In 2011 I wrote an essay about how the convention of escape undermines our thinking about the environmental crises we are facing. A kind reader of mine emailed to tell me about how she uses that essay "Outrunning the Boom" in her classroom, and her wonderful students responded with this video. Apparently, outrunning the boom is way cooler than I knew. No wonder I'm not winning the rhetoric war ;-)! H/T to Anna - Thanks!
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As you can probably imagine, Eric sometimes has more than a bit to put up with being married to me. One of the things that bothers him the most is that I'm absolutely no fun at movies. If you remember the show MST3K, I'm them - all the time. And just because the movie is supposed to be high art…
I originally wrote this as a comment to my interview over on Page 3.14 and then decided it ought to be its own entry. I thank BSCI for raising this issue, and admire BSCI's prescience, for lauding my role models and mentors is, indeed, the subject of a forthcoming post.
BSCI, regarding the role…
I'm moving this exchange up to its own posting because I don't want it to get lost amid the more recent articles. We first encountered Jen Shroder when her colleague Tamara Wilhite was awarded the Idiot of the Week prize a few weeks ago. I found an incredibly stupid article by Wilhite on a site…
In my recent essay "300 Years of Fossil Fuels and Not One Bad Gal" I wrote:
...a narrative in which women's entry in the workforce is responsible for our dramatic rise in fossil fuel consumption and carbon emissions can look superficially like a tool for those who would prefer that women go back…
What do you imagine Galileo is doing tonight? My hope would be that the great man is resting in peace and that his head is not spinning in his grave.
How, now, can Galileo possibly find peace when so few leaders and experts speak out clearly and loudly regarding whatsoever they believe to be true about the distinctly human-driven predicament that could soon be confronted by the family of humanity which results directly from the unbridled overproduction, overconsumption and overpopulation activities of the human species now overspreading the Earth and threatening to ravage the planetary home God has blessed us to inhabit? Many too many leaders and a predominant coterie of the' brightest and best' experts are choosing to remain silent. Please consider how the elective mutism of so many of the most fortunate and knowledgeable elders among us could be contributing mightily to the ruination of Earth as fit place for human habitation.
Where are the leaders and experts who are willing to openly support science that is being presented in solid research and validated empirical data? Look at the dismaying disarray in which we find ourselves now and how far we have to travel in a short time to move the human community away from precipitating some unimaginable sort of global ecological wreckage.
What would the world we inhabit look like if scientists like Galileo had chosen to adopt a code of silence? In such circumstances, Galileo as well as scientists today would speak only about scientific evidence which was deemed by the super-rich and most powerful people of the day to be politically convenient, religiously tolerable, economically expedient, socially correct and culturally prescribed. By so doing, Galileo and modern-day scientists would effectively breach their responsibilities to science and duties to humanity to tell the truth as they see it, as best they can report it. If science does not overcome silence, then everything the human community believes we are preserving and protecting could be ruined.
Perhaps there is something in the truthful reports of research from intellectually honest and moral courageous scientists regarding the colossal environmental and geological impact of the rapidly growing human population on the Earth that will give Galileo Galilei moments of peace.
Stephen: "Where are the leaders and experts who are willing to openly support science that is being presented in solid research and validated empirical data? "
I think I have an answer for you. Those who have tried to lead- are exhausted by the increasing vacuum where "followers" used to be. Particularly in the USA, and countries still trying to emulate us- the fashion is to adapt good ideas- not adopt them. Then you can die singing "I did it my way."; apparently the top life goal now.
Why lead? When no one listens or follows? Leading is actually damned hard work; and doesn't pay well. Where is the reward?
geeze, sorry, Steven. :-) I still haven't learned to really proof read everything. Sad to say.