Our job is to read the simplified versions that appear in magazines, newspapers and social media. We then have to learn how to translate the information into action. It is a trial and error learning process. Our communities must become learning communities.
“We are told today that Inuit never had laws or maligait (“things that have to be followed”). Why? Because they are not written on paper. When I think of paper I think you can tear it up and the laws are gone. The maligait of the Inuit are not on paper. They are inside peoples’ heads and they will not disappear or be torn to pieces. Even if a person dies, the maligait will not disappear. It is part of a person. It is what makes a person strong.”
Finding Meaning in a World of Pandemics and Climate Change
– Michael Clague
My requirements were demanding and perhaps unrealistic. They remained unfulfilled until last week when a friend lent me a book entitled “The Future We Choose: Surviving the Climate Crisis.” It was written by Christiana Figueres and Tom Rivett-Carnac who were among the architects of the 2015 Paris Agreement on climate change
My requirements were demanding and perhaps unrealistic. They remained unfulfilled until last week when a friend lent me a book entitled “The Future We Choose: Surviving the Climate Crisis.” It was written by Christiana Figueres and Tom Rivett-Carnac who were among the architects of the 2015 Paris Agreement on climate change
Since the Industrial Revolution in the late 1700s many of our large corporations have taken over from Earth the process of evolution. Some scientists call this new era the Anthropocene . But today many corporations are still attached to the mission statement created by Milton Friedman: “The purpose of corporations is to maximize share-holder profits”.
As the title implies we are facing quite a challenge. This chronicle begins by describing three worlds we are now living in. It then moves on to suggest how we might begin to create a new world. We must redefine our relationship with Earth, develop a new vision for the future, and create new systems. My focus here is on the first two parts: the relationship and the vision.
And in this New Year of 2021 may we get involved in lots of good trouble—standing up for what is right in a climate changing world. May we do it in a manner that releases all bitterness and leaves love and peace in its place.
At this time of year my wife and I often attend Blue Christmas services to celebrate friends and family members who have died in the past year. But I don’t think there will be many live remembrances given the restrictions on gathering in place this month.
We have grown up confident that our scientific capabilities and technology will keep us safe. But it is very apparent that they are not keeping protecting us from certain things. In fact, some of the technologies that scientists have helped develop are at the root of our problems. We are in a situation that psychologists call cognitive dissonance.
The old thinking, where all things and people are considered as commodities, must be replaced. More than a hundred economists have recently published a paper noting that the carbon economy we developed (supported by our political and legal systems) is the major cause of our climate change problems.
On August 4, 2020 a hundred of the world’s leading economists published a dramatic document entitled “Letter from economists: to rebuild our world we must end the Carbon Economy”. In relatively few words it describes the world in which we live, the problems we are facing and the steps we must take to turn things around.
Culture is based upon the way we see the world and give it meaning. Since time immemorial humans have based their culture on their understanding of the world in which they exist. This was and is still the key to our survival. When the world changes, people and their cultures must change. Today, we are experiencing four major changes to which we must adapt.
In this chronicle I’ll discuss my long interest in McLuhan and his ideas of the Global Village, the media and the economic consumer culture. I will then indicate how the Global Village can be revitalized to help us deal with the climate changing world that confronts us.
In the midst of the COVID-19 crisis a number of articles have been written about the relationship between the pandemic and climate change. This is another one. In this chronicle I will show how our approach to the pandemic can teach us a great deal about what to do or not to do to prepare for climate change.
Every evening when I’m finished my writing I turn on the T.V. to watch the news. What I see is discouraging. I see men in different political parties fighting with one another. They remind me of two young brothers in a sand box out in the backyard.