One of my subscribers introduced me to physicist Ursula Franklin and her Real World of Technology lecture series *from the 1980s*. I wrote down so many quotes while listening to it that I went and bought the book she later published of the expanded lectures. One of the quotes I wrote down was: “This planet is sick and whatever stress can be removed must be removed starting with the easiest and going to more and more difficult ones. Do all the things that are doable fast and see what happens rather than spend time on meta-strategies.” Never more urgently needed.
That quotation is perfect. Where were you and Ursula when I was putting together this week's writing...? I love the (un)common sense of it, and of the metaphor of sickness due to stress. There's so much low-hanging fruit in the quest to heal, much of which is of the "do no harm" category: stop growing corn for biofuels, stop damage to wetlands, stop subsidizing fossil fuels with trillions of dollars that could be used elsewhere, etc.
She said so many insightful things! It's really worth listening to, or reading if you can get the book. The Canadian Broadcasting Corporation has the talks archived, or they're on archive.org. https://www.cbc.ca/player/play/14195315
Yeah, I've never heard that phrased before in quite that way. Essentially, stop worrying so much about what big idea will fix everything and just start changing whatever you can right now. Like the examples you give! Just stop. Still work on the big ideas but make any other changes you can while doing so.
Invest in public transportation and stop putting a car-centric culture on steroids would be another.
Right. Even the cars themselves are on steroids now. That's the S in SUV, I think: Steroidal Unnecessary Vehicles.
Hmm, it would be nice to have a list of the biggest easy fixes, wouldn't it? Maybe I'll put that on my to-write list of topics (which is about 75 pages long now).
They really are. The recent bloat of cars is absolutely insane and so dangerous to everyone else. I like your renaming of SUV!
Haha, I know the feeling. I have ideas up on a marker board, but they spill out far beyond that and there are always more lurking around. Better than having no ideas, I suppose.
Definitely in my wheelhouse! I got to talk about that on a podcast recently. And really, a similar idea was one of the sparks for writing my book. I wanted to live in a place where I could walk to a school, a library, milk (when we ran out and needed it urgently), a post office, coffee shop (ideally), and a playground. I think that was my list. My kids were very little at the time, as you can probably tell! But 15 minutes is about ideal for walking to life's basic necessities.
Something called Water Cooler Talk Podcast out of the Midwest. Really good interviewer. He dove deep into essays I'd completely forgotten about. Our first topic was 15-minute cities and I got to quote an article describing Jordan Peterson as "Canada's weepiest man," which was fun for me. This is a link to Spotify but it's on all podcast platforms: https://open.spotify.com/episode/5cmH9OR1GnAJkxpimsjkwN?si=Tk9fJZ1FQbeRGy3HtXY5mQ&nd=1
Jason, that's a great look at the different issues that make up the big picture of climate change. I'm cautious about your take on stable democracies being essential for a healthy environment. For the record, I do think democracy is a much better solution than autocracy but my faith in the "will of the people" has taken a big hit in the last few years. I don't have a solution here, but I believe that without a deeper and more realistic cultural understanding of our place in the world, democracy becomes a tool that is just as effective as any other in keeping us headed down the wrong path.
Hi Tom: I understand your caution and doubt regarding the effectiveness of democracy and the ability of voters to work in their own (and the planet's) best interests, but I see it as a question of potential. Assuming the people want a greener, healthier world, I think some version of democracy will provide the means to make it happen far more often than an autocratic regime. China is, of course, the interesting partial exception. I wrote about this, by the way, quite a while ago in a piece called Politics All the Way to the Horizon (https://jasonanthony.substack.com/p/politics-all-the-way-to-the-horizon), digging into the question of whether democracies were more likely to get the job done.
Working my way through the archives. Finally decided to read this one, which I'd been avoiding because I figured it would be heartbreaking, and I felt I needed to prepare myself first. Well, it was heartbreaking, but also wasn't, and that's not an easy feat to achieve. I'll be rereading it soon, likely more than once. 🌍
Thank you for making writing "Simply ask yourself, how can I make things a little better." The power in this recommendation is that any act done with that intention has double power, helping to heal our mother planet and at the same healing our own souls.
One of my subscribers introduced me to physicist Ursula Franklin and her Real World of Technology lecture series *from the 1980s*. I wrote down so many quotes while listening to it that I went and bought the book she later published of the expanded lectures. One of the quotes I wrote down was: “This planet is sick and whatever stress can be removed must be removed starting with the easiest and going to more and more difficult ones. Do all the things that are doable fast and see what happens rather than spend time on meta-strategies.” Never more urgently needed.
That quotation is perfect. Where were you and Ursula when I was putting together this week's writing...? I love the (un)common sense of it, and of the metaphor of sickness due to stress. There's so much low-hanging fruit in the quest to heal, much of which is of the "do no harm" category: stop growing corn for biofuels, stop damage to wetlands, stop subsidizing fossil fuels with trillions of dollars that could be used elsewhere, etc.
She said so many insightful things! It's really worth listening to, or reading if you can get the book. The Canadian Broadcasting Corporation has the talks archived, or they're on archive.org. https://www.cbc.ca/player/play/14195315
Yeah, I've never heard that phrased before in quite that way. Essentially, stop worrying so much about what big idea will fix everything and just start changing whatever you can right now. Like the examples you give! Just stop. Still work on the big ideas but make any other changes you can while doing so.
Invest in public transportation and stop putting a car-centric culture on steroids would be another.
Right. Even the cars themselves are on steroids now. That's the S in SUV, I think: Steroidal Unnecessary Vehicles.
Hmm, it would be nice to have a list of the biggest easy fixes, wouldn't it? Maybe I'll put that on my to-write list of topics (which is about 75 pages long now).
They really are. The recent bloat of cars is absolutely insane and so dangerous to everyone else. I like your renaming of SUV!
Haha, I know the feeling. I have ideas up on a marker board, but they spill out far beyond that and there are always more lurking around. Better than having no ideas, I suppose.
Well, wadda ya know! Thought immediately of you when I read Jason's linked NPR story on 15-minute cities. It's definitely in your wheelhouse.
Saving that quote too, thanks.
Definitely in my wheelhouse! I got to talk about that on a podcast recently. And really, a similar idea was one of the sparks for writing my book. I wanted to live in a place where I could walk to a school, a library, milk (when we ran out and needed it urgently), a post office, coffee shop (ideally), and a playground. I think that was my list. My kids were very little at the time, as you can probably tell! But 15 minutes is about ideal for walking to life's basic necessities.
I remember that from reading your book.
What podcast? I'll give a listen.
Something called Water Cooler Talk Podcast out of the Midwest. Really good interviewer. He dove deep into essays I'd completely forgotten about. Our first topic was 15-minute cities and I got to quote an article describing Jordan Peterson as "Canada's weepiest man," which was fun for me. This is a link to Spotify but it's on all podcast platforms: https://open.spotify.com/episode/5cmH9OR1GnAJkxpimsjkwN?si=Tk9fJZ1FQbeRGy3HtXY5mQ&nd=1
Listening now, thanks.
World Class SMACKDOWN on Peterson🤩🤩
😂
It wasn’t my burn but it felt good to be able to use it!
Jason, that's a great look at the different issues that make up the big picture of climate change. I'm cautious about your take on stable democracies being essential for a healthy environment. For the record, I do think democracy is a much better solution than autocracy but my faith in the "will of the people" has taken a big hit in the last few years. I don't have a solution here, but I believe that without a deeper and more realistic cultural understanding of our place in the world, democracy becomes a tool that is just as effective as any other in keeping us headed down the wrong path.
Hi Tom: I understand your caution and doubt regarding the effectiveness of democracy and the ability of voters to work in their own (and the planet's) best interests, but I see it as a question of potential. Assuming the people want a greener, healthier world, I think some version of democracy will provide the means to make it happen far more often than an autocratic regime. China is, of course, the interesting partial exception. I wrote about this, by the way, quite a while ago in a piece called Politics All the Way to the Horizon (https://jasonanthony.substack.com/p/politics-all-the-way-to-the-horizon), digging into the question of whether democracies were more likely to get the job done.
Working my way through the archives. Finally decided to read this one, which I'd been avoiding because I figured it would be heartbreaking, and I felt I needed to prepare myself first. Well, it was heartbreaking, but also wasn't, and that's not an easy feat to achieve. I'll be rereading it soon, likely more than once. 🌍
Thank you, Rebecca. That's high praise.
Thank you for making writing "Simply ask yourself, how can I make things a little better." The power in this recommendation is that any act done with that intention has double power, helping to heal our mother planet and at the same healing our own souls.
Nicely said, Diane. Intention and action as medicine. Thank you for that.
I don't think I've read you before. I wanted to restack almost every paragraph. This is your lever!
Thanks so much, Georgina. This is indeed my lever. I'm working on increasing its leverage...
Welcome to the Field Guide. Let me know if there's any topic in particular you're curious about and maybe I've got it in the archive.