At this time of year . . .

Fredonia, Alabama, Community House, December 2016

At this time of year . . . 

In this the darkest, coldest time, we are reminded, despite all the blood shed in the streets, in schools, even in places of worship here and across the world, of the possibility of better days, of peace and of love. What does it take?

Early humans, despite their relatively small size and really puny claws and teeth, apparently not only survived but began their domination of the planet in large part because they were smart enough to cooperate, both in defense against much larger and fiercer animals and in hunting and foraging. They learned, as Benjamin Franklin said to fellow American revolutionists in 1776, “Gentlemen, we must, indeed, all hang together or, most assuredly, we shall all hang separately.”

“Hangtogetherness” thus creates group solidarity and some accompanying level of peace, at least within the group; and perhaps of love, too, as people begin to really appreciate those others they are hanging with.

The importance of hangtogetherness for group survival and success seems to be why some version of the Golden Rule has been adopted by all the world’s major religions and cultures. The Islamic Golden Rule, in verse 4:36 of the Qu’ran, declares: “Do good to parents, kinsfolk, orphans, those in need, neighbours who are near, neighbours who are strangers, the companion by your side, the wayfarer ye meet . . . for Allah loveth not the arrogant, the vainglorious.” The Jesus of the Sermon on the Mount prescribed a revolutionary expansion of the scope of the Rule: “You have heard that it was said, ‘You shall love your neighbor.'" (Leviticus 19:18) But I say to you, Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you.” (Matthew 5:43-44)

Robert Kennedy, speaking in 1966 to University students in South Africa opposing Apartheid, said “Let no man think that he fights this battle for others; he fights for himself, and so do we all. The Golden Rule is not sentimentality, but the deepest practical wisdom. For the teaching of our time is that cruelty is contagious, and its disease knows no bounds of race or nation.” Indeed, cruelty is contagious. And so is love. As Martin Luther King Jr. said, “Returning hate for hate multiplies hate. Darkness cannot drive out darkness; only light can do that. Hate cannot drive out hate, only love can do that.”

The take-home and take-to-heart message: Make friends, not enemies. Make peace, not war.

Golfing in the Apocalypse

Speaking of fire, Judy and I enjoyed our first woodstove fire of the season last night, setting up a card table to have supper in the living room in front of our beloved cast-iron Jotul heartwarmer.

And, speaking of appropriate technology, this from the YouTube video I stole the above photo from:

That video: "Ecology as Theology: Inspiring Science for Challenging Times"
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s1pAmGHrJZU&feature=youtu.be

It's Michael Dowd, who describes himself as a "recovering progressive, " now moving "from naive techno-optimism to sacred realism." His base website is: http://thegreatstory.org/ If you're interested, I would suggest going to thegreatstory.org and clicking on the What's NEW link, which offers a 27-minute youtube video of Dowd at a Michigan UU church, along with a 70-minute slide presentation.

So. On one hand we have the climate change deniers. Bad enough, but they seem to be fewer and fewer. Although, yes, too many of them (that one especially) occupy seats of power. On the other hand, we have too many "progressives" denying that the laws of thermodynamics and ecology trump (reverse English pun intended) technological fixes. Working feverishly to green the Titanic and maintain golfing-as-usual.

NOTE: I actually composed the above, with the reference to "last night," in late October. I had intended to add more commentary on the progressive, green/renewable and techno-opimistic sustainability movement. I didn't get around to that. And Fredonia Heritage Day and Armistice Day intervened. Today I think the best I can do is to send you to read a really persuasive article just published on the Resilience website, titled The Limits of Renewable Energy and the Case for Degrowth. 

BTW: Can anyone out there say whether the golfing in the apocalypse photo is for real or just a Photoshop fake? If so, pls let us know. 

As always I'm asking, your thoughts?  

Armistice Day Remembered

Veterans honored at the Fredonia Heritage Day festival, November 3, 2018

I was always embarrassed by the words sacred, glorious, and sacrifice and the expression in vain. We had heard them, sometimes standing in the rain almost out of earshot, so that only the shouted words came through, and had read them on proclamations that were slapped up over other proclamations, now for a long time, and I had seen nothing sacred, and the things that were glorious had no glory and the sacrifices were like the stock yards at Chicago if nothing was done with the meat except to bury it. There were many words that you could not stand to hear and finally only the names of places had dignity. Certain numbers were the same way and certain dates and these with the names of the places were all you could say and have them mean anything. Abstract words such as glory, honor, courage, or hallow were obscene beside the concrete names of villages, the numbers of roads, the names of rivers, the numbers of regiments and the dates. – Ernest Hemingway, A Farewell to Arms

"I hate war, as only a soldier who has lived it can, as only one who has seen its brutality, its futility, its stupidity. – General Dwight Eisenhower

Today, November 11, 2018, is my 83rd birthday. And the 100th anniversary of Armistice Day, ending World War I. When I was a child November 11 was still celebrated as Armistice Day, so I never had to go to school on my birthday. Now the 11th is Veterans Day. Although still a holiday, it is very different from the original Armistice Day. Back then, that "eleventh hour of the eleventh day of the eleventh month" was designated as “a day to be dedicated to the cause of world peace and to be thereafter celebrated."

 After World War II, the U.S. Congress decided to rebrand November 11 as Veterans Day. Honoring the warrior then quickly morphed into honoring the military and  in effect glorifying war. You can't have a Veterans Day without veterans. Armistice Day represented the hope that we would have no more veterans.

  

I took the above photo, choosing not to hand my camera off and go join the lineup of veterans. I was wearing my Veterans for Peace hat, and Hemingway's words were ringing in my head. I had read that novel of World War I when I was in high school, and that passage especially stuck with me. Although it took me many years, along the way becoming a veteran myself, to try seriously to change my life accordingly. To become a "Veteran for Peace." (See veteransforpeace.org/take-action/armistice-day)

Alabama #1? No, Alabama ranks 50th!

https://www.mothersoutfront.org/get_an_a_for_alabama

This graphic is at the top of the "Alabama Solar Initiative" petition campaign website (click on the link in the graphic caption). The goal is to persuade the Alabama legislature to allow third-party ownership of solar power installations, a currently banned-in-Alabama financing model which makes solar possible for homeowners who otherwise couldn't afford the investment.

Sounds like a good idea, eh? It's interesting to know that our neighbor state Georgia has furnished an example by adopting a "Solar Power Free-Market Financing Act," making Georgia the first in the Southeast and 25th in the nation to approve third-party solar financing. 

So why is Alabama #50, providing next to no incentives or support for solar power – when Alabama's and Georgia's major electric utilities, Alabama Power and Georgia Power, are sister subsidiaries of the Southern Company, which says on its official website: "We are committed to providing clean, safe, reliable and affordable energy, while transitioning to low- to no-carbon operations by 2050." A good question, eh?

The Alabama campaign has been launched under the umbrella of the national "Mothers Out Front: Mobilizing for a Livable Climate" organization.  Here's a good link for more info: 

https://www.mothersoutfront.org/lee_county_al

I signed the petition a few days ago.   

That the Alabama Solar Initiative is aimed at changing governmental policy, not simply (at least directly) aimed at urging us consumers to switch from fossil fuels to solar, is a big reason I'm for it. Coincidentally, one of my favorite sources, Low-Tech Magazine, just recently posted an article titled "We Can't Do It Ourselves." This post makes the point that campaigns aimed at influencing individual consumer choices have not resulted in lower energy demand or decarbonization of the energy infrastructure, because it is "systemic social change" that is needed. "Individuals do make choices, but these are facilitated and constrained by the society in which they live. Therefore, it may be more useful to question the system that requires many of us to travel and consume energy as we do." Here is Low-Tech's artwork picturing the problem of individuals up against "the system:"

Illustration: Diego Marmolejo. 

http://www.lowtechmagazine.com/2018/07/we-cant-do-it-ourselves.html

I'm reminded here of a classic example of how the system (govt + corporations) exerts its power. In the early days of the environmental movement (1971), a print media and TV PSA ad called "The Crying Indian," paid for by the Keep America Beautiful nonprofit, proved very effective in getting Americans to stop littering, and to recycle. The message: "People start pollution. People can stop it."

But Keep American Beautiful was formed by the American Can Co. and the Owens-Illinois Glass Co., later joined by Coca-Cola and other bottlers and canners, and its real purpose was to make consumers, not corporations, responsible for environmental issues; and especially to counter efforts to stop the industry from using throw-away containers, especially with laws requiring a deposit on returnable containers. And the ad was even more effective in achieving that purpose.  Read – and weep – here: The "Crying Indian" ad that fooled the environmental movement. 
Watch the Crying Indian TV ad here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j7OHG7tHrNM
(I did a more extensive post on the Crying Indian a couple of years ago, see
https://slowdowndirtytruth.blogspot.com/2016/04/)