Evolution Moves Faster than Politicians

"They're known as pizzlies or grolars, and they're a fusion of the Arctic white bear and their brown cousins." Love in the Time of Climate Change

 "Evolution is moving faster than our politicians."  - Cesar Aguirre, of the Central California Environmental Justice Network 

"Winning slowly is another way of losing." - Bill McKibben, founder of 350.org

As fast as the departure of the holidays left gaps in my calendar, I have plugged them with Zoom calls on battling the climate emergency. My fascination with climate change began in the late 1990s, when Rob and I went on a Thanksgiving trip to Hawaii. I followed a majestic sea turtle on its underwater peregrinations, and when I resurfaced the balance of my world had tilted. Since then I obtained a degree in Environmental Studies, taught, communicated and organized around climate action. My children's first protest action was a rally for climate.  During the last four years, however,  I largely plunged my head back into the metaphorical sand out of despair at Trump's reckless abuse of environmental laws. 

Biden's budding presidency has already changed the momentum and the sentiment for climate groups in this country and around the world. Each Zoom call feels propelled by the possibilities of gaining traction against the problem of fossil fuel use, of species extinction, of creating a sustainable economy. A sense of urgency dominates the dialogue: we have no time to lose. Goals need to be big, timelines shortened, government actions bold. As Cesar Aguirre said on last night's call, "our voices are loud because our demands are urgent."

Nature herself makes this argument constantly. In fact, evolution appears to be moving faster than our politicians. As Biden battles against Trump's opening of the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge to drilling, polar bears have started mating with grizzly bears. This has been observed outside of Barrow, Alaska, where eight pizzly, or grolar bears have been killed or live-captured by hunters. The writing is on the wall for the polar bears, and they see it better than we do. Last year was the hottest on record, capping the hottest decade on record.

But there is great hope. President Biden tore up the permit for the Keystone XL pipeline on his first day in office, and he has pledged to overhaul the federal fleet of vehicles, making them all electric. His procurement policy claims that this could create between 900,000 and 1,000,000 jobs. Investment companies like BlackRock are demanding that CEO's demonstrate progress toward  net zero (carbon emissions) by 2050. Wind and solar are now cheaper than almost all coal, and could replace 86% of the US coal fleet with lower cost electricity by 2025 (The Guardian).

So what do we do to help the climate change politicians, the CEO's, the local commissions and air quality boards? We need to call, write, demonstrate and engage to demand tangible goals, penalties for those who avoid progress, and rapid change on a grand scale. We fight to #BuildBackFossilFree, a way of meeting the Biden team's campaign slogan with the pressing need to leave poisonous and deadly fossil fuels in the ground. We demand rights for the sacrificed communities where black, indigenous and people of color (BIPOC) live, where water and air are routinely poisoned by pipelines and chemical plants. If we're lucky enough to invest, we invest in sustainably oriented companies or funds. I have listed some organizations and movements below, but there are many more to choose from. Get involved, get inspired, go fast. 

https://buildbackfossilfree.org/#about

Sierra Club Campaigns

350.org

Stop the Money Pipeline

A Winter Reflection

 "Snow: / years of anger following / hours that float idly down - / the blizzard / drifts its weight / deeper and deeper for three days / or sixty years, eh? Then / the sun! a clutter of / yellow and blue flakes - / Hairy looking trees stand out / in long alleys / over a wild solitude. / The man turns and there - / his solitary track stretched out / upon the world."

- "Blizzard" by William Carlos Williams

"What we call the beginning is often the end / And to make an end is to make a beginning. / The end is where we start from..."

- From "Little Gidding" by T.S. Eliot

In this, the winter of the world's discontent, we rise on cold mornings and greet the headlines of the fresh administration with either relief or trepidation, depending on our news sources and political orientations. For those eighty million of us who voted for Biden, Harris and their diverse cabinet, the ending of the Trump era signifies the beginning of hope, a starting place for progress. Our nights are filled with more peaceful dreams, our dreams themselves more resonant with possibility.

And yet the cold winter wind still bites, as I was reminded on the pool deck today at 6am. My watch said 23 degrees and the billows of steam rising off the chlorinated water put me in mind of a giant cauldron, over which I might cast a spell of my liking. Surely if I had been able to wield any magic* I would have multiplied all available vaccines and wished into being a flawless delivery mechanism for their protection. 

The billows of steam passed me by, offering a whisper of warmth as they flew but no magic. I cast salt on the ground to prevent the concrete from freezing under my boots and watched my swimmers in their solitary tracks up and down the lanes. What's next? whispered the wind, and my fingers slowly froze around the empty coffee mug. Our story is yet unwritten, it's plot-points dependent on the caution and restraint we exercise this winter, and the bold action we plan for the warmer, sunnier months to come.

*Yes, I'm still re-reading the Deborah Harkness trilogy.

Stay Uncomfortable

 "We've learned that quiet isn't always peace, and the norms and notions of what "just is" isn't always justice."  - Amanda Gorman, "The Hill We Climb"

"Relieved - but vigilant."  Colorado Governor Jared Polis in an update email, 1/20/21

"The word 'democracy' stems from two roots: "power" and "the people." A true democracy is built around the needs and priorities of its citizens, not those with the greatest wealth....As  Americans of Conscience, we take action to protect freedoms under threat and uphold collaborative democracy as a viable form of government."   - Jen Hoffman, Americans of Conscience Instagram post, 1/20/21

In my online workout classes, the teachers exhort me to "get uncomfortable," because "that's where the growth happens." If we stay in our comfort zones, we're never stretched, we never break down muscle fibers that build back better. Easy for them to say, as they glisten with sweat-gleam, their perfect ponytails bobbing in time to the music. But as an athlete, I know they're right. Progress is incompatible with the status quo.

So while I'm relieved to my core that Joe Biden and Kamala Harris are safely installed in their new positions, thrilled to have a serious and professional government again, I will not mistake the installment of their administration for the finish line. I erred in that direction before, when Obama won once and then twice. I relaxed, took a break from civic and political pursuits, under the mistaken impression that America had turned the page on racism and nativism, that the politics of fear had been tossed for the politics of hope. 

We know how that turned out. As the youth poet laureate, Amanda Gorman, said in her astonishing recitation of her poem "The Hill We Climb,"  an uneasy quiet does not equal peace, a tentative stalemate equates not with the establishment of justice. Like approximately eighty million of my fellow citizens, I have been profoundly uncomfortable over the past four years as the forces that would destroy our country and deny our multicultural democracy gathered, swelled and broke over the Capitol.

So of course we want to rest now, secure in the knowledge that a sane and reasonable adult has power over the nuclear football, that our new president has a 200-page strategy for the pandemic response that we've been missing since March 2020. We prayed along with our new president, and I wiped tears from my eyes as a National Guard trooper in the perimeter bowed his head and made the sign of the cross. 

We can breathe easier, sleep better. But we can't rest for long and we can never stop. Over seventy million Americans voted against this administration for a myriad of reasons, the worst of which because they don't want a functioning federal government, don't want policies that work. The performances of A-listers and a spectacular fireworks display will not have changed their minds.

I plan to continue my civic efforts, supporting city and state officials who will move our localities forward, staying in touch with my federal representatives, reaching out to neighbors and continuing to have difficult conversations. Our multi-racial, multi-cultural democracy is a fragile new baby, built on the sloping shoulders of those in power who did not trust us to think for ourselves. We must protect our infant coalition, remain vigilant against those who would threaten it. In the inimitable words of Amanda Gorman, "There is always light, / If only we're brave enough to see it. / If only we're brave enough to be it."

 

Pre-Inauguration, or Head in the Clouds

 "The present is too much for the senses, too crowding, too confusing, too present to imagine."  - Robert Frost, "Carpe Diem"

"Se souvenir du passe, et qu'il ya un avenir. Remember the past, and that there is a future."  - Deborah Harkness, A Discovery of Witches

Over the past week and a half, I have transitioned from righteous rage to radical optimism to head-in-the-clouds denial. Despite the fact that this is Trump's last full day in office, that Biden's accomplished, experienced and dedicated team looks to hit the ground running tomorrow, I am scared. Perhaps because these headlines are - for once in the past twelve months - too good to be true. Perhaps because the jealous fates hover over Washington eager to snatch any joy from downtrodden Americans,  heartsick and weary of their country in disarray. 

Regardless (or "irregardless" as Senator Hawley would say) of reason, I am struggling to get my head out of the clouds this week.  In my usual weekend retreat from the news, I buried myself in a new show, "A Discovery of Witches" on Sundance. The series is faithfully based on the Lost Souls Trilogy by Deborah Harkness, and season one focuses specifically on her first novel by the same name. I envision Diana (lead witch) in the Bodleian Library at Oxford and magically, my troubles disappear.

Daemons, witches, and vampires are oddly reassuring characters in this strange time and I find comfort in imagining that such creatures are responsible for the tumult in the United States. Donald Trump could easily be a tormented, warped daemon whose absent Twitter powers goad him further into insanity. Melania is obviously a vampire, and Pence is a human overwhelmed by creature influence. Let's hope the good guys are bringing in a whole host of brilliant, principled creatures whose super-powers include writing and passing legislation at lightning speed and influencing humans to seek and believe truth instead of lies.

Surely it's time for the good guys to get a win, for a good witch like Diana to save the day with powers not seen in centuries. Perhaps Kamala Harris....?  But seriously now, I will breathe more easily when tomorrow is over and our new president and vice-president confirmed without one security glitch. Then it's time for all of us to dust off our own superpowers and - feet on the ground - figure out how we can use them to re-set our country.  Praying for you, Mr. Biden and Ms. Harris, and summoning any witchcrafty magic that resides in my body to protect you during tomorrow's inauguration.

Radical Optimism, Anyone?

 "I believe this radical optimism is the good news of the gospel and I propose that we take it seriously...Optimism, like pessimism, tends to be a self-justifying outlook. The more pessimistic you are, the more you are likely to fail and thus justify your pessimism. And similarly, the more optimistic you are, the more apt you are to succeed and justify your optimism." - Beatrice Bruteau, in Radical Optimism

If the title of this blog startles you, it's perhaps because the events of the previous week. the previous ten months or even the past four years have laid the table for a meal of doubt and serious concern, rather than for radical optimism. And yet, we have to start telling ourselves a new story, one with heroes as well as anti-heroes, with inspiring winning as well as dastardly doings. 

For me, two Congressional heroes emerged from the chaos of insurrection events on January 6. First, my own Congressional Representative, Jason Crow, who was trapped in the gallery with several dozen other representatives, reporters and capitol police who could not make it out of the chamber in the initial escape. Congressman Crow, an Army veteran, crouched low and went to help his fellows fit their gas masks, and urge them to safety when an escape route was finally found. He was the last person in the chamber, insisting that others leave before him.

Congressman Crow held a telephone town hall last night, which I listened to. He described the events of the insurrection calmly and without drama, full of resolve to investigate the security lapses and the alleged participation of certain police force members and even Congresspeople. He is also full of resolve to work with his fellow representatives to help rebuild this country, to conquer the virus and take back or economy. This includes members who denied the results of the election, who did not support the insurrection but believed the lies that generated it. He said  the only way the disparate sections of our society can come together is to work together, and - when this pandemic is over- to share a beer or a coffee together.

Another hero who emerged from the chaos is Representative Andy Kim , a second-term Democrat of New Jersey. Representative Kim returned to the Capitol building after the certifying vote  and viewed the destruction in the rotunda with horror and dismay. He began to clean the floor of glass, debris and personal belongings, at times alone and on his knees, hard at work until 3 am. He was photographed  hard at work and the image, a beacon of hope, went viral.

We do have heroes fighting for us. One might say that the ten Republican congresspeople who voted to impeach Donald Trump were heroic, standing against the tide of their party and the influence of millions of voters.  President-elect Biden is heroic, standing above the pandemonium incited by Trump and proposing a bold new plan to fight the pandemic and rebuild the economy. And we each have the opportunity to act heroically every day. We aren't followed by photographers and we may be isolated in our homes, but through our attitudes, our words, our interactions, we can begin to generate the fire of radical optimism and show it's warmth to the world. For me, this post represents my rubbing the first two sticks together and I will try to keep that spark glowing.

Thugs in Sharp Suits

 "A thug in a sharp suit with an Ivy League degree is still a thug." - Mimi Swartz, "Never Forget What Ted Cruz Did" New York Times, 1/11/21

What a week. Have you recovered? I haven't. The world watches in horror as our democracy wavers. Repercussions slowly emerge. Business groups and corporate donors have condemned both last week's violence and the rejection of confirmed election results on the part of certain Congress members. Some corporations have asked for their money back or threatened to withhold all donations for the coming year. The Harvard Institute of Politics removed Representative Elise Stefanik (R - NY) from its Senior Advisory Committee after her repeated (unsubstantiated) claims of voter fraud.

The Harvard Institute of Politics is associated with the Kennedy School of Government and was created "to serve as a living memorial to President John F. Kennedy" (Wikipedia). Remembering Kennedy's exhortation "Ask not what your country can do for you -- ask what you can do for your country," it  appears that Rep. Stefanik's efforts to undermine a free and fair election significantly depart from the Institute's mission. Kennedy School's dean, Douglas Elmendorf, issued a statement that read (in part): "Elise has made public assertions about voter fraud in November's presidential election that have no basis in evidence, and she has made public statements about court actions related to the election that are incorrect." (Politico) Dean Elmendorf initially asked Rep. Stefanik to resign, and when she refused, he removed her.

I applaud the Dean's action. Intelligence does not equal conscience and an Ivy League degree doesn't ensure a principled response. I saw this as a student at Harvard and I see it now in the examples of Stefanik, as well as Senators Josh Hawley (R - MO) and Ted Cruz (R - TX), who continue to insist the 2020 election results were fraudulent. When confronted with their repeated untruths, these three (and others like them) only assert that the "woke Left" is trying to erode their freedom of speech, their diversity of opinion. A lie is not a "diverse opinion," it is a lie. These individuals understand the difference.

They cannot claim lack of intelligence or education as a basis for their faulty reasoning. Stefanik graduated from Harvard College in 2006. Ted Cruz attended Princeton undergrad and went to Harvard Law School, and Josh Hawley attended Stanford and then Yale Law School. After years of legal study, they do understand that the election was fair and the results were accurate, but they have chosen to evade the truth and insist otherwise. Why? Hawley and Cruz have presidential ambitions and covet Trump's tens of millions of voters. I don't know the reasoning behind Stefanik's messaging. Usually the degradation comes down to money or power, an old but true story.

My years at Harvard introduced me to many different types of intelligent people.  As someone who grew up middle class and ignorant of anything outside my narrow stripe of experience, I would guess that most of my classmates were more wealthy than I. Certainly those who had spent four years at an expensive prep school were on a different plane. It was shocking to find that intelligent people make bad decisions, can be as cruel or cold as any uneducated individual (if not moreso). Credentials do not equal conscience; that became apparent as I learned about social justice.

Harvard introduced me to issues of social justice and inspired a need to act. I took a class with Robert Coles, the eminent child psychiatrist, on moral development. Coles highlighted the racial and socioeconomic inequalities that plague our society and disproportionately affect children, and in my section of the class I visited the projects of Cambridge and a hotel on the edge of Boston where families without homes paid day-to-day. Prior to taking Coles' class I was as ignorant of those living situations and inequalities as I was about wealth. At Harvard I met both the wealthy and powerful and those our nation had sacrificed in pursuit of those same false gods. 

There were many examples of good work. I coordinated the Big Brother - Big Sister program in Quincy House and observed as one of my housemates became a true big brother to his assigned "little brother." They have celebrated all major life events together for the past thirty years. Many of my class became public servants: doctors, nurses, teachers, professors, journalists, authors, scientists and parents who seek to improve our society, our country. Like most Americans, we wrestled with the hard truths and tried to avoid the easy lie.

The purpose of this blog is not to condemn myself, my classmates or anyone who has obtained an Ivy League or other college degree. But it's worth pointing out that many of the politicians currently trying to co-opt President Trump's populist base are not "of the people," but of the credentialed elite. Their intelligence renders this hypocrisy "breathtaking," to borrow a phrase from Mimi Swartz. These individuals know the election was fair and the results were accurate, but they do not care - they want the following that comes from "standing up to the elites" and they hope that voters forget their own highly credentialed (and expensive) backgrounds. I suspect they missed Coles' class on moral development.

Major donors and the business community as a whole seem to recognize this base hypocrisy and the dangerous and destabilizing violence that it presages. It's now obvious that a fair number of our elected officials would risk destroying our country if they got to rule over its ashes. Some Trump voters ignore the fact that inequalities would deepen in those ashes, that lives would certainly change, but not for the better. It's time for those of us who know the truth to declare it. The First Amendment is not an excuse to spray untruths, threats, and planned violence across our country, and a thug in a sharp suit with an Ivy League degree is still a thug.

The Capitol is Breached

Yesterday's blog post about sedition was both prescient and completely ignorant of the true danger escalating in Washington DC. After a morning rally in which 45 incited his followers to march on the Capitol, they did exactly that while he slunk away to hide safely in the White House. Four people died as the mob attacked the Capitol building, breaking windows, vandalizing offices, posing for selfies in the Senate chamber, and attempting to frighten our Congressional Representatives into failing to certify the 2020 election results for Biden.

Let's ponder that again: four people died. They died because our president is deranged, focused solely on the "impossible" fact the he lost the election. Sixty court cases, numerous recounts, and endless conversations have proven the legitimacy of the election results, but this narcissistic sociopath cannot believe the truth. His refusal to accept it, his promulgation of endless lies claiming fraud, claiming victory, lead directly to the loss of life yesterday. He should be removed from office under the 25th amendment to the Constitution, or - failing that - he should be impeached so that he can never run for office again.

There are many questions in the minds of Americans today. How were the Capitol police and the National Guard not prepared for the riot and the violence that was predicted, even promised, on social media? Why were troops in battle gear stationed on the Capitol steps for the Black Lives Matter protests but nowhere to be found during the riot of a (mostly white) mob of armed and armored Trumpists? Were they simply unprepared, did Trump and his minions refuse to protect the Capitol, were there insiders on the force? Certainly no one has been arrested, no charges leveled, no consequences given. The coup attempt is both unbelievable and completely predictable, based on Trump's endless assaults on our democracy.

Congress went back to work last night after the chambers of both Houses were cleaned, and we hope, sanitized. They voted to confirm the election results and declare Biden - Harris the incoming president and vice-president. Though leadership of both Houses claimed unity and urged unanimity, still six senators protested the vote counts. They are: Tommy Tuberville (AL), Roger Marshall (KS), John Kennedy (LA), Cindy Hyde-Smith (MS), Josh Hawley (MO), and Ted Cruz (the embarassment of Harvard University), from Texas. Remember their names, remember their cowardly, treasonous actions in supporting a president who cares nothing for our government or for us. There were also 121 representatives who objected to the results, and a complete list is here. They should be reprimanded, even expelled, as they failed to uphold their constitutional responsibilities and pandered to Trump's base for their own self-interest.

We must rally in support of our incoming administration and fight back against the selfish and corrupt play for power by Trump and his mob. Be vigilant, be strong, be aware of what transpires in the people's House, in the people's government. We ask our elected officials to correct the wrongs levied by Trump and his minions and to stand strong against the conspiracy theories generated by forces of hate and ignorance, and we stand behind them.

*Update on January 8: A Capitol police officer has died from wounds inflicted by rioters, bringing the total death toll to five. US Capitol Police Chief Steven Sund has resigned, as has Sergeant at Arms of the Senate, Michael Stenger. The FBI are seeking help from social media and from citizens to identify rioters from photos, as many were allowed to leave the scene.

Acts of Sedition

 "Sedition - crime against the state. Though sedition may have the same ultimate effect as treason, it is generally limited to the offense of organizing or encouraging opposition to government in a manner (such as in speech or writing) that falls short of the more dangerous offenses constituting treason."

-Britannica.com

I woke up today to the sound of our cat leaping at the door handle, followed shortly by Rob's welcome announcement (from his early-morning reading of the I-Pad) that Raphael Warnock had won his Senate run-off race in Georgia and that Jon Ossoff leads David Perdue in the other race. If both seats go to the Democrats, President-elect Biden and his administration will have a chance to get more done,  right the wrongs of the Trump administration and bail out our sinking ship of democracy.

The headlines have made me so nauseous recently that my screen time went down 28% last week; I was avoiding the news. Twelve Republican senators and a handful of House Republicans plan to object to the results of the 2020 election in a floor hearing today. This is futile as the results have been certified by the Electoral College and Congress has no authority over these results. None. The members of Congress who protest the will of the American people and the process outlined in the Constitution are seditious and they should lose their jobs for words and actions opposing the legitimately elected government. In effect, they are attempting to stage a coup.

These actions threaten our democracy. What occurs if no side is ever willing to lose an election? If every contest is protested by the losing side until we are at a continual stalemate the government will be inept and non-functioning (as it is now). Critics of modern parenting say that my generation has awarded too many participation prizes to its children, has raised a cadre of young people who are afraid too lose. This is what I see in the seditious words and proposed actions of certain elected Republican officials (though they are much older than the children of gen X), a childish and unrealistic resistance to the truth of loss, the sting of defeat.

Loss is a fact of life, as 350,000 families will tell you after they lost a family member to COVID. The death of a loved one far outweighs the pain of a lost election, and yet losses of life continue to mount as Trump loyalists - and the President himself - continue to throw temper tantrums and fixate on overturning reality. Our country dances perilously close to a cliff-face. If we waltz off the solid ground of reality into the thin air of Republicans' fantasies our form of government will crash and crumble.

We do have heroes emerging from the chaos. Brad Raffensperger, Georgia's Secretary of State, calmly rebuffed a hysterical and desperate President who begged him to "find the votes" to overturn that state's election of Joe Biden. We have Stacey Abrams, a voting rights activist and lawyer, who lead people of all colors in Georgia to the vote and fought back against voter suppression in that state. We have the voters of Georgia themselves, who turned out in record numbers for the Senate run-off races that are normally an afterthought. So many positive examples of leadership and representation, which show the tarnished and dishonorable actions of the few in an even brighter light.