See the link below for five platforms Global Citizen has created, from making a poster digitally or freehand, to a hopeful poem, to other actions that can capture people’s imaginations and work together to create a safe, just future. I want to personally thank Global Citizen for making simple ways for all of us to join in the chorus to protect this planet and Her peoples. Women across the world in particular face injustices and are disproportionately impacted by climate change and by poverty and abuse. The conditions of women are a reflection of how we treat the Earth Herself. Let’s do better!
For writers and for imaginative people in general, Grist Magazine has a short story contest (deadline coming up soon) to win $3,000 for a winning story from the year 2200. Lesser amounts are awarded for the next three story winners. Also, listen to the stories from other dreamers of a hopeful future. They are masterful and full of great ideas and predictions and references to the past that will catch your attention. Read stories from the 2022 contest.
Everyone should be born into this world happy
and loving everything.
But in truth it rarely works that way.
For myself, I have spent my life clamoring toward it.
Halleluiah, anyway I'm not where I started!
And have you too been trudging like that, sometimes
almost forgetting how wondrous the world is
and how miraculously kind some people can be?
And have you too decided that probably nothing important
is ever that easy?
Not, say, for the first sixty years.
Halleluiah, I'm sixty now, and even a little more,
and some days I feel I have wings.
Mary Oliver
If you study history, you cannot miss numerous signs of a weakening. Attempts to weaken our democratic way of life, our democratic norms and policies, and even the institutions that for the last 236 years (since the passage of the Constitutional government in 1787) have been the envy of the world, are assaulted by ever growing forces for authoritarian rule much as they did in Germany. These forces gnaw at the three branches of government, the voting system, the Bill of Rights and Amendments refining how the nation is continually tweaking its laws to become “a more perfect union.”
A pack of wolves at the neck of the nation.
A free press that serves the governed (not the governing) but the people, is considered the most influential function to maintain a “government by the people and for the people.” The right has denigrated the free press ever since Donald Trump began that assault out of his own fears that they reveal him for what he is: a power monger and usurper.
Since the rise of populism in the U.S.A., we have witnessed a steady erosion of the branches of government, none more than the Supreme Court, and the inability of the House and Senate to carry on a decent discussion that is not a screaming match or one of slander and derision, back and forth.
The voting system is being steadily eroded in red states by removing Electors and casting doubt on the most critical tool the citizen has for guiding and providing the necessary oversight of government: his, her, or their vote. Gerrymandering has rendered many voters vote meaningless by redistricting to water down majority voting blocks. This has been egregiously utilized by Republicans.
Citizens have lost reproductive rights, gender identity rights, and protective justice in employment and higher education, even in sports. Every social and political area of our civic lives is being reduced with very judgmental policies and denigrating language for the citizens denied of their rights. Attacks to weaken environmental protections unleash forces that will impact water, air, and general health and the wellbeing of our people and their homelands.
What is more disturbing is the way that authoritarian forces are using Christianity as a weapon against people who have been targeted by the populist doctrines. This is an old play from the books of our worst characters and history. Use Christ to shame and denigrate people into submission. He must be packing his bags to leave town about right now. Or maybe He’s long gone from their ranks. Serves them right.
Donald Trump has been the agent with the greatest force influencing Republicans and all sorts of fascist fringe groups to cobble together his “base” – an apt word. He is an insurrectionist and a danger to democracy. He has openly joined with other authoritarian leaders around the world.
A friend of mine sent me a link to an insightful article by a historian who in studying the roots of the Civil War, discusses similar forces and tactics arrayed over time, and the “group think” that developed among slave owning states and voters. Referring to the Bible was a prime tool to justify injustice.
I urge all of you to read it and to send it on to your friends and others in your sphere of influence. Our democracy has never been at a greater risk than it is now. Only we can stop these forces. It is up to you and me.
If you are feeling overwhelmed by climate news and the threats to our democracy, NextGen America and Our Children’s Trust will hearten your spirit.
NextGen America supports the Youth Vote. It made a huge difference in the 2020 election – the fight to save the soul of America and is now gearing up to influence the vote in 2024. Their mission statement is, “NextGen America’s mission is to empower young voters to engage in the political process and ensure our government is responsive to the largest and most diverse generation in American history.”
In a zoom presentation today with Doug Emhoff encouraged us to make sure the vision and investment in America through the Inflation Reduction Act is widely understood. We need to show how it is making a difference in our lives. See the Rewiring America Guide to the IRA below, a handy guidebook to understand the great deals that are now possible for families and individuals as well as businesses, nonprofits, and states and cities. It is massive in its impact IF AMERICANS TAKE ADVANTAGE OF IT. We’ve got ten years of these programs and their savings with this long lasting program. The money is available but only if each of the stakeholders from individual citizens to families to governments take advantage of it. In other words, Biden and Harris have made the Clean Energy Transition possible but we have to be the agents of change by buying an EV, making our appliances and homes more energy efficient, and helping our communities convert to more renewable power until we make the full transition. Please share with your family and friends.
Another very hopeful youth-led group initiative is Our Children’s Trust which support youth taking their governments to court for violation of their rights to a safe and healthy future. *Coming up June 12, the first constitutional trial is happening in Montana. The implication of a rule in their favor can have a massive impact on moving our slow acting governments to make serious, demonstrable actions toward a safe environment for the young generations here now and those coming behind them. Be sure to view it and share with your friends and family to make people aware of these eloquent and brave youth who are pushing adults in power to do the right thing for theirs and future generations.
Below is the Guide to the IRA for citizens. Download it for your own information and use for your family, neighborhood, business, and community.
In the long sweep of history, the United States of America is a young nation. As a citizen and daughter of a family who gave much of their youth to defending her, my love of this country has never waned.
However, to keep such a fragile thing as a democracy Thomas Jefferson observed that eternal vigilance is the price we pay.
To be an American citizen requires study, discernment, and dialogue with people who hold another viewpoint about its state and its practice. That requires us to possess skills in the art of debate. Critical thinking must be utilized in the arguments put forth by each side of the issue at hand. There is an implied respect for each other in order for any topic to be well examined.
In our current era these skills are lacking in general across media. They thankfully still exist in long forms such as books, literature, and organized interviews and public platforms moderated by intelligent human beings.
On this weekend, in honor of our veterans here and gone from us, I issue the call for all of us Americans to carefully examine how well we utilize these critical thinking skills as we communicate with each other about the current state of the American democracy. For those who gave the final measure, their very lives, we owe it to them.
Hosted by the Center for Environmental Policy at American University, The Environmental and Energy Management Institute at George Washington, and the Security and Sustainability Forum
Mary Oliver is one of America’s recent poets whose works are memorized by youth and adults alike. See below a YouTube interview with Mary on OnBeing.org with Krista Tippett.
Mary Oliver was one of our greatest and most beloved poets. She is often quoted by people across ages and backgrounds — and it’s fitting, since she described poetry as a sacred community ritual. “When you write a poem, you write it for anybody and everybody,” she said. Mary died on January 17, 2019, at the age of 83. She was a prolific and decorated poet whose honors included the Pulitzer Prize and the National Book Award. In this 2015 conversation — one of the rare interviews she granted during her lifetime — she discussed the wisdom of the world, the salvation of poetry, and the life behind her writing. (Original Air Date: February 5, 2015)
Krista Tippett
Okefenokee Wildlife Refuge – Photo by Susan Feathers
Susan Feathers 