It’s time we told a different kind of story. The real Lord of the Flies is a tale of friendship and loyalty; one that illustrates how much stronger we are if we can lean on each other. After my wife took Peter’s picture, he turned to a cabinet and rummaged around for a bit, then drew out a heavy stack of papers …
Lead with information can be counterproductive: Ask people what they know and want to learn. Then have a conversation.
Anger, anxiety, overwhelm … climate change can evoke intense feelings. “It’s easy to feel dwarfed in the context of such a global systemic issue,” says psychologist Renée Lertzman. She says that when people experience these feelings, they often shut down and push information away. So to encourage climate action, she advises not bombarding people with frightening facts. “When we lead …
As we think about our society, what do we most fear? And what are our most fervent hopes for the future?
Once we clearly identify and share our deepest fears and hopes, we may discover we have far more common ground regarding purpose and meaning than we ever imagined. What greater purpose and meaning is there than working together to create a world that secures the health of Earth and the well-being of families and communities? That world would likely feature …
What Trump understands about politics today: Trump makes people feel powerful and connected
Feelings are a dangerous foundation for our politics. If we evaluate our politicians on promises kept or chickens in pots, we can choose those who give us what we need materially. But if all we want is to feel deeply, we’ll simply reward those who push our last button. By Dorothy Fortenberry in Commonweal, November 5, 2020, Donald TrumpPolitics Donald Trump …
It’s time to have community conversations about what folks need, to make the transition work out for them and their families
Though we may be dealing with the same kind of corporate Democrats as we were in 2008, we are not the same. We have changed. Our movements have grown in size but they’ve also grown in vision. In the vision of defund the police, moving the resources from the infrastructure of incarceration, of policing, of militarism to the infrastructure of care. Vision work has …
Exxon Spends Millions on Facebook To Keep the Fossil Fuel Industry Alive: a right-wing political consulting firm helps Exxon rally support for oil & gas interests at every level of government
“Before an issue arises Find/Locate OUR people, recruit OUR people, and educate them” “Activate your folks with tangible advocacy actions to sort and segment the database ahead of an issue” By Christine MacDonald, In These Times, October 20, 2020 In January 2019, an outfit called Santa Barbara for Safe and Local Transport (SBSLT) began running social media advertisements for select California residents. SBSLT’s name and …
Public Opinion: Polls Find Most 2020 Voters Strongly Favor Climate Action
Seven in 10 voters support government action to address climate change, with three-quarters wanting the U.S. to generate all of its electricity from renewable sources such as solar and wind within 15 years. Nearly two-thirds of respondents said they would be more likely to vote for a presidential candidate who supports the complete shift to clean energy, with a further …
The left on both sides of the Atlantic must urgently get stuck into community organising, movement building and political education around economic alternatives in communities where such capacities have been hollowed out. The fundamentals of a viable next system: a democratic, community-sustaining political economy that operates within planetary boundaries, where all can thrive. We have strong evidence for the effectiveness of democratic economy models and community wealth building approaches
Key to changing this will be the development of a powerful program of political education around economic alternatives in communities where such capacities have been hollowed out (and sometimes lost entirely) after decades of neoliberalism. Conspiracy theories are filling the vacuum created by the absence of a program on the left. It’s time to get concrete and specific about political …
Resisting authoritarianism will require the reinvention of American democracy, and a new politics of moral aspiration: Develop a common language, a shared reality, common experience of the world, to work across difference and act together
Masha Gessen, 2020 “politics” and “political” — “the vital project of negotiating how we live together as a city, a state or a country; of working across difference; of acting collectively.” “when something cannot be described, it does not become a fact of shared reality.” And the kind of willful blindness you’re describing is only possible when language has been …
Human memory: How we make, remember, and forget memories
FROM THE MOMENT we are born, our brains are bombarded by an immense amount of information about ourselves and the world around us. So, how do we hold on to everything we’ve learned and experienced? Memories. Human memory happens in many parts of the brain at once, and some types of memories stick around longer than others. By MICHAEL GRESHKO, National …