This is one way to reveal how shallow and rotten so much of our lawmaking and business activity is today: put every decision to this test -- How will it affect the grandchildren of our children?
As a sixth or seventh grader in Detroit, I wrote an essay supporting ZPG (zero population growth). I knew on a visceral level that the proliferation of the human race would case our own demise. Nothing else would matter if we ignored our impact on our planet. Those emotions are peaked especially when reading your words and hearing Greta speak. Thank you for continuing to sound the alarm.
(Wow. With that last sentence I pictured myself in elementary school hearing the 'duck and cover' alarm).
We should be wearing t-shirts that say "I'm Here Because Greta Can't Be Everywhere!". I love the ad. It's the kind humor Gen Z does best.
While fighting the local ginormous gas terminal and 232 mile pipeline through pristine Oregon, I always knew what would get the loudest reaction from the proponents. I told them their grandchildren would NOT thank them and perhaps be ashamed of them. I talked about selling-out the future generations for a few jobs today. Because, employment is always the excuse they use when they come to a depressed area. Never fall for the lies. The jobs they promise are fleeting and soon everything is automated. It creates a boom and bust and ruins the local economy in the end.
Many folks and the industries have known for some time now what they are doing, despite the fossil fuel giants' denial. 2021 is the year they sat in front of Congress and admitted their contribution to the climate crisis. The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission is finally dominated by Democrats. That's a BFD! It's a panel of 5 commissioners; 3 of them are the party in power. FERC is an independent agency, but Trump picked the usual suspects from the industries. They now have the power to deny any new projects. It also may be possible to cite any given project's effect on the climate crisis as a reason. Greta, Native American history, and protecting our resources will be discussed where it counts.
Keep fighting back, especially if there is a project proposed near you. And don't JUST fight, support renewables. Teach kids politics matter 24/7. I chose not to have children, but if I had, I hope they would be like the kids we see stepping-up today. I care about their generations to come.
This is not about us. It is about a thing we call Life. If our purpose is anything at all, it is to care for and ensure the continuity of this precious improbability we inhabit. It is not so much the potential loss of the human species that concerns me - it is the very real possibility that we humans could send all life on Earth to the gallows.
Let me be clear. What I wrote is expounding on Thom's piece - not in conflict with. I think what Thom proposes is ingeniously simple and absolute common sense. My intention in "This is not about us." is about selfishness. It is a rebuke of the unchallenged mantra "Greed is good" - which was a trojan horse bestowed upon America by national cult leader, Ronald Reagan. This life, this time, these challenges - they are not about us. They are about those to come. Will we continue to sit pool-side, basking in self gratification and excess indulgence with the knowledge that doing so condemns any possibility of future? Again, I ask: Where is Qanon Incorporated when you need to protect the children from nonfiction-related danger? They have a sizeable platform in place - just expand the charter.
Thank you for this, Thom. The great suffragist Matilda Joslyn Gage also embraced the rule of considerating the effect of every decision unto the Seventh Generation. She learned it from her upstate New York neighbors, the Mohawk Clan mothers of the Haudenosaunee people. They adopted her into the Wolf Clan for her work for women’s rights and human equality.
As a sixth or seventh grader in Detroit, I wrote an essay supporting ZPG (zero population growth). I knew on a visceral level that the proliferation of the human race would case our own demise. Nothing else would matter if we ignored our impact on our planet. Those emotions are peaked especially when reading your words and hearing Greta speak. Thank you for continuing to sound the alarm.
(Wow. With that last sentence I pictured myself in elementary school hearing the 'duck and cover' alarm).
Thank you Thom, Alis, and Wendy for your very insightful dialogue. PS Wendy, I too remember Duck and Cover.
Oops! This was in 1965!
We should be wearing t-shirts that say "I'm Here Because Greta Can't Be Everywhere!". I love the ad. It's the kind humor Gen Z does best.
While fighting the local ginormous gas terminal and 232 mile pipeline through pristine Oregon, I always knew what would get the loudest reaction from the proponents. I told them their grandchildren would NOT thank them and perhaps be ashamed of them. I talked about selling-out the future generations for a few jobs today. Because, employment is always the excuse they use when they come to a depressed area. Never fall for the lies. The jobs they promise are fleeting and soon everything is automated. It creates a boom and bust and ruins the local economy in the end.
Many folks and the industries have known for some time now what they are doing, despite the fossil fuel giants' denial. 2021 is the year they sat in front of Congress and admitted their contribution to the climate crisis. The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission is finally dominated by Democrats. That's a BFD! It's a panel of 5 commissioners; 3 of them are the party in power. FERC is an independent agency, but Trump picked the usual suspects from the industries. They now have the power to deny any new projects. It also may be possible to cite any given project's effect on the climate crisis as a reason. Greta, Native American history, and protecting our resources will be discussed where it counts.
Keep fighting back, especially if there is a project proposed near you. And don't JUST fight, support renewables. Teach kids politics matter 24/7. I chose not to have children, but if I had, I hope they would be like the kids we see stepping-up today. I care about their generations to come.
This is not about us. It is about a thing we call Life. If our purpose is anything at all, it is to care for and ensure the continuity of this precious improbability we inhabit. It is not so much the potential loss of the human species that concerns me - it is the very real possibility that we humans could send all life on Earth to the gallows.
Let me be clear. What I wrote is expounding on Thom's piece - not in conflict with. I think what Thom proposes is ingeniously simple and absolute common sense. My intention in "This is not about us." is about selfishness. It is a rebuke of the unchallenged mantra "Greed is good" - which was a trojan horse bestowed upon America by national cult leader, Ronald Reagan. This life, this time, these challenges - they are not about us. They are about those to come. Will we continue to sit pool-side, basking in self gratification and excess indulgence with the knowledge that doing so condemns any possibility of future? Again, I ask: Where is Qanon Incorporated when you need to protect the children from nonfiction-related danger? They have a sizeable platform in place - just expand the charter.
Thank you for this, Thom. The great suffragist Matilda Joslyn Gage also embraced the rule of considerating the effect of every decision unto the Seventh Generation. She learned it from her upstate New York neighbors, the Mohawk Clan mothers of the Haudenosaunee people. They adopted her into the Wolf Clan for her work for women’s rights and human equality.
That's a great detail to know, Mimi! Thanks!!