Change must be within people

 Robertson Work is a friend, and a genius. His Compassionate Civilization book gives us alternative ways to view, and work on, climate change. 

Here's a snippet of his ideas, which I'll give you just a few paragraphs below. Check out this Substack. That seems to be the way lots of good writing is being done these days.

ecological-and-social-crises-are calling us to reinvent ourselves.

Now is the time! We are empathic earthlings of the living Earth!

"As a former UNDP policy advisor, international civil servant, founder of the Compassionate Civilization Collaborative, and most importantly, an aging nobody, I call on the over eight billion of us and our leaders in government, business, civil society, media, and academia to launch a global initiative of reinventing humanity as Earthlings committed to ecological regeneration and social justice.

 In World War II, President Roosevelt called on industry, government, and citizens to unite in defeating fascism. In my country, I call on Vice President Harris, Governor Walz, Bernie Sanders, Elizabeth Warren, AOC, the ACLU, Third Act, and other leaders and movements to articulate a compelling vision and effective action plan of social justice and peace for all people and ecological regeneration of all ecosystems of air, water, soil, minerals, plants, insects, and animals.

Around the planet, many are calling for whole system transformation including the United Nations, the Dalai Lama, the Plum Village movement, the Global Compassion Coalition, Greta Thunberg, Kate Raworth, Phil Lane Jr., Daniel Schmachtenberger, Jacinda Ardern, Nafeez Ahmed, Vandana Shiva, Daniel Wahl, Arundhati Roy, Rutger Bregman, the Great Transition Initiative, the Sunrise Movement, and many, many others as part of a planetary movement of movements."

 

And the good news is...

Aug 14, 2024 on Facebook, Mom's Clean Air Force posted this:

That's a seven months' measure. Excellent news. Renewables are going to supply electric power everywhere, I hope.

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I wonder if I'll ever return to a life of going out, doing things, taking care of my apartment, maybe even doing something I enjoy with clay? So far this dragging on Brochiectasis flare-up...just seems to get worse some days. And if I have a good day, I hardly know what to do with it! I still am not sick enough to need medical treatment, darn it all! Just keep on helping clear my lungs with nebulizer, the shaking vest, and sleeping with the C-PAP (which isn't for the big B but for sleep apnea). 

Anyway, I hear thunder out in the mountains, but nothing like last evenings' clap that was probably blocks from my house. I got up and just unplugged the computer and hoped that the electricity and cable would keep working so I could see the end of Jeopardy's Tournament of Champions! It might have been a repeat, but I only vaguely knew who won, and I was right. The players were all outstanding. As always, I knew few answers, but sometimes ones that stumped all three geniuses. That's always fun!  And we had a bit of heavy rain...I didn't pay much attention.

Saturday was spent indoors mostly coughing. I had hoped to be able to go to the Tailgate Market, try to sell some old pots. Not this week. I am not complaining for attention...just stating this is the life I have. I think of neighbors in electric wheelchairs, and how limited their lives are by depending upon that device. They are stronger than I am in many ways.

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Today's quote:

In science one tries to tell people, in such a way as to be understood by everyone, something that no one ever knew before. But in the case of poetry, it's the exact opposite. 

-Paul Dirac, theoretical physicist and Nobel laureate (1902-1984)

Chinese Spy Balloon over Black Mountain NC

 

Yesterday morning several friends on Facebook posted their own photos of the balloon flying right overhead. I didn't see it myself, but I figure different photos made it real.

Facebook didn't like it, and took down one of my friend's sharing of some of those photos. She still wonders where her post went.

But WLOS, our local TV station affiliated with ABC seemed to find enough to substantiate that it really happened, and posted on it's app. Then as soon as the balloon went over the Atlantic, the Air Force finally got to shoot it down.

Thanks to The Far Side.

This event is so basically silly to me, and maybe to some news broadcasts as well. I'm listening to a book which I've already read, which makes this particularly poignant. The book is "Compassionate Civilization" by Robertson Work. It has just become available as an audio book. The reader is quite melodious in her reading, though at times I don't keep track of things. But I think that's my being less a listener and more visual in my learning abilities.

Anyway, a Compassionate Civilization would mean that people wouldn't have the anxiety that was expressed in our media when another country was looking down at us through a weather balloon. I hear "we are all brothers and sisters, we depend upon each other," and I believe this is needed. I'm not sure I believe it's possible though. So reading Robertson's writings helps me move in that direction.

Here's the link to the audio book.