Is this the “better story” we need?

The actions Donald Trump has taken to increase the burning of fossil fuels, eliminate the transition to renewable energy, and increase the wealth of fossil fuel CEO’s have been mind-boggling. Each of these will worsen the climate crisis, and all its disastrous effects, both in the U.S. and throughout the world. They are guaranteed to increase global death and disease — from catastrophic weather events, famine causing droughts, wildfires, and deadly air pollution.

Trump and his henchmen have shifted from climate denial (“It’s a hoax.”) to outright dismissal of the issue. For instance, Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth tweeted, “The Department of Defense does not do climate change crap. We do training and warfighting.” Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rolllins said, “We’re not doing climate change crud anymore.” Climate change denial has become even harder to justify as the scientific evidence and weather disasters have increased. “Dismissal, on the other hand, is a way of saying, ‘It’s beneath our contempt. We don’t even have to debate this—we’ll just call it crap,’” Texas A&M communications professor Jennifer Mercieca says.

All of this comes as a poll of nearly 130,000 people across 125 countries finds that 89% of people want their governments to do more to address the climate crisis.

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Committed to one another, and the Earth

Every once in while I read something that expresses ideas that I’ve been thinking and writing about, but does so more powerfully and beautifully than I’ve yet been able to. Sometimes I just want to shout, “Yes!” right out loud. I often find it deeply reassuring that someone else is putting forth important ideas so boldly and effectively.

Today I want to share with you excerpts from an article by Naomi Klein and Astra Taylor. Naomi Klein has written numerous important books, including This Changes Everything: Capitalism vs the Climate (2014), a book that had a tremendous influence on my thinking about the climate crisis. I don’t remember hearing of Astra Taylor before, but it turns out that she wrote a book with the compelling title of Democracy May Not Exist, but We’ll Miss It When It’s Gone (2019).

In a recent article they write,

“Our opponents know full well that we are entering an age of emergency, but have responded by embracing lethal yet self-serving delusions. Having bought into various apartheid fantasies of bunkered safety, they are choosing to let the Earth burn.”

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A Profound Choice

You probably don’t need me to tell you that things are bad in the United States right now. I do want to affirm, however, that in my view, and in the views of others, the last few weeks have not just been more of the same. Instead, we have seen a shocking increase in the cruelty, the corruption, and the undermining of the rule of law of the Trump/MAGA regime.

From Trump accepting illegal gifts from foreign nations and crypto investors, to forbidding Harvard University to have students from other countries. From mass deportations of immigrants of color without due process to further expanding the unconstitutional weaponization of the Department of Justice to hound those Trump dislikes.

Worst of all, the MAGA Republicans in the House rushed ….

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We Must Resist Trump AND Advocate for Transformative Change

Donald Trump and his minions are deliberately destroying our federal government and the economy, giving control to billionaires and far-right extremists, enriching themselves, waging war on workers, immigrants, and marginalized populations, worsening the climate crisis, stealing our private data, and eliminating government services that have protected our health, safety, and security.

This is not just an extreme version of our two-party politics. This is something we have never seen before in the U.S. It is a full-out fascist coup by MAGA forces that seek to end democracy and the rule of law in the U.S.

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Love in a time of crisis

The COVID pandemic — with its fear, and its quarantine, and its ongoing recommendations for limiting social contact — is still affecting us. Even if we are not among the many unfortunate individuals who are still ill with long COVID, our situation has changed. We are now living in a society where loneliness has increased and trust has decreased. As Jeet Heer wrote in The Nation, “In the wake of COVID, Americans have become more individualistic, more conspiracy-minded, and less committed to collective social effort.” We tend to be more separate from each other.

This is one of the factors that made the resurgence of Donald Trump and the MAGA Republicans possible. They in turn have amplified a selfish, anti-social, conspiracy-minded, mistrustful mood in the country for their own ends.

In the current political moment it is important that we not just resist the rise of authoritarianism, but also together forge a positive vision of who we are and want to be. Now, more than ever, it is important that we choose to care about each other, take care ….

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Will We Stop the Coup?

There is a coup underway in our country. We are in danger of losing our democracy. This is not the traditional coup of armed rebel militants taking over the executive and legislative buildings and the radio stations. This is a coup where a corrupt elected President has put often incompetent and morally compromised billionaires in charge; has, often illegally, dismissed inspectors general, the experienced leadership of the FBI, attorneys at the Justice Department, key figures in many departments, and countless government workers–experienced and dedicated public servants; and made it impossible for many important agencies to serve the public effectively.

The richest man in the world, Elon Musk, endorsed by Donald Trump, has taken over the government’s payment system and immense amounts of data about all of us. He has inserted staff and caused turmoil throughout the government. He shuttered the USAID and the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB). This is a bureau that has obtained more than $21 billion in relief for wronged consumers. All of the 11 agencies already investigating complaints against Musk’s private businesses have been derailed.

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People’s March and MLK, Jr.

This past weekend I went to Washington, DC to be part of the People’s March. Although advance publicity and outreach was limited, thousands of people showed up to demonstrate their resistance to the Trump/MAGA agenda and their solidarity with each other.

There was a remarkable sense of unity, even as people carried signs about many different issues. Immigrant justice, climate justice, women’s rights, Palestinian liberation, racial justice, LGBQT+ rights, opposition to oligarchy, democracy, and other issues, all had vocal, visible advocates. There were marchers of all ages.

While we were there to indicate our resistance to the cruel, selfish, climate-damaging plans of the incoming administration, what we are in favor of seemed more prominent than what we oppose. Those who spoke, and many of the signs that people carried, called for justice, for human rights, for a society where everyone is included, respected, and has their basic needs met; and where the wealth of the society is shared more equally among all its members.

I believe that this is an agenda that over time can attract a sizable majority ….

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American Climate Corps: The CCC Reborn

Last month, the first 9,000 members of the new American Climate Corps were sworn in and started work. This federal program is designed to train young people and engage them in new government-funded jobs in the clean energy, conservation, and climate resilience sectors. It’s modeled on the Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) that FDR created as part of the New Deal in the 1930’s. I’ve been a supporter of this new Corps since it was first proposed back in 2020.

When I heard that one of my longtime favorite authors, the widely heralded Barbara Kingsolver, had written the pledge that the new Corps members would recite in their swearing-in ceremony, I was intrigued. The text of the pledge touched and charmed me. I wrote this post especially to share the pledge with you.

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You are not alone

It is easy to feel overwhelmed and alone in the face of the climate crisis. I know I struggle with those feelings all too often. However, I’m sure we are less alone with this crisis than we think. Reality is different from what our feelings often tell us. There are huge numbers of people with us in this struggle. Below I will share with you some newly reported information about how widespread support for climate action is throughout the world.

However, in order to let this information deeply inform our perspective, I think there are two other essential issues to consider. The first is that we live in a society that emphasizes individualism. Being self-reliant and able to handle things on our own is highly valued. But knowing that we need other people and prioritizing being part of a group tends to be less admired.

Capitalism is built on our being individualistic and having weak group orientations. Wealthy elites and right wingers find ….

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Solving Humanity’s Shared Climate Crisis

A great many of us care about the climate crisis. Many of us have taken steps to reduce our carbon footprints. Many of us have advocated for good climate policy at the local, state, and national levels. We have voted for candidates who seemed most likely to promote effective climate action. Collectively we’ve made quite a difference. Public opinion polls now show almost three-quarters of U.S. adults want more government action on climate. U.S. emissions are slowly coming down, not fast enough, but coming down.

Emissions from the wealthiest nations have been the primary cause of the climate crisis. Ending these emissions is essential to solving the climate crisis. Other wealthy nations are also reducing their emissions, although also too slowly.

Now I want to invite you to take an even more global perspective. We know that climate change does not respect national borders. Greenhouse gas emissions anywhere, cause climate change everywhere. This means that if we care about the livability of the planet for humans, we need to care about what’s happening with emissions everywhere.

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A Big Win!

On January 26, President Biden announced a halt to all new permits for LNG (Liquefied methane “Natural” Gas) export terminals. This is a very big deal because the U.S. fossil fuel industry (already the largest exporter of LNG in the world) has been proposing the biggest fossil fuel expansion in the world–17 new export terminals. These terminals would result in much more methane gas being burned in other countries, further destroying the global climate.

Stopping these terminals is an important part of solving the climate crisis. This is a victory for the frontline residents of the Gulf Coast who have been fighting them for years, for frontline people everywhere being threatened by climate change, and for all of us.

This is also a big deal because of how the decision came about. Biden’s decision was a direct result of ….

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Why Hasn’t Climate Action Made More Difference?

There’s a lot of good news about the growth of electricity generation by solar panels and wind turbines around the world, the increase in electrifying heating and cooling of buildings, and the increased adoption of electric vehicles. Millions of people are working hard to solve the climate crisis and enable humanity to transition to a carbon-free energy systems and sustainable economies.

Yet global warming continues to increase and the predictions about the climate disasters we can expect in the future are dire. Why are the projections still so bleak when we’ve made and are making so much progress?

There is one clear answer: the fossil fuel industry. The fossil fuel industry has ….

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