The Point of These Posts.
I realize that some people reading these posts might wonder at the apparent ‘jumping around’ of themes and topics.
Some days I talk about climate change, some days about community, sometimes about our personal habits or approaches to life, I throw in bits about conservation or agriculture, and occasionally I share a thought or two about politics or the institutions we rely on for the decisions about and implementation of policy, along with all sorts of other topics. It might seem disordered and not super cohesive.
What I’m attempting to do by including these themes, and jumping between them, is this: I want us to consider (really consider) how we are creating the world, and our place in it. And:
I don’t want you to be bored! And honestly, I don’t want to be bored in writing the posts either.
The world is endlessly interesting, and flourishing in our next chapter requires that we don’t just sit comfortably in one spot with one focus or viewpoint (especially when that view is tainted by cynicism, anxiety, and hopelessness). One of my goals is to introduce and challenge us (including me) to consider topics or viewpoints we don’t always see in our more curated feeds and sources.
The world is completely and utterly interwoven. Installing a wind turbine is not more or less impactful than John Lewis walking across the Edmund Pettus Bridge in Selma, which is not more or less impactful than restoring an endangered species, which is not more or less impactful than deciding how to use social media and who owns it, which is not more or less impactful than making sure everyone has a vote, which is not more or less impactful than deciding how we eat. It all matters, and always, always, one of these changes the others.
Our temptation is to take one piece of the puzzle and label it good or bad, progressive or regressive, green or grey, kind or mean, inclusive or exclusive, liberal or conservative. Most of our decisions, our institutions, our environment, our neighbors, and our politics don’t fit into these categories though.
From my perspective, it’s always worth stepping back and instead of labeling, simply consider the potential consequences of that puzzle piece, how it fits in the broader picture, and what we do and don’t know about it. That’s far more interesting, if nothing else.
We can (actually we have to) have opinions about things of course, but our viewpoints should always be held lightly - understanding that our knowledge is always more limited that we’d like.
If we dig our heels in and insist that doing it our way, or thinking our way is ‘the right way’, we miss the opportunity to engage with history and explore the future, we fail to become a full participant in the natural world, and instead, we end up separating ourselves from it and its massive beauty, and we resist instead of support our own cultural and economic and social evolution.
Humanity withers from stubborn stagnation.
There is always more to explore, more to learn, and more to change. And that, by itself, is how we flourish I believe.
So that’s the point.
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ALSO, I have decided that for the foreseeable future, ALL the posts will allow commenting and discussion from everyone no matter your subscription choice! I’d love to get more conversation going. As the list grows, we might rein it back in, but I want to hear from more of you about what you think and what else you’d like to hear about!
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Thank you to everyone who is already part of this merry band of readers and co-explorers!