attempt to inspire your students to be leaders/communicators in their own right.
Yet this, I suggest, is what’s needed now: a mass movement of citizen-educators equipped with effective tools for communicating about complex issues and how to orient ourselves to avoid the worst of coming disasters.
Every now and again I pop up here in the comments section suggest that we would do well to talk, Marianne. I reiterate the suggestion. I have innovative ideas that come from a different paradigm of social change inspired by Moshe Feldenkrais, Matt Taylor’s DesignShops, Internal Family Systems Therapy, EFT, and more.
The reason I say you don’t help very much is not to discount what you do. It simply that your reach, like everybody’s, is limited. “We preach to the converted,” as it were. This is a valuable start. But now, I suggest, our challenge, is to inspire the converted to have effective conversations with people who do not seek out your posts. We need an organized way to go beyond our own thought bubbles.
"...our challenge, is to inspire the converted to have effective conversations with people who do not seek out your posts." I don't see that (and it's another one of your definitive statements). I see us having conversation among people who get what Marianne talks about. There is a shocking absence of conversation about what we can do -- it's all about what we should be dealing with, like Marianne is talking about here, but nothing about what we can do.
I think you know too much. Definitive statements about the way it is don't inspire connecting. I recognize where you come from. I come from there, too. The problem is there's aren't alternatives for us. It's gadflies all the way down and no body of people figuring out what we-the-people can do ourselves and what we can influence the government to do. For that, we'd have to be connected. We need conversations!
Hi Suzanne – solutions are certainly important. Perhaps you have checked out Paul Hawkins Drawdown? If you look at what the MacArthur Foundation funds, it is all about solutions. The MIT Climate Lab is all about solutions There is huge amount of important practical work going on in the solutions space.
Simon Michaux of the Norwegian geological survey crunched the numbers to assess the extra capacity we would be required to replace current fossil fuel systems with renewable energy. He was interested to work out whether it is actually feasible.
His conclusion, put simply, is NO.
Why? “The quantity of metal required to make just one generation of renewable tech units to replace fossil fuels, is much larger than first thought. Current mining production of these metals is not even close to meeting demand. Current reported mineral reserves are also not enough in size. Most concerning is copper as one of the flagged shortfalls. Exploration for more at required volumes will be difficult, with this seminar addressing these issues.”
If this conclusion is correct, perhaps our problem is not to amplify solutions, but to dramatically slow industrial production and consumption so that we operate within the Earth’s capacity to support us. Of course solutions are part of the way forward, but the current dream is to somehow keep our current way of life going.
FYI, I developed a tool called Kitchen Table Conversations to talk about systems change.
You're still in the realm of defining the problem. I ask, if you ran the world, what would you do? That's not to talk about what possibly would be good to do, but, faced even with nuclear annihilation, what can we DO? I can't find conversations about that or reports floating around. It seems like uncharted territory that we should be operating in. Will check out what you have.
Donella Meadows wrote a valuable essay, Leverage Points: Places to Intervene in a System, in which she suggested that the most influential leverage points in any human system are the mindset and goals of the system.
I know this is abstract; we are talking about people’s mental maps, desires, expectations and whether they tend to collaborate or dominate. Not easy to change. But the climate catastrophe is a reason to change, if people fully grasped what’s coming. But then they need to grasp the direction of change, which folks have already indicated on this thread.
Greatly reduced consumption of natural resources is very helpful since we have a finite planet. The future will require the sharing of resources that's something us humans have a hard time doing but that mind shift needs to change--we cannot continue in our current path and rare Earth minerals are just that--too rare to be a future option for many years--not possible.
Indeed, as Roosevelt said, “Go out there and make me do it!” It will be a breakthrough when we have leaders who tell the truth, including about population. In the meantime, I suggest, it’s up to us to get the conversation started. Inspiring Transition is a platform with communication tools.
Try reaching out to organizations, like the Sierra Club or Nature Conservancy--many abound to teach what each of us can do to help, i.e. better refrigeration at your house is a good one these days.
There is nothing more persistent and inevitable than a Vision held in the Heart, without regard to current reality.
There is no difficulty in Miracles.
It is your Father’s Good Pleasure to Give you the Kingdom. Ask and you shall receive.
In that light I hold the Vision of a Forested World ruled not by carbon but by Photosynthesis, the currency is Faith
And the Law is simply Love.
‘Not quite “current reality” however… ‘as I repeatedly re-choose, refine and hold on to this Vision and live my life as if it is inevitably so; I observe even the tiniest turns in that direction. So…
Marianne, your wrote a good assessment regarding the climate crisis. I worked with a subcommittee of the City of Red Wing's Sustainability Commission last autumn to declare a climate emergency in Red Wing, Minn.--the resolution passed by the City Council in January, 2022. This community is progressive but still has a long way to go too.
Probably the most impressive, prophetic leader I have encountered on a global scale to help us become thrivable again is Paul Gilding. He wrote the following book that inspired my work as a sustainability commissioner: "The Great Disruption: Why the Climate Crisis Will Bring On the End of Shopping and the Birth of a New World." He wrote the book in 2011 and all he relates is prescient--he too wrote about the need for collective engagement to end the crisis and comparing it to what happened in the U.S. during WWII. (Gilding is an Australian and former head of Greenpeace International and works with Cambridge University's Programme for Sustainability Leadership.)
So what you said about needing the will of the people remains the conundrum since global leadership is lacking for many reasons, and we are not hearing one coherent voice but confusion from those still bent on power and greed from within industries that are raping our Earth. Our only hope, so it seems, is working locally while encouraging ethical nonprofits and enterprises (solar, wind turbines, innovation to restore biodiversity, etc.) to move forward--trying to overcome all obstacles. I do think the recent Federal legislation passed is helpful but remains doubtful for the true progress required to save all sentient beings from going over the cliff: Global coherence is needed and lacking to save the day.
I’ve been following you, Marianne for years. Thank you for your inspiration. I would like to add to your recent email on fuel that America needs to start learning how to save electricity (turn off the lights behind), stop the insane usage of plastic (even the American movies portray people drinking from plastic cups; wine or champagne in a limousine or theater!!!!!) and start carrying about the quality of food on the mass level, FDR style.
I Don’t want to be negative but I just don’t get it why the richest country in the world has the poorest and the most unconscious eating habits.
We are on the threshold of potential nuclear extinction. At this moment in time, war is a much bigger threat to humanity than fossil fuels. The military is also the biggest polluter.
Again, we have a problem of folks fearing the 'other'; thus, the misguided notion of violence as a solution to gain safety, peace, money, or power--or all of those. So sad. Us Earthlings need to upgrade our thought system to know that love is a creative force for good that tops all else--somehow a hard sell for far too many.
How about nuclear, Marianne? The one 0 emissions solution? Why aren't you even mentioning that?
I cannot believe you are this ignorant. Humanity cannot move to "green energy" at the rate you suggest without mass starvation and death. You must know this!
I am an ex-progressive. I have seen how "nice" many progressives are, even as they unwittingly follow the globalist psychopaths like Klaus Schwaab and Justin Trudeau as they lead humanity off a cliff. We cannot "transition" to a lesser density form of energy (which humanity has never done before btw) at the rate that that the globalists are ordering us to (Have you even read about Sri Lanka??) They are trying to gain control of our lives, and the progressives are useful idiots doing their bidding. You guys ALWAYS follow the narrative provided by the media
Many don’t agree with you and yet you call them ‘ignorant?’. Perhaps you have lots to learn... Today’s meditation by Marianne is really good and important. Peace to you.
Unfortunately the people drinking the ESG Kool-Aid will be the ones who have to learn, unfortunately you may only be massive starvation and societal collapse that will convince them. Free and abundant energy is the linchpin of any healthy society.
Is it ignorance of the depleted uranium storage problem that blinds your eyes to the negative side of nuclear JD? The Japanese are currently dumping radiation contaminated water in the Pacific Ocean from their tsunami damaged nuclear plant. Chernobyl, Three Mile Island, Gulf War Veterans affected ny bunker buster bombs made from depleted uranium tipped missiles.......Here in Australia we try to stop mining if uranium and our govt would like to dump barrels of waste uranium in the north under indigenous land to contaminate underground water.
Nuclear is not low carbon, it has a larger carbon footprint regarding any mining activities for uranium/thorium, construction, the unresolved issue of waste management - not to mention catastrophic accidents like Fukushima. Anyone who doesn't want to be ignorant needs to read this https://theecologist.org/2015/feb/05/false-solution-nuclear-power-not-low-carbon
When you discuss nuclear, I invite you to envision raising your family near a nuclear plant or waste facility (or both since there is limited solutions for radioactive waste, so it is mostly stored onsite) or living near a uranium mine. I will repeat - accidents are catastrophic and you are banking on zero human error, no nuclear terrorism and calm weather to keep plants safe. Again, read my longer post - safe/clean energy solutions are here now. https://thehill.com/opinion/energy-environment/554605-no-we-dont-need-miracle-technologies-to-slash-emissions-we-already/
There has been huge progress in the safety of micro-nuclear reactors (is it risk-free - of course not, but it's getting close). The carbon footprint is MINIMAL - especially compared to any other type of mining (lithium anyone?).
The truth is the energy companies do not want nuclear because it puts them out of business. The "leaders" don't want it because it would allow civillization to have cheap abundant energy and give them less control levers.
Sorry, it is nowhere near safe https://www.ucsusa.org/about/news/report-advanced-nuclear-reactors-no-better-current-fleet . And we simply don't need it with less expensive clean renewables and smart grids. Actually, the Nuclear industry doesn't want clean energy because it puts them out of business. And you are right - all mining is destructive and poisonous. Nuclear radiation poisons earth for thousands of years. Do you have a solution for the wastes? Blessings. Hope the links I've provided are useful to understanding multiple sides of the issue.
See my longer post in the replying to Marianne thread - and read Mark Z. Jacobson's work cited in this article reflecting the research of NextEra Energy (which as they point out is not an anti-nuclear organization - but even they show how it nuclear is unneeded, dangerous and does not compete at all with new renewables) https://cleantechnica.com/2022/10/04/why-should-we-pay-extra-for-nuclear-power/
Neither England nor the United States had any military capacity in 1939. We set out to become what FDR called the “arsenal of democracy”. The allies won the war together
As a military historian, I must interject that America and Britain did not win the war against Germany. Some 85% of German casualties occurred on the Russian front.
America did greatly aid Russia with Studebaker 6x6 trucks---their primary transport logistics means; thousands of tons of Hormel Spam, which was used as the equivalent of K-rations by the Soviet army; and p-39 fighter planes, which were ineffective in that capacity against the Luftwaffe's Me-109's and Focke-Wulfs, but were very useful as ground attack weapons. On the other side of the equation the Russians laughed at our M-3 General Grant tanks, as their T-34's were the best in the game.
The Western Allies were certainly late in the game, but this was in part by intent, as the geopolitical analysts in both the US and Britain, followed the old Perfidious Albion policy of keeping Germany down and Russia out. The aim was for those two nations to effectually destroy each other and then the West would move in when those two foes were mostly exhausted and then claim half the victory...or on the part of Hollywood, the whole shebang.
My first smile of the day since you mentioned Hormel Spam--I am from Minnesota where Spam is made and it's becoming a go-to food even in high-end restaurants around the globe. Also, I appreciate your insights on how WWII was really won but Western allies did help.
Please read progressives...and be honest if you see yourselves following this guit ridden and anti human path. Its not too late to do research and think critically
I absolutely do believe that WE, The People, have the capability to accomplish this task!
What I wish we had was an organized, united, vision as was offered by Roosevelt. At that time all Americans heard the same message from the same leader, not through 20 different media platforms or a hundred different news stations, but one source… the radio. Families sat around and “watched” the radio TOGETHER‼️ So, EVERYbody together got the same message to organize. There is so much noise on technology today, not all from reliable sources, that it’s muddying and confounding the message. A good beginning will be if EVERYbody VOTES💙 and we are able to actually have a United Congress with the power of a united VOICE to affect change for the good of the people, for the good of the world‼️ We must VOTE💙 and Hope🙏🏻
Unless we have election finance reform, we cannot ensure that our "representatives" are not owned by the military industrial complex, the medical industrial complex, the pharma industrial complex and the fossil fuel industry. We have seen time and again that the people we elect as perceived agents of change, are quickly corrupted and controlled through the systemic bribery that masquerades as campaign contributions.
Same in Australia, we are hoping new legislation to regain integrity will be far reaching, enough to stop the bribes of the big end of town influencing policy here.
Indeed, Annemarie, this is the biggest obstacle to overcome in order to create a thrivable green world again! We can also approach the matter locally and work collectively outside the corrupt system in order to make progress visa vi ethical nonprofits as well as clean energy and biodiversity enterprises striving to turn the tide.
The biggest problem to overcome is the influence of the military industrial complex, and the forever wars that are driving us to the brink of nuclear extinction. America is a war machine, driven by evil people who benefit from the destruction and conquest of other countries.
Annemarie, not evil people necessarily but ignorant and innocent of what truly sustains life. Ervin Laszlo talks of the need to end bifurcation and build coherence for nature to survive. I recall an epidemiologist in the '80s, who gave a lecture at Mayo Auditorium at the U of Minn. He said it would take a few more hundred years to dissolve violence from within the DNA of humanity--he seems right, and I was saddened to hear him but haven't forgotten. I am a pacifist who abhors war and I think of it as a super failure of our species.
Wonderful! When we talk of the geniuses that have already mapped out an immediate path to put clean wind and solar to work at less cost and more reliability and efficiency than fossil fuels and nuclear - I would like to point you all to the work of Mark Z. Jacobson of Stanford - twitter @mzjacobson - see article https://beyondclimatepromises.ca/what-if-the-wind-doesnt-blow/ and Amory Lovins of the Rocky Mountain Institute. This presentation of his is worth watching - showing how efficient design retrofitting alone can drastically lower our energy needs. He retrofitted the Empire State Bldg. and saved 45% of energy costs which quickly paid for the price of the retrofitting. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0zjzMXBc7xE. Add to this sustainable and regenerative agriculture kissthegroundmovie.com and reduction of wastes and plastic (not to be missed film - The Story of Plastic) https://www.storyofstuff.org/sop-v72dpb1vzfx9iki2/ and we are really embracing solutions that are ready to be implemented now - with as Marianne said - a WWII-style/moon mission resolve. What I've mentioned are to examples of some of the geniuses ready to launch us into the beautiful/sustainable future Marianne alluded to. And the amazing news is that there are thousands, perhaps millions of more geniuses all over the world with solutions, as well. It just takes our care, awareness, resolve and perhaps the one thing that seems to be most lacking - cooperation. I wrote this line in a screenplay inspired by my greatest teachers, "The world can change in an instant of choosing cooperation."
Indeed, cooperation and collaboration are necessary ingredients to evolution--right now, however, it seems a war of ideologies has permeated too many psyches.
GREAT WRITING ... There is a Force and a Power in your pen that hasn't been there before ... Keepi it up ... and ... we just might turn things around!
Thank you Marianne for your wonderful article. With regard to all the comments, all I can say is thank God for "A Course In Miracles." "I could see peace instead of this," ACIM W.34😊
“Americans realized what had to be done and came together to do it.”
At the moment, few Americans allow themselves to imagine the full horror that we are set up for politically (nuclear war with Russia), and in terms of climate change and other environmental damage. Therefore they do not have the motivation to change that Roosevelt was able to call upon.
Turning this around, our job, for those of us who care about the future, is to communicate with people we know and our larger networks about the reality of our existential emergency, and the systemic drivers that make things worse… with a view to developing enormous public will for transformational change
To be frank, brilliant people like yourself don’t help very much. You, like Richard Heinberg, David Korten, and the personal growth organizations such as the Shift Network and MindValley position yourself as 'fonts of knowledge'. You preach – or teach – to your students. But you make no attempt to inspire your students to be leaders/communicators in their own right.
Yet this, I suggest, is what’s needed now: a mass movement of citizen-educators equipped with effective tools for communicating about complex issues and how to orient ourselves to avoid the worst of coming disasters.
Every now and again I pop up here in the comments section suggest that we would do well to talk, Marianne. I reiterate the suggestion. I have innovative ideas that come from a different paradigm of social change inspired by Moshe Feldenkrais, Matt Taylor’s DesignShops, Internal Family Systems Therapy, EFT, and more.
Again, let’s talk!
Andrew Gaines
Inspiring Transition
andrew.gaines@InspiringTransition.net
www.InspiringTransition.net
Greta Thunberg will have reason to hope when she sees that mainstream society is committed to turning things around.
The reason I say you don’t help very much is not to discount what you do. It simply that your reach, like everybody’s, is limited. “We preach to the converted,” as it were. This is a valuable start. But now, I suggest, our challenge, is to inspire the converted to have effective conversations with people who do not seek out your posts. We need an organized way to go beyond our own thought bubbles.
"...our challenge, is to inspire the converted to have effective conversations with people who do not seek out your posts." I don't see that (and it's another one of your definitive statements). I see us having conversation among people who get what Marianne talks about. There is a shocking absence of conversation about what we can do -- it's all about what we should be dealing with, like Marianne is talking about here, but nothing about what we can do.
I think you know too much. Definitive statements about the way it is don't inspire connecting. I recognize where you come from. I come from there, too. The problem is there's aren't alternatives for us. It's gadflies all the way down and no body of people figuring out what we-the-people can do ourselves and what we can influence the government to do. For that, we'd have to be connected. We need conversations!
Hi Suzanne – solutions are certainly important. Perhaps you have checked out Paul Hawkins Drawdown? If you look at what the MacArthur Foundation funds, it is all about solutions. The MIT Climate Lab is all about solutions There is huge amount of important practical work going on in the solutions space.
Simon Michaux of the Norwegian geological survey crunched the numbers to assess the extra capacity we would be required to replace current fossil fuel systems with renewable energy. He was interested to work out whether it is actually feasible.
His conclusion, put simply, is NO.
Why? “The quantity of metal required to make just one generation of renewable tech units to replace fossil fuels, is much larger than first thought. Current mining production of these metals is not even close to meeting demand. Current reported mineral reserves are also not enough in size. Most concerning is copper as one of the flagged shortfalls. Exploration for more at required volumes will be difficult, with this seminar addressing these issues.”
If this conclusion is correct, perhaps our problem is not to amplify solutions, but to dramatically slow industrial production and consumption so that we operate within the Earth’s capacity to support us. Of course solutions are part of the way forward, but the current dream is to somehow keep our current way of life going.
FYI, I developed a tool called Kitchen Table Conversations to talk about systems change.
You're still in the realm of defining the problem. I ask, if you ran the world, what would you do? That's not to talk about what possibly would be good to do, but, faced even with nuclear annihilation, what can we DO? I can't find conversations about that or reports floating around. It seems like uncharted territory that we should be operating in. Will check out what you have.
Hi Suzanne,
Donella Meadows wrote a valuable essay, Leverage Points: Places to Intervene in a System, in which she suggested that the most influential leverage points in any human system are the mindset and goals of the system.
I know this is abstract; we are talking about people’s mental maps, desires, expectations and whether they tend to collaborate or dominate. Not easy to change. But the climate catastrophe is a reason to change, if people fully grasped what’s coming. But then they need to grasp the direction of change, which folks have already indicated on this thread.
My articles on the InspiringTransition.net website spell this out:
Catalysing mass commitment to transformational change
Introducing a new paradigm for social change
I think we all share the urgency you feel.
Greatly reduced consumption of natural resources is very helpful since we have a finite planet. The future will require the sharing of resources that's something us humans have a hard time doing but that mind shift needs to change--we cannot continue in our current path and rare Earth minerals are just that--too rare to be a future option for many years--not possible.
Yes, current way of life is not sustainable. We need leaders to tell us that. Then, to tell us about birth control?
Indeed, as Roosevelt said, “Go out there and make me do it!” It will be a breakthrough when we have leaders who tell the truth, including about population. In the meantime, I suggest, it’s up to us to get the conversation started. Inspiring Transition is a platform with communication tools.
Ty Andrew.
the latter--that too!
Try reaching out to organizations, like the Sierra Club or Nature Conservancy--many abound to teach what each of us can do to help, i.e. better refrigeration at your house is a good one these days.
There is nothing more persistent and inevitable than a Vision held in the Heart, without regard to current reality.
There is no difficulty in Miracles.
It is your Father’s Good Pleasure to Give you the Kingdom. Ask and you shall receive.
In that light I hold the Vision of a Forested World ruled not by carbon but by Photosynthesis, the currency is Faith
And the Law is simply Love.
‘Not quite “current reality” however… ‘as I repeatedly re-choose, refine and hold on to this Vision and live my life as if it is inevitably so; I observe even the tiniest turns in that direction. So…
‘See ya there!
Interesting view, Frank Kane. I sometimes wonder if your vision of a Forested World will not encompass Homo Sapiens.
‘Doesn’t matter…choose the world you desire; you can always refine the details.
Or…
‘Choose the eternity of insurmountable obstacles we have obviously constructed.
‘The Currency is Faith; ‘spend it wisely💓
Not certain I get your drift. I prefer 'knowing' over faith: more accurate to the higher heart and resilient.
Faith is the evidence of things not yet seen.
‘No worries.
Marianne, your wrote a good assessment regarding the climate crisis. I worked with a subcommittee of the City of Red Wing's Sustainability Commission last autumn to declare a climate emergency in Red Wing, Minn.--the resolution passed by the City Council in January, 2022. This community is progressive but still has a long way to go too.
Probably the most impressive, prophetic leader I have encountered on a global scale to help us become thrivable again is Paul Gilding. He wrote the following book that inspired my work as a sustainability commissioner: "The Great Disruption: Why the Climate Crisis Will Bring On the End of Shopping and the Birth of a New World." He wrote the book in 2011 and all he relates is prescient--he too wrote about the need for collective engagement to end the crisis and comparing it to what happened in the U.S. during WWII. (Gilding is an Australian and former head of Greenpeace International and works with Cambridge University's Programme for Sustainability Leadership.)
So what you said about needing the will of the people remains the conundrum since global leadership is lacking for many reasons, and we are not hearing one coherent voice but confusion from those still bent on power and greed from within industries that are raping our Earth. Our only hope, so it seems, is working locally while encouraging ethical nonprofits and enterprises (solar, wind turbines, innovation to restore biodiversity, etc.) to move forward--trying to overcome all obstacles. I do think the recent Federal legislation passed is helpful but remains doubtful for the true progress required to save all sentient beings from going over the cliff: Global coherence is needed and lacking to save the day.
I’ve been following you, Marianne for years. Thank you for your inspiration. I would like to add to your recent email on fuel that America needs to start learning how to save electricity (turn off the lights behind), stop the insane usage of plastic (even the American movies portray people drinking from plastic cups; wine or champagne in a limousine or theater!!!!!) and start carrying about the quality of food on the mass level, FDR style.
I Don’t want to be negative but I just don’t get it why the richest country in the world has the poorest and the most unconscious eating habits.
A good point. Like Europe we need to concentrate on green energy.
We are on the threshold of potential nuclear extinction. At this moment in time, war is a much bigger threat to humanity than fossil fuels. The military is also the biggest polluter.
Again, we have a problem of folks fearing the 'other'; thus, the misguided notion of violence as a solution to gain safety, peace, money, or power--or all of those. So sad. Us Earthlings need to upgrade our thought system to know that love is a creative force for good that tops all else--somehow a hard sell for far too many.
The stark truth.
How about nuclear, Marianne? The one 0 emissions solution? Why aren't you even mentioning that?
I cannot believe you are this ignorant. Humanity cannot move to "green energy" at the rate you suggest without mass starvation and death. You must know this!
https://mobile.twitter.com/DoombergT/status/1573605357812850688
I don't like you not being nice.
I am an ex-progressive. I have seen how "nice" many progressives are, even as they unwittingly follow the globalist psychopaths like Klaus Schwaab and Justin Trudeau as they lead humanity off a cliff. We cannot "transition" to a lesser density form of energy (which humanity has never done before btw) at the rate that that the globalists are ordering us to (Have you even read about Sri Lanka??) They are trying to gain control of our lives, and the progressives are useful idiots doing their bidding. You guys ALWAYS follow the narrative provided by the media
https://twitter.com/ShellenbergerMD/status/1577321660948135936?cxt=HHwWgIC-lbLs4uMrAAAA
Many don’t agree with you and yet you call them ‘ignorant?’. Perhaps you have lots to learn... Today’s meditation by Marianne is really good and important. Peace to you.
Unfortunately the people drinking the ESG Kool-Aid will be the ones who have to learn, unfortunately you may only be massive starvation and societal collapse that will convince them. Free and abundant energy is the linchpin of any healthy society.
Yup. We've got the Sun!
Fennomminalllll!
Is it ignorance of the depleted uranium storage problem that blinds your eyes to the negative side of nuclear JD? The Japanese are currently dumping radiation contaminated water in the Pacific Ocean from their tsunami damaged nuclear plant. Chernobyl, Three Mile Island, Gulf War Veterans affected ny bunker buster bombs made from depleted uranium tipped missiles.......Here in Australia we try to stop mining if uranium and our govt would like to dump barrels of waste uranium in the north under indigenous land to contaminate underground water.
Nuclear is not low carbon, it has a larger carbon footprint regarding any mining activities for uranium/thorium, construction, the unresolved issue of waste management - not to mention catastrophic accidents like Fukushima. Anyone who doesn't want to be ignorant needs to read this https://theecologist.org/2015/feb/05/false-solution-nuclear-power-not-low-carbon
When you discuss nuclear, I invite you to envision raising your family near a nuclear plant or waste facility (or both since there is limited solutions for radioactive waste, so it is mostly stored onsite) or living near a uranium mine. I will repeat - accidents are catastrophic and you are banking on zero human error, no nuclear terrorism and calm weather to keep plants safe. Again, read my longer post - safe/clean energy solutions are here now. https://thehill.com/opinion/energy-environment/554605-no-we-dont-need-miracle-technologies-to-slash-emissions-we-already/
There has been huge progress in the safety of micro-nuclear reactors (is it risk-free - of course not, but it's getting close). The carbon footprint is MINIMAL - especially compared to any other type of mining (lithium anyone?).
The truth is the energy companies do not want nuclear because it puts them out of business. The "leaders" don't want it because it would allow civillization to have cheap abundant energy and give them less control levers.
Do your research - humanity is depending on it
https://twitter.com/DoombergT/status/1576132548648120320
Sorry, it is nowhere near safe https://www.ucsusa.org/about/news/report-advanced-nuclear-reactors-no-better-current-fleet . And we simply don't need it with less expensive clean renewables and smart grids. Actually, the Nuclear industry doesn't want clean energy because it puts them out of business. And you are right - all mining is destructive and poisonous. Nuclear radiation poisons earth for thousands of years. Do you have a solution for the wastes? Blessings. Hope the links I've provided are useful to understanding multiple sides of the issue.
See my longer post in the replying to Marianne thread - and read Mark Z. Jacobson's work cited in this article reflecting the research of NextEra Energy (which as they point out is not an anti-nuclear organization - but even they show how it nuclear is unneeded, dangerous and does not compete at all with new renewables) https://cleantechnica.com/2022/10/04/why-should-we-pay-extra-for-nuclear-power/
England was at war from 1939 to 1945. The Americans didn't win the war they brought it to a close.
Neither England nor the United States had any military capacity in 1939. We set out to become what FDR called the “arsenal of democracy”. The allies won the war together
As a military historian, I must interject that America and Britain did not win the war against Germany. Some 85% of German casualties occurred on the Russian front.
America did greatly aid Russia with Studebaker 6x6 trucks---their primary transport logistics means; thousands of tons of Hormel Spam, which was used as the equivalent of K-rations by the Soviet army; and p-39 fighter planes, which were ineffective in that capacity against the Luftwaffe's Me-109's and Focke-Wulfs, but were very useful as ground attack weapons. On the other side of the equation the Russians laughed at our M-3 General Grant tanks, as their T-34's were the best in the game.
The Western Allies were certainly late in the game, but this was in part by intent, as the geopolitical analysts in both the US and Britain, followed the old Perfidious Albion policy of keeping Germany down and Russia out. The aim was for those two nations to effectually destroy each other and then the West would move in when those two foes were mostly exhausted and then claim half the victory...or on the part of Hollywood, the whole shebang.
My first smile of the day since you mentioned Hormel Spam--I am from Minnesota where Spam is made and it's becoming a go-to food even in high-end restaurants around the globe. Also, I appreciate your insights on how WWII was really won but Western allies did help.
yes to life! marianne 2024!!!!
Excellent article, Marianne, thank you!
Absolutely Mrs Williamson and thank you for sharing this Great article & God Bless you Always 👌❤️🙏💯
Please read progressives...and be honest if you see yourselves following this guit ridden and anti human path. Its not too late to do research and think critically
https://michaelshellenberger.substack.com/p/anti-energy-nihilism-behind-economic