Susan Feathers

Empower Women and Girls: COP28

Today, a special panel of high level leaders was featured on the role of women in energy transition and sectors for climate adaptation, mitigation, and resilience.

A panel of leaders from countries across the world spoke to the continued general exclusion and/or low opportunities for women in implementing climate goals and contributing leadership and originality. Also, examples where countries are successfuly empowering women inspire us to meet the goals for a just transition including women and girls.

Panel starts at about 18.1 minutes.

Indigenous American Authors: Great New Books in Fiction and Nonfiction

You haven’ lived without reading a new writer of fiction, Angeline Boulley.

You haven’t lived without reading a new writer of fiction, Angeline Boulley. The Firekeeper’s Daughter, her first novel (2021), was listed on the New York Times Best Seller List and has been nominated for numerous awards, and is being produced on Netflix as an episodic story. I was drawn to read it by my local book club but also because Louise Erdrich, Pulitzer and National Book Award-winning Native American novelist, raved about it. See Birchbark Books, Louise’s independent book store in Minneapolis.

In a recent interview by Louise with Angeline, Boulley describes why she wrote the book and its sequel (Warrior Girl Unearthed). Both novels are Young Adult but all adults are reading it as well because the values and knowledge Boulley emparts to readers is chicken soup for the soul, or “how things should be” among us human beings. Her Objibwe culture is generously described throughout the book in an engaging way through the main character, Daunis Fontaine. Boulley was Director of Indigenous Education at the U.S. Department of Education. Her father is a firekeeper in his tribe (a keeper of tradition and culture) and Angeline has been in leadership roles in her tribal nation. Imparting understanding of her Ojibwe traditions is purposeful.

During this interview, I learned about Marcie Rendon, another Ojibwe writer. Murder on the Red River is the first book in a mystery triology with the lead character, Cash Blackbear, a 19-year old kickass woman. Like Boulley, Rendon incorporates current and past issues for Native Women and Native Peoples in America. The issue addressed in this book through Cash is the foster home abduction era when young native children were removed from their homes by BIA officials to be “rescued” from what was considered “bad homes”. Cash has endured seven foster homes before ending up in Fargo, North Dakota. The local sheriff received Cash each time she was kicked out of a foster home for her behavior and continues to observe and intervene with compassion. Their partnership to solve a murder is endearing, gritty and funny. The book is a three part series – Sinister Graves is heading toward my mailbox with Girl Gone Missing next in line. Rendon has that clean-sentence-no-nonsense way of telling a story that allows the reader’s imagination to spark and fire. I read the book over a day. HIghly recommended for you mystery readers!

In Non-Fiction, I recommend Ned Blackhawk’s new The Rediscovery of America: Native Peoples and the Unmaking of U.S. History. It is very well written and riveting as Dr. Blackhawk lays out the book and then shows how Native American tribal communities influenced and shaped outcomes before, during and after the Revolutionary War and Civil War. Ned is a historian whose prose is easy to read but well sourced. It won this year’s National Book Award for Nonfiction. It is a book that can be read over time and should be on every history readers’ bookcase for reference on American history that is inclusive of the great traditions and historical importance of Indigenous peoples.

See below an interview with Dr. Blackhawk at the National Constitution Center.

https://youtu.be/iaFL2xulyeM

Why Read the 5th National Climate Assessment?

Instead of cursing the darkness, light a candle.
commonly thought to be from Benjamin Franklin

While the 5th National Climate Assessment of the nation’s climate conditions gives much to be concerned about, there is also a clear path and examples where various states or communities are making strides toward sustaining practices, saving their communities money and spurring new business growth.

Why should Americans read the report? This is about the quality of your life and the future of your children. Nothing less.

The report illuminates job security and maybe new job opportunities; food production and food security (think prices and availability; recall the pandemic’s impact on availability of food and other necessities). See how other regions in the U.S might impact your area. Example: If ports on the East Coast are damaged by sea level rise or storms, how will it affect your company’s ability to export goods to the world? How will it affect food that is imported? Think coffee my friends. Gulp.

POST UPDATE 11/17/23: Good summary of the report on Vox.

IN THE REPORT …

1. Go to your region and read how climate will impact you. Scroll down the page to learn about temperature, rain, drought and other climate conditions and what may happen or is already happening as a result. How will this affect you and yours? Pay attention to health concerns. Do you have family members who suffer from asthma? Work outside to earn a living? Have heart conditions? All these will be made worse by heat and increased moisture in the air.

2. Make plans with your family, with your neighbors and your city to do what you can to prevent climate impacts and also to bring new opportunities to you and yours. How will climate affect your health? Do you work outside? What kind of transportation do you use to get to work or school?

3. ***Any local, state, or federal representatives for your location who is a climate change denier must be challenged. There is no time to argue. Move on to the reps who are working positively to protect and empower your location and community to both prepare and also to seize the economic opportunities available. Is your governor reaping federal grants and investments to bring new businesses to your state, your area? If not, find out why. Many states are reaping millions of dollars of business investment that bring new employment opportunities to your state.

4. What can your city do? What ARE they doing? This is the right time to contact your city council member who represents you and ask them what they are doing about climate change. No time to do it? Ask your employer then or your school principal. Wherever your life takes you, ask what is being done to prepare for and mitigate climate change and how can you help them?

5. Go here to learn about all the savings you can get for your home and your transportation when you go greener. Rewiring America. Depending on your income, you can get great discounts at the time of purchase of say, for example, an induction stove or clothes dryer; a heat pump air conditioner/heater. Also, if you want to purchase an all electric car or truck, there are great discounts plus great savings from no gas purchases! Download a booklet of how to achieve your goals, targeted to your budget and circumstances.

For all of us folks for whom a lot of these vehicle or home purchases to reduce fossil fuel burning are too expensive, fear not. The prices will come down precipitously over the next few years. Meantime, work with your housing association or apartment complex, or city transportation office to get the people who CAN afford it off their …. and into action!

Here is the Volts Podcast for November 15. David Roberts interviews Sonia Aggarwal, CEO of Energy Innovation. This is about President Biden’s Clean Energy Policies. An insider’s view.

A Book for Our Time: The Crystal Beads, Lalka’s Journey

A mother and child in 1939 Poland are talking. This is our way into a new book—The Crystal Beads, Lalka’s Journey written by Pat Black-Gould and illustrated by Katya Royz. It is a book written for children but is for any age and as I will show, particularly for today.

The time and place alert adults immediately to the context but for children they are gently led into the experience. A mother has found a way to gently guide her seven-year-old daughter on a safe path while terror stalks right outside their door. She asks her daughter to trade her Star of David for crystal beads – a rosary.

The author guides readers along with the illustrations driving the narrative and lending emotional texture. Tension builds with a terrifying encounter with Nazi interrogators. What might happen? We anticipate the worst. The terrifying men leave and we can breathe again. Lalka asks a question of the Mother Superior. It is not just any question: it is the question yet unresolved among us. Which of these is better: the Star of David or the Rosary?

Pat Black-Gould weaves a story of trust and love confronted with evil and brilliantly captured in Katya Royz’ art.

When I finished reading the story, my first thought was of Leo Tolstoy’s parable The Bear. Written for children, it has lasted through the centuries as a warning about the perils of oppression. Tolstoy showed how the bear became immured in a prison of its own thinking. It performs everyday for its master who has tethered it to a stump. Not until the bear is reminded he is endowed with the strength to break his bonds does he free himself from his oppressor.

I foresee The Crystal Beads will find its place among stories that illuminate dark times with truth. Everyone is endowed with his or her own right to be free and to pursue his or her own dreams. Each person is as valuable as the next. All faiths promote that and it is the soul of democratic governance.

The Nazis vilified the Jews leading to unspeakable crimes against humanity. This old dark root has risen over the last decade in many forms of hatred toward “the other.” Anger and hatred pit people against each other, playing out this old and tragic story about the human race. It must be illuminated for what it is: evil in many forms. We must be ever vigilent to guard against it for it can happen anywhere strong men’s manipulation of followers who, like the bear, are imprisoned by their own misperceptions and thinking.

I am so glad for the publication of The Crystal Beads. Pat Black-Gould is a practicing psychologist, playwright, and fiction writer. Perhaps this is why her book is so vital. The author has created a timeless story for all ages. The book has already garnered many awards.

Study guides for children and for adults are included.

Where American Democray Flows

Looking deeply over the oldest mountain chain in America: the Appalachians, heart of America. Photo by Susan L. Feathers

There is a quiescient American life rarely visible to the world at large. It plays out in homes, neighborhoods and small towns and cities over this vast country. We value our family life, the landscapes that make us who we are, and the pulse of democracy that beats in our chest like a second heart. Afterall, we have committed our lives and futures to a grand experiment in the world as it were: that all people are equal in their right to self-determination and self-governing by majority. A government for most of the people.

Over the last 247 years, we’ve more or less kept democracy working. It’s not for the faint of heart. Everyone of voting age has to strive year to year to protect its fragile nature which by and large depends on the character of the people we elect. Yet how curious that this essential element of leadership in a democratic society is rarely examined and may even be ignored when outright unlawfulness is proven in courts of law. We elect crooks and schemers.

It is in the home, the extended family, the church, the schools and universities and in civic clubs and convergences in public spaces where character is discussed, defined, and bulwarked among us. Children learn by observation, through the influence of elders and friends and the public institutions such as libraries and public spaces where community celebrations and historical remembrances take place regularly when and where we renew our devotion to democratic principles. This local democratic practice is like a heart pumping blood through the body politic, removing harmful substances and reoxygenating democratic life. It must be continously reinvigorated among all of us.

I recall fondly how my family of origin discussed the affairs of our government over a meal, taught and retold historical events chronicalling the country’s continuous work to keep democracy healthy and relevant to the Time. In school we were taught basic civics so that all of us knew how our government works. Much of this essential work of democracy has nearly disappeared like an ephermeral stream appearing only where individuals make efforts to revive it.

Yet, I know that stream, that current of American life, runs close to the surface and only requires a quorum of citizens working together in their everyday lives to make it rush again across this land, a bright current against darkened skies.

National Constitution Center – The NCC regularly sponsors zoom educational sessions about American history and constitutional law and lore. Highly recommend this site for contemporary topics that challenge us today. (See video to the right from a recent discussion by two historians about partisanship during Jefferson/Adams govenment, Sedition Acts in particular.)

iCivics.org

The Founding Fathers and the Politics of Character

PBS Interview with Jill Long Thompson, former Congresswoman from Indiana.

Keep Earth in Mind

In such difficult times with so much to hold our attention, let us not forget that our lives utterly depend on the well functioning of ecosystems across the world. Time is of the essence to stop rising temperatures in the oceans and consequently the atmosphere.

Dessication is evident everywhere even as flooding from heavy rains (a consequence of water vapor caused by heat), has taken out crops that the world depends upon and destroyed the lives of so many innocent people swept away in floods or buried in mud slides.

This July scientists recorded the highest average annual temperature rise since recorded history and most probably millenia of Earth’s history. Yet, it does not get our attention. Sea ice is melting, changing the Gulf Stream current, pushing it closer to the Atlantic coastline of America and transferring heat to cities all along the coastline. What does it mean for humanity? Europe depends on the Gulf Stream to heat the atmosphere during very cold winters. Will places which have been inhabited for thousands of years become unsuitable for human habitation? Places like London, Edinburgh, Paris, Madrid?

These are not just projections. We see the changes happening right now before our eyes. I am in Virginia Beach where temps have been in the 80s F when they should be in the 50-60s. I bet you have seen changes in your part of the world.

Temperature spike in 2023.

While we work and pray for peaceful resolutions to human conflicts here and abroad, let us be working simultaneously to stop investment in fossil fuel production and development. In the U.S. during 2021 and 2022, fossil fuel investments have more than doubled. It is a kind of insanity with greed at its roots and on the individual level a crass disregard for people and our kin.

Belief that super wealth can protect a few ultra rich human beings, think again. If you breathe, you will be affected. We are all in this together and we’ll all rise out of it together or not at all. Do eveything you can to reduce your cabon footprint but mostly get on the phone or show up at the offices of banks and congressional reps and demand action now to stop the insane grab for riches.

Here in the U.S. we must not elect climate deniers who spread misinformation nor should we elect traitors who still oppose the peaceful transfer of power and wish to destroy democratic institutions.

We have arrived at a cruicible in which everything that could go wrong has gone wrong. Pick your battle and jump to the fore. Call it what it is: sins against humanity and the Creation itself. On which side will you stand?

Massive changes in ecosystems recorded in deep water lakes in Canada.

Photo by Susan Feathers: Sonoran Desert near Catalina Mts. Tucson, Arizona.

War and Great Leadership During

You never know when a great leader may emerge among us but war brings that process along faster than at other times in history. It may seem an obvious statement but as I have observed President Joe Biden over the last week, I am convinced that he has risen to the needs of this moment in world history and in the political life of our country.

It could have gone many other ways, you know. We could have equilibrated on how to respond to the attack on Israel, even blamed them as some have done these last two weeks. Not Joe. He declared support for Israel to defend itself and the right to have a place on Earth that is theirs. But, he put larger concerns alongside that statement, reminding Israel to not make the mistake the U.S. did after 911 letting our deep sorrow and outrage at the tragic and loss of life as we all watched the twin towers implode and crumble. All those lives lost all those families and communities asunder. That is what Israel experienced and is continuing to experience as their family members and citizens are being held hostage (and Americans). The violations of Hamas in committing atrocities not seen in modern times, on babies, pregnant women, old people and youth. This is trauma with a life of its own. Intergeneration trauma that works its terrible consequences in the bodies and minds of survivors for decades or more.

I recall President George W. Bush dressed in fatigues on a warship declaring “job done” so irrationally and then the brutal “shock and awe” campaign on the people of Afghanistan and later Iraq. We never found any weapons of mass destruction. How we mistreated hostages at Guantanamo Bay prison… These reactions were the result of rage and anger and the feeling of being justified: an eye for an eye, “making the whole world blind” as Mahatmas Ghandi declared when the Hindu and Muslim in India raged against each other after the long British colonization and repression. Yes, we’ve all indulged our need for revenge but now, in a world in conflict and with fascist movements and leaders around the world pitted against democracies, Joe Biden cleared the air. Democracies must come together to defend freedom and self-determination. Biden reminded Americans of a higher purpose that while flawed, America is the country the world looks to when democracies are at risk. He talked to Americans about the need to end the divisions among us – without denigrating any party. He is showing restraint and calling us to respond to a higher calling, to remember who we are.

Clarity, compasssion, wise policy, practical direction – these are the hallmarks of Biden’s leadership in the face of what potentilly could erupt into a broader and complex multistate war. He reiterated this, repeating the caution. Strong leadership when needed most.

We hear about Biden’s age. Well, he demonstrated the only real tangible sign of his age: wisdom. I am so glad Joe Biden is in the leadership seat of our nation at this perilous time

Biden’s Statement on Hamas and Putin

For an astute analysis of the current moment, with an historian’s eye on global political relations, here is Heather Cox Richardson’s daily Letter to Americans. I also recommend her new book: Democracy Awakening.

10-27-23 Update: I am posting a suggested interview on CSPAN with Aaron David Miller for a indepth discussion of where the conflict may or could go from here. Very informative discussion. Thanks to wordwhit for the recommendation.

11=01=23 from today’s Letter to Americans by Heather Cox Richardson with this reference to the discussion. UpdateVox history of “How We Got Here” referring to the history of Palestine and Jewish people. I found this expanding as it shows the long history of how Palestine has been the subject of varying forces with their own intents, starting with Great Britain.

New Book for Hotter Times

The confluence of the climate emergency with the weakening of democracies across the world complicates a coordinated response by the world community to secure our future. Perhaps an outright failure may occur with irrevocable alteration of biological systems such that human life cannot be sustained.

Democracy in a Hotter Time examines the critical need for well functioning democracies to meet the challenges of climate change. It draws upon the wisdom of visionaries in science, politics, economy, and democracy who believe that democracy (dependent upon the people to decide what must be done rather than a dictator who acts from self-interest to stay in power) is key to responding to the climate emergency.

David Orr is the editor of the book and it was his participation that prompted me to read it. David is a leader in sustainable practices on college campuses and led that movement from his position at Oberlin College. His belief is that ecology is not just for science majors but embodies prinicples that are valid in all areas of our lives. His little book that asks What is Education For? made a profound impact on me as a public school science teacher and community college instructor of environmental science.

I am currently reading Democracy in a Hotter Time and so far it offers a way forward that has been missing for me in other books about responding to the climate crisis, specifically it brings attention to the fact that our response has to be much broader than addressing the end result – a safer environment. The contributors call us to consider justice, values and policies – how we live together here and abroad. They question many practices and beliefs that have heretofore defined America. If you have time to read Orr’s article linked above, you will understand this new and more comprehensive approach to theproblems we face together.

Read the Kirkus Review of the book here.

In Spite of Republicans, the Wheels of Democray Turn On, But for How Long?

Listening to Anthony Bliken’s address at the John’s Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies gave me an insight into the critical work of the Biden Administration across the world.

This is rarely seen or heard in the daily cacophony of news resulting from the very bad and sick behavior of a person who has duped Republicans and millions of Americans into following his authoritarian ideas. Rump is dangerous. Everyone of us Americans needs to understand that our current political moment is profound.

This moment mean everything that we hold dear in a democracy: the rule of law, a Constitution that we abide by, civil debate and compromise for the common good (to harken Robert Reich’s definition of the common good).

“Instead of being self-seeking individuals who happen to live within the same political and geographic boundaries, we are a group of people with responsibilities to one another.” – Reich from The Common Good,

I hope you will take time to listen to this address to learn how democracies work in the world and why the U.S. democracy is so important to other countries as well as our own.

No we are not perfect by any means but the critical point is that we must strive to fulfill the promise of our founding principle that all people are created equal and are indowed with inalienable rights.

In this address, I hear Secretary Blinken use the term “humility” describing how America is forming alliances with countries that we are responsible for hurting from our past wars and policies. The point is that we are striving to understand and respond to the great principles and values that our forefathers embedded in the Constitution.

Finally, I think the remarks of Mitt Romney, Senator, upon his announcement that he will not run again, are cogent to this post.

UPDATED: Doppleganger – This new book by Naomi Kline is a must read for understanding how AI and social media have created false realities through which, with no discernment, citizens can easily be duped. The book emanated from Naomi’s experience being mistaken for Naomi Wolfe. Folks they look alike but their political and personal values couldn’t be more apart. I have not read this book yet as it was just released, but I am basing my comments here from listening to an extensive interview with Naomi on Democracy Now.

UpDate: Great Center for the Constitution Celebration of the 1st Amendment:

National Constitution Center Free Speech Summit with Salman Rushdie

Deep Democracy Welling

In a joint statement on September 7, Presidential Centers around the nation published a statement and a warning to strengthen our democracy.

This is unprecedented, at least in my lifetime, and to me is a bellwether that citizens pay attention to the forces of autocracy that threaten our way of life.

Dear Friends,

The George W. Bush Presidential Center is joined by fellow presidential centers and foundations to reaffirm our commitment to the democratic values on which this country was founded.

As we constantly strive toward a more perfect union, it is important to recognize inherent human dignity, foster conditions for liberty, advance equality, and promote the general welfare of the United States.  When united by our founding ideals, Americans should reaffirm the importance of democratic values, civic responsibility, civility, and a pluralistic society.

We hope you will join us in this effort by reading and reflecting upon the statement, sharing it with your networks, and practicing the good citizenship that our democracy requires.

David J. Kramer
Executive Director of the George W. Bush Institute
bushcenter.org