After reading All the Light We Cannot See by Anthony Doerr, I understood that he was important not only to literature and my own life of mind, but he is a weaver of time, culture, and interspecies awareness like no other. Today I listened to a long and illustrative interview in which you can learn how this writer travels in time, gathering strands of knowledge, sharing insights through his journey in writing.
All We Need to Know is Here Now
In the 1970s Frances Moore Lappe asked, “How much is enough?” Still actively writing, speaking and advocating for food justice, she remains one of my guides to living a sane life in The Land of Plenty for Some.
Other early and ever present guides to my adult life and what would preoccupy my work and art, Thomas Berry, Albert Schweitzer, Rachel Carson and E.F. Schumacher all addressed the same issue from different points of view: living in right relationship with all life and a sustaining Earth ecosystem.
In 2008 I published the first of my writing, Paean to the Earth, which included a little essay titled: Get A Grip Ecology. It included 5 principles by which stable ecosystems operate:
Utilizes a renewable energy source/ Does not overgraze food capacity/ Recycles essential elements/Preserves biodiversity/Moderates population size.
Lappe showed us we strayed from these principles when she demonstrated that there has always been enough food to feed every person in the world a nutritious diet, i.e. food scarcity is a myth. By harnessing the major grain crops for growing beef, pork and chicken, Americans were eating there own seed corn and that of other nations. Lappe first introduced Americans to eating low on the food chain by adopting a mostly plant diet. She systematically demonstrated that hunger exists only from misuse of the world’s resources that could easily feed everyone well.
E.F. Schumacher in his landmark book, Small Is Beautiful, examined the physics and economics of business systems and showed that maximum efficiency and employee satisfaction occurs in companies of 500 employees or less. He first wrote about “technology with a human face.” Today, so many decades down the road of human ingenuity run amuck, industrialized societies are looking around and asking how we recover our humanity while making a living.
Again, we must ask ourselves Lappe’s question: “How much is enough?”
Thomas Berry and Albert Schweitzer focused on the spiritual and moral dimensions of how we relate to each other and the Earth community. Berry took us on a rich journey to learn the traditions of cultures based on eco-principles and proposed that our hope resides in adopting similar values and practices. Schweitzer arrived at an “ethical basis for living” through thought: My will to live exists equally in every living thing and thus the path to a moral life is to live in concert with all other beings whether human or tree or four-legged.
These are the principles of the planet and our greatest thinkers came to them from varying paths but these principles have proven true from all perspectives.
This is just a reminder that the answers to the climate crisis and our social ills are embedded in the very same laws that govern the planet and every living creature on it.
My daughter on a recent hike with me along the Eastern Shore. We are best when we are in nature together. It restores our humanity and our hope.
Stepping up to our responsibility to help developing countries with mitigation of climate impacts
Open Society published a series of videos about developed countries responsibility to work together with less wealthy, developed countries to mitigate current climate change damage and provide funding and technical assistance to them to increase their resilience.
Yamide Dagnet’s observations are well said and clear.
Fund Developing Countries: COP 27
During the final days of the Conference of the Parties (COP) 27th meeting of world leaders and parties to continue to plan toward the goal of 1.5 degrees C average global temperature rise, a fund of $2B was pledged. Dozens of countries are currently ravaged by floods, droughts, and heat extremes. Most of them need assistance from the big polluters such as the U.S.
Read the World Resources Institute article about the fund and what the COP 27 accomplished.
The refuge of the long story …
Emergence Magazine – The Inward Migration in Apocalyptic Times by Alexis Wright
Round up on the Energy Transition
So much is happening in all sectors of the energy market that I decided to share this issue of the Weekly Jolt from the U.S. Office of Energy.
If you live in the U.S. here is a handy calculator to see how you can benefit from the Inflation Reduction Act’s climate policies and funding, Rewiring America.
If you know of a high school student or graduate who is not planning on college, tell them to study to become an industry certified electrician. It is estimated that the US will need hundreds of thousands of electricians during the massive energy transition that is already in swing!
Contact members of the U.S. Bicameral Caucus to learn what is being done to support the energy transition in your state.
The Skinny on the IRA
Nonprofits and the IRA
This is a printable article from the National Council of Nonprofits with links and references for nonprofit administrators to begin to plan on how or whether the Inflation Reduction Act can help you reduce your costs for installing clean and cheaper energy, and other green upgrades. You’ll be amazed.
And below is another article on the Maryland Nonprofit Site retrieved 11-15-22
New Ezra Klein Discussion with Bill McKibben, re: IRA and energy transition
Ezra Klein Podcast and New York Times article today, November 15.
A down to earth discussion of what has to happen literally in less than 8 years to meet the 2030 goals set by the U.S. at the Glasgow COP. This is the minimum reduction in contributions to atmospheric warming to level warming to 1.5 degrees Centigrade. Right now we are moving to overshoot that by as much as a degree by 2100 — a world no one wants to live in.
This needs to be city by city, local people deciding how it will look, who invests in it (think about a church having a chance to invest in the energy production of their township). Lots of decisions need to be made and local groups will need to step up and help save money for people while making the climate safer for everyone. This is why I am devoting my blog posts to helping you learn about the IRA and where to find information. We have a world to change.
RELATED TODAY: Halifax, VA City Council is getting ready to vote on whether to approve a 5 Megawatt Solar Installation. The city population is about 1400. Here is an example of energy transition by local decision makers. In the News & Record, November 14. Its the tip of the wave …
EESI.org: What the Inflation Reduction Act Means for the U.N. Climate Talks
For more about the IRA see this previous post which I continue to update with resources.
Susan Feathers 