The essence of peace is respect for diversity. Difference is an accident of birth.
Remembering Origins
More conversation with Amitav Ghosh, author of The Nutmeg’s Curse on Emergence Magazine brings up similar themes incorporated into Threshold, a novel about climate change in the Southwest. In it, I layered the rich cultural endowment of the Tucson area, with ancient Indigenous and current day Native Nations wisdom, and Mexican American land and agricultural practices that have and continue to shape the local zeitgeist. But, like most communities in the Southwest, capitalistic systems drive commerce rendering the living Earth mute. All these ways of living mix together yet one has dominated the political and economic forces, imperiling Tucsonans to climate emergencies.
Listen to a chapter from Threshold as a major character of Mexican descent, Delores Olivarez, takes a hike up “A” mountain observing the changes in the Tucson valley that trace all these cultural ways of knowing. Thanks to Terrain.org for publishing this chapter of Threshold.
The Nutmeg’s Curse
Amitav Ghosh’s book, The Nutmeg’s Curse – Parables for a Planet in Crisis – is an insightful genealogy of exploitation and extermination of people in Indonesia by Dutch explorers for control of a spice – nutmeg. The Plantation Economy.
He draws our attention to the ideas and practices that have led to destruction of entire civilizations for a profit. These destructive processes made European and American cultures rich while destroying cultures and landscapes of poorer countries whose people have been exploited.
Ghosh rightly points out that developed nations must reconsider how we live on Earth. Our way of life is clearly unsustainable. But, he asks, who is responsible for climate change? Who should pay?
Listen to an interview with the author on Living on Earth.
In similar ways, the mesquite forests were cut down along the Colorado River for steamboat power during the Gold Rush. Native people harvested wood from the forests and piloted the boats transporting Europeans in search of treasure across the river near Yuma. By then, native culture had been so disrupted by the colonization of North America that these were their only options to sustain their communities. The forests had been key sources of food, shelter, and energy for the Colorado River Nations who had lived sustainably within the margins of mesquite forests for thousands of years.
Photo by Susan Feathers, Sonoran Desert near Tucson, AZ
Read Threshold, a tale about how to live in a time of climate change.
Where will the lithium come from?
I have introduced readers to the Volts Podcast with David Roberts on numerous occasions and topics related to decarbonizing the economy.
In this podcast about lithium mining constraints, David interviews Dr. Thea Riofrancos. Thea is a scholar on resource extraction, renewable energy, climate change, green technology, social movements, and the left in Latin America.
Listen to an expert describe the constraints on meeting the demand for lithium for EV batteries. We need to get out ahead of this because there are justice and environmental factors to be considered. During the discussion, Dr. Riofrancos reflects on this moment in history and forecasts into the future about economic and environmental outcomes. She spurs us to ask other questions such as how do we want transportation to look in the future? Does everyone need a car? What about public transportation?
Extraction has realistic impacts. We need to be informed and move carefully.
Eye opening, smart, and timely. Listen now.
Read my novel Threshold for a story based in the Southwest concerning the complexities of climate change in each landscape. Go here to order a copy.
Threshold at the Tucson Festival of Books
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
February 4, 2023 | Tucson, Arizona
Visit Threshold for more details.
Southwestern Novel From Fireship Press—A fictional novel exploring the dramatic affects of climate change in the desert community of Tucson, Arizona
Susan Feathers will be present to sign and sell copies of Threshold during the Indie Authors Pavilion at the Tucson Festival of Books on March 5, Saturday from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m.
Confronted by crisis in their own world—climate scientists, politicians, and desert museum curators face the biggest challenge man can encounter—no water, anywhere. In the barrios, families and community leaders, band together as they face unbearable heat and the crushing weight of the gangs that intimidate them. Amidst the turmoil, three teens navigate adolescence to become leaders in a new world. With shifting sand underfoot, characters follow their intuition and learn new skills as they chart a way into a viable future. Threshold will make you think while it celebrates the enduring nature of communities as they search for what is lasting and true. Threshold is a powerful new western novel in the best of its tradition. Appropriate for high school classes.
“In a riveting, multi-stranded plot, Threshold translates the conceptual worry over climate change into immediate, interpersonal dramas.” –Mary Lawlor, Muhlenberg College
“Such a well-written and thoughtfully conceived novel regarding very poignant issues of the day; THRESHOLD is a valuable contribution. The author continues a tradition in Southwestern Literature of social and environmental consciousness –Mark Rossi, Frank Waters Foundation.
About the Author
Susan Feathers is a writer and educator with 30 years of experience communicating science to the public. She served as the Director of Education at the Sonora-Arizona Desert Museum. Her writing focuses on the importance of place in forming character and destiny. Susan is an excellent speaker with years of experience delivering programs to the public. Her blog, WalkEarth.org, now in its 14th year, has an active following.
Fireship Press
P.O. BOX 68412 • Tucson, AZ 85737
520-360-6228 • fireshipinfo@gmail.com
Fiction: General, Action and Adventure, Urban
Trade paperback: 978-1-61179-369-7 / $19.95 • ePub & Mobi: 978-1-61179-370-3 / $7.95
Available through: Amazon, Barnes and Noble, iBooks and Kobo, and at Antigone’s and Barnes and Nobel (Wilmot) in Tucson.
-###-
Threshold the Novel
Threshold the novel published in 2016 has been selected for the Tucson Festival of Books Indie Author fair. I will be at the pavilion for Young Adults books at the Indie Authors on March 5, Sunday from 10 am to 1 pm. Please stop by to chat, buy a book, and pick up information for schools, home and community about resilience in climate change.
Threshold tells the stories of three teenagers and how they manage to find their place in a turbulent Tucson. It is getting hotter for longer. There is talk of water shortages and an unstable grid. Daniel, Luna, and Enrique navigate their own challenges and opportunities, while Duma–an albino jaguar–finds his own challenge on the U.S. – Mexico Border. Learn about the Sonoran Desert, conservation of animals and plants, and how communities can support youth to secure the future for themselves and those to come.
The Agriculture Resilience Act
Chellie Pingree, Maine Congresswoman, has introduced the Agriculture Resilience Act — a critical plan that will insure America’s agriculture sector will be resilient and strong even in climate change.
The six areas addressed in the Agriculture Resilience Act are:
- Improve Soil Health
- Protect existing farmland
- Support pasture-based farmland (grass-fed, grazing)
- Reduce food waste (30% currently wasted)
- Boost initiatives for our farms to utilize renewable energy
- Convert to regenerative farming and phase out industrial farming scale operations (put carbon back in soil and reduce carbon dioxide emissions).
See where this bill is in Congressional process. This is important to know about as the U.S. Farm Bill will be up for approval in 2023. Go here for an interview with AG Secretary Tom Vilsack with American Farmland Trust.
Last week, the USDA announced its “Agriculture Innovation Agenda” which aims to cut American agricultural emissions in half by 2050. Pingree’s bill would help USDA reach this goal more expeditiously by expanding the agency’s authority and increasing funding for key USDA programs.
What is “regenerative farming”?
Biden and Harris Release Decarbonization of Transportation Sector Plan
Save Money: Go Electric America!
Rewiring America Guide to the Inflation Reduction Act opportunities for homeowners and drivers, for businesses and nonprofits. Click here to download the guide. [Buy a new stove, dryer, or refrigerator; check out the electric car deals. How can you weatherize your home and save money?]
Read the progress report from the House of Representatives Climate Crisis Committee. Click here.
Learn about anti-climate policy think tank, State Policy Network, supported by dark money from fossil fuel funders. [Volts podcast]
Listen to Ezra Klein’s podcast, Volts, interview with Rep. Kathy Castor (D-FL)about the accomplishments with the Inflation Reduction Act and other legislation that meets the U.S. Climate Goals. Click here.
The First American Democracy
“The future is a construct that is shaped in the present, and that is why to be responsible in the present is the only way of taking serious responsibility for the future. What is important is not the fulfillment of all one’s dreams, but the stubborn determination to continue dreaming.”
~ Gioconda Belli, The Country Under My Skin
Nothing can replace the act of seeking knowledge for oneself. I can read about it, have it explained, or live it through another person’s experience, but in each case I see it incompletely, like the blind man holding the elephant’s tail.
For Americans eighteen and older this has never been more relevant.
In 1990 I sought to learn about our nation’s first people by going to them. I left a high profile position at a well known institution, sold or gave away most of my possessions, packed up my pick up, and traveled to a dusty border town trusting my inner compass. There was a Mojave elder and Iroquois teacher who agreed to take me on as an apprentice and student to help me understand American culture and my own life’s course through an examination of my country’s historical relationship with the First Americans and with the land, water, air, and wildlife of the North American continent.
Why did I do that, you may wonder. I had come to the realization that instead of my nation being a beacon of light in the world, it was in fact an empire to many other nations and peoples whose cultural beliefs and lands were at odds with ours. How could there be hunger in a land of plenty? Why were democratic rights applied conditionally to members of our own society and in the world – and why did Americans allow that? How could we destroy the great natural beauty and abundance of our lands even while extolling how much we love it?
It made no sense to me and created a pervading sense of living a lie. I remember the unreality of my life then as I drove to work where architecturally beautiful buildings and the expansive green of a golf course tumbled down to the deep blue of the Pacific ocean. My day was stressful, administering programs at a world renown healthcare facility where patients—banged up in the American market wars and social striving—suffered from heart problems, addiction, or complications from obesity.
One day I sat looking out the picture windows of my corporate office on a singing blue-sky day in southern California. Internally I felt lost and weak. My eyes settled on a book that had lain unread on my shelves for many years: Touch the Earth (T.C. McLuhan.) It is a book of Indigenous values from Native American voices.
At the first reading I experienced a profound sense of sanity return to me. In them I found a direction to pursue the answers to my deepest questions. I became aware of a pulsing hunger at my core for this knowledge, like something precious lost and then vaguely remembered. Could it be that we have within us the knowledge of past human wisdom buried in our brains at birth? Looking back now, I realize that I had no choice but to make the decisions that led me to seek guidance and leave all I had known before – to clear the decks and make way for something new.
The next three years of living in the daily presence of two American Indian educators (one a Mojave elder, college professor, Korean veteran and social worker; the other an Iroquois artist and musician) changed the way I see myself and the world around me. I still believe the experience made me a better person. But the story of how that evolved is a hard one and definitely not what I had expected. The path to self-understanding is a crucible where falseness is burned away and a tender new skin grown. It requires humility, determination, and humor. It is anything but glamorous.
I hope you will return to my blog for journal entries about my experiences. Until then, here are some links to explore:
UPDATE: 8-16-22 Article “How the Iroquois Great Law of Peace Shaped American Democracy” by Terri Hansen On PBS Native America site
Susan Feathers 