“All we are saying, is give peace a chance,” Pete Seeger’s resonant voice rises above the crowd of half a million people assembled this morning, November 15, 1969, before the White House. President Nixon is inside the heavily guarded building he’s called home now for ten months.
Good morning Kathleen and thank you for all your efforts. I share your heartbreak over what’s happening to Mother Earth. I am just a few years younger than you are and was part of the Citizens’ Climate Lobby for a couple years and attended the Peoples’ Climate March in NYC a decade ago. Right now though I am totally focused on this year’s election. Unless Biden and Democrats up and down ballots are re-elected, all of this is moot. There are at least hundreds of people in our generation in Maine engaged in this struggle. And many younger folks are stepping up , and that gives me real hope. It’s their future. Sadly, I think many in our generation are too ill and infirm to participate. More than a thousand of us rallied in Augusta last month to show our support for meaningful Gun legislation. This is all to say that there are other huge issues right now demanding our attention.
Yes yes MaryAnn, Democracy on the line! Gun legislation. No time for sleeping. Third Act does have mobilizing for democracy as one of its foremost missions. CCL has done such great work. Thanks for all you are doing!!
A very nice profile of Rixon, and a thought-provoking survey of the factors affecting people's decision to publicly protest. I wonder about how many things are necessary to stop the burning of fossil fuels, even though no single one would be sufficient to accomplish it. Getting money (Citizens United) out of politics. Abolishing the filibuster. Winner take all elections (why should the 'winning' party take over chairing ALL the committees?) A people's plebiscite to bring bills to the Senate/House floor for debate and vote. Certainly the first two examples are necessary; can either of them continue in force and a ban on burning fossil fuels become law? Or, as the previous comments note, the Democrats, for all their flaws, winning the House, Senate, Presidency. So vote, protest, petition. Rinse and repeat.
I remember about 1-2 years ago going into LL Bean to buy something, and the clerk asked me if I had an LL Bean credit card...I replied that I had let it lapse, and she said she would renew it for me. I explained that I did not want it because LL Bean's use mod it supports a bank that supports actions detrimental to the environment. She was astonished, so I told her about third Act, and she said he would tell other employees about the card, so maybe there is some hope that word will spread slowly. Perhaps telling these Storie is effective, as it allows action that bisn';t as confrontational as being in the streets. However, even as I wrote this, I reflected on the civil rights marches that actually led to real change, though som of that is being eroded today. I enjoy your writing and refletions. Thanks...chuk glassmire....a 78 year old.
Thank you, Kathleen! We must keep showing up! I think Maryann is correct that our democracy hangs in the balance this November and without it, we will feel much more unsafe protesting. Let’s not give up on letting Bean’s hear our desire for them to influence Citibank. Through postcards and letters of we’re too infirm or scared or lazy to show up with Bill! Our town council can speak to Steve Smith if he won’t speak to us. You inspire me!
In the 60's I was also in graduate school doing hard science. Uncle Sam had decided that more scientists was the way to beat the Soviets so I got a deferment that meant I was not looking at a free plane trip to Saigon. But, for many of those young college men, their English degree was not going to save them so they knew that the threat of a horrible death in a far away jungle was real. What a motivator! Today, the threat from climate chaos is not real for most people. The fossil fuel industry has convinced many that the solution is to burn "clean" natural gas and that we need to work on our own carbon footprints since we are the problem not them. Maine just got a taste of what lies ahead but for most, the rising sea does not pose an existential threat. My fear is that most of out friends are not going to be standing outside of L.L. Bean or Chase because they have not yet internalized the fact that there is a plane ticket to climate chaos waiting for the next generation, or maybe even them. They do not really believe that the planet could possibly reach a tipping point of no return. It looks like an early spring. What could possibly be wrong with that?
Like Michael a demonstrator at Berkeley (1966-1967). And DC (anti-Vietnam). And NYC (Nuclear Freeze). And Yarmouth (don't invade Iraq). And Portland (cut up your credit card). I can't pretend to correctly analyze what kind of demonstration would achieve what kind of effect. The antiwar demonstration's in Chicago in 1968 had the effect of electing Richard Nixon, at least in part. If we go out to demonstrate, are we helping Trump?
This is a very important question and it poses a very important question.
Time is the basket. "A time to
reap. A time to sow.." as the sixties song went.
We demonstrate, raise families, demonstrate again, renounce activism, embrace consumerism, run from it all, seek crowds, seek solitude. We use the powers of the voting booth, the wallet, direct actions, meditation or monkeywrenching as our shifting tempers direct us. What would it take to discard all but one?
When not doing one would threaten our ability to do any of the others.
Pretty soon the great white bird will bring us over the horizon, Michael. Carrying the words of love on this journey...what better thing to do with this time, with those jeans.
Thanks for your energy and devotion, Kathleen. The day I received your essay, I saw the following article in the New York Times, explaining why we do not pay attention to horrors that we see around us. It all fits with our climate change predicament, sadly. Though it's no excuse.
Yes yes. Habituation to the danger and the horror. The article (thank you for sending it) says we need dishabituation entrepreneurs! Now those folks are going to be really popular!!
I of course share your deep concern for our climate Kathleen. However, I too feel that the coming elections are so important to all the issues that are so vital to so many of us, from climate change to gun violence and to the very democracy we hold so dear. I myself don’t feel going after one bank company or another approaches the issue of climate change in a persuasive way, so it is hard to grab many people who share your beliefs and convictions to this slice of the pie. We all belong to one bank, or several, and their customers are all of us, as are probably the companies they invest in are also all so varied, so to single out one or another bank just might not be reasonable or convincing, even though clearly the issue of climate change is reasonable and compelling to so many of us. As your readers, we love you and your commitment to our environment and climate change, but maybe attacking the banks is not the best way to go.
Hi Len, I get it that the elections need us to focus all of our energy and imagination on the individual and collective action needed to defeat this man who claims he will overthrow democracy! There are so many looming threats to life and love! But I would ask: where are the marching demonstrators with signs that say Love Democracy not Money, where are the songs, where is the collective action that rose up in the late 60's around not only the war but Nixon?
As to protesting banks, I take my lead from Bill McKibben who as been doing this work and studying systemic change for far longer than I have and he has come to the conclusion that this battle can only be won when we get the money and power of the banks and investment companies out of the equation. And we all have some agency in that with our investments. The banks and companies like Exxon know about the risk from burning fossil fuels and yet they continue to invest in NEW FF infrastructure that will extend the emissions far into the future. Then they employ advertising companies to spread the word that the problems aren't that bad and that they care about the future of the planet. That's my definition of evil. Growl. Spit. Teeth barred.
But I'd love to hear your thoughts about what we should be focusing on and how to mobilize more people in this existential fight for life, love and interconnection? There are many threads to pull, many paths to go down!!
Well, it was a violent demonstration in 1968, "Days of Rage". Maybe I'll walk around with a sledgehammer smashing the windshield of every car idling in the parking lots?
And now that you have grown older, will you not pick up that same misused hammer and use it to hammer out justice? Let drop all anger and hammer out love?
Michael, I wish you were right, but I don't see myself going from car to car in sackcloth and ashes, saying, "Please madam, for the good of the Earth, turn off your car." Nor do I see myself wielding the hammer of wrath.
I could see myself getting an ordinance banning gasoline-powered leaf blowers. None of the steps is a mass movement of the kind Kathleen began this discussion with. Alas.
Good morning Kathleen and thank you for all your efforts. I share your heartbreak over what’s happening to Mother Earth. I am just a few years younger than you are and was part of the Citizens’ Climate Lobby for a couple years and attended the Peoples’ Climate March in NYC a decade ago. Right now though I am totally focused on this year’s election. Unless Biden and Democrats up and down ballots are re-elected, all of this is moot. There are at least hundreds of people in our generation in Maine engaged in this struggle. And many younger folks are stepping up , and that gives me real hope. It’s their future. Sadly, I think many in our generation are too ill and infirm to participate. More than a thousand of us rallied in Augusta last month to show our support for meaningful Gun legislation. This is all to say that there are other huge issues right now demanding our attention.
Yes yes MaryAnn, Democracy on the line! Gun legislation. No time for sleeping. Third Act does have mobilizing for democracy as one of its foremost missions. CCL has done such great work. Thanks for all you are doing!!
A very nice profile of Rixon, and a thought-provoking survey of the factors affecting people's decision to publicly protest. I wonder about how many things are necessary to stop the burning of fossil fuels, even though no single one would be sufficient to accomplish it. Getting money (Citizens United) out of politics. Abolishing the filibuster. Winner take all elections (why should the 'winning' party take over chairing ALL the committees?) A people's plebiscite to bring bills to the Senate/House floor for debate and vote. Certainly the first two examples are necessary; can either of them continue in force and a ban on burning fossil fuels become law? Or, as the previous comments note, the Democrats, for all their flaws, winning the House, Senate, Presidency. So vote, protest, petition. Rinse and repeat.
I remember about 1-2 years ago going into LL Bean to buy something, and the clerk asked me if I had an LL Bean credit card...I replied that I had let it lapse, and she said she would renew it for me. I explained that I did not want it because LL Bean's use mod it supports a bank that supports actions detrimental to the environment. She was astonished, so I told her about third Act, and she said he would tell other employees about the card, so maybe there is some hope that word will spread slowly. Perhaps telling these Storie is effective, as it allows action that bisn';t as confrontational as being in the streets. However, even as I wrote this, I reflected on the civil rights marches that actually led to real change, though som of that is being eroded today. I enjoy your writing and refletions. Thanks...chuk glassmire....a 78 year old.
Thank you, Kathleen! We must keep showing up! I think Maryann is correct that our democracy hangs in the balance this November and without it, we will feel much more unsafe protesting. Let’s not give up on letting Bean’s hear our desire for them to influence Citibank. Through postcards and letters of we’re too infirm or scared or lazy to show up with Bill! Our town council can speak to Steve Smith if he won’t speak to us. You inspire me!
In the 60's I was also in graduate school doing hard science. Uncle Sam had decided that more scientists was the way to beat the Soviets so I got a deferment that meant I was not looking at a free plane trip to Saigon. But, for many of those young college men, their English degree was not going to save them so they knew that the threat of a horrible death in a far away jungle was real. What a motivator! Today, the threat from climate chaos is not real for most people. The fossil fuel industry has convinced many that the solution is to burn "clean" natural gas and that we need to work on our own carbon footprints since we are the problem not them. Maine just got a taste of what lies ahead but for most, the rising sea does not pose an existential threat. My fear is that most of out friends are not going to be standing outside of L.L. Bean or Chase because they have not yet internalized the fact that there is a plane ticket to climate chaos waiting for the next generation, or maybe even them. They do not really believe that the planet could possibly reach a tipping point of no return. It looks like an early spring. What could possibly be wrong with that?
Yup. The press is also corrupted by the money from corporations and advertising as a really good piece in Drilled by Amy Westervelt confirms. https://mail.google.com/mail/u/0/#search/the+sun/FMfcgzGxRnjHVGHkJNMbwWsrrftGrLjr
So we don't get the truth about how bad it is out there and have not yet reckoned, I believe, with the enormity of the threat.
Just posted on Facebook, Kathleen. ❤️
Thanks, Nancy, one of TAM"s stalwart witnesses, brave spirit and companion. Thank you for all you do!!
Back to you ❤️❤️❤️❤️
Like Michael a demonstrator at Berkeley (1966-1967). And DC (anti-Vietnam). And NYC (Nuclear Freeze). And Yarmouth (don't invade Iraq). And Portland (cut up your credit card). I can't pretend to correctly analyze what kind of demonstration would achieve what kind of effect. The antiwar demonstration's in Chicago in 1968 had the effect of electing Richard Nixon, at least in part. If we go out to demonstrate, are we helping Trump?
Interesting point, Chalmers. Trump and the Trumpers can and will spin anything their way. I don't think we can let it stop us.
This is a very important question and it poses a very important question.
Time is the basket. "A time to
reap. A time to sow.." as the sixties song went.
We demonstrate, raise families, demonstrate again, renounce activism, embrace consumerism, run from it all, seek crowds, seek solitude. We use the powers of the voting booth, the wallet, direct actions, meditation or monkeywrenching as our shifting tempers direct us. What would it take to discard all but one?
When not doing one would threaten our ability to do any of the others.
It is 1968 and I'm demonstrating in Berkeley. The Byrd's Turn, Turn Turn is playing somewhere.
"To everything turn, turn, turn
There is a season turn, turn, turn
And a time to every purpose under Heaven
A time to be born, a time to die
A time to plant, a time to reap
A time to kill, a time to heal
A time to laugh, a time to weep
A time to buid up, a time to break down
A time to dance, a time to mourn
A time to cast away stones
A time to gather stones together
A time of love, a time of hate
A time of war, a time of peace
A time you may embrace
A time to refrain from embracing
A time to gain, a time to lose
A time to rain, a time of sow
A time for love, a time for hate
A time for peace, I swear it's not too late"
Back then a war was at stake. Now a whole planet is at stake. What would it take?
It is 1974 and I'm leaving the army with 3 stripes on my sleeve. Somewhere, Oh Very Young is playing.
"Oh very young, what will you leave us this time
You're only dancin' on this earth for a short while
And though your dreams may toss and turn you now
They will vanish away like your dads best jeans
Denim blue, faded up to the sky
And though you want them to last forever
You know they never will
You know they never will
And the patches make the goodbye harder still
Oh very young what will you leave us this time
There'll never be a better chance to change your mind
And if you want this world to see a better day
Will you carry the words of love with you
Will you, will you ride the great white bird into heaven
And though you want to last forever
You know you never will
You know you never will
And the goodbye makes the journey harder still..."
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bP6B9HttRI8
Pretty soon the great white bird will bring us over the horizon, Michael. Carrying the words of love on this journey...what better thing to do with this time, with those jeans.
Thanks for your energy and devotion, Kathleen. The day I received your essay, I saw the following article in the New York Times, explaining why we do not pay attention to horrors that we see around us. It all fits with our climate change predicament, sadly. Though it's no excuse.
Why People Fail to Notice Horrors Around Them
https://www.nytimes.com/2024/02/25/opinion/brain-habituation-horrors.html?smid=nytcore-ios-share&referringSource=articleShare
Thanks, Susan.
Yes yes. Habituation to the danger and the horror. The article (thank you for sending it) says we need dishabituation entrepreneurs! Now those folks are going to be really popular!!
I of course share your deep concern for our climate Kathleen. However, I too feel that the coming elections are so important to all the issues that are so vital to so many of us, from climate change to gun violence and to the very democracy we hold so dear. I myself don’t feel going after one bank company or another approaches the issue of climate change in a persuasive way, so it is hard to grab many people who share your beliefs and convictions to this slice of the pie. We all belong to one bank, or several, and their customers are all of us, as are probably the companies they invest in are also all so varied, so to single out one or another bank just might not be reasonable or convincing, even though clearly the issue of climate change is reasonable and compelling to so many of us. As your readers, we love you and your commitment to our environment and climate change, but maybe attacking the banks is not the best way to go.
Hi Len, I get it that the elections need us to focus all of our energy and imagination on the individual and collective action needed to defeat this man who claims he will overthrow democracy! There are so many looming threats to life and love! But I would ask: where are the marching demonstrators with signs that say Love Democracy not Money, where are the songs, where is the collective action that rose up in the late 60's around not only the war but Nixon?
As to protesting banks, I take my lead from Bill McKibben who as been doing this work and studying systemic change for far longer than I have and he has come to the conclusion that this battle can only be won when we get the money and power of the banks and investment companies out of the equation. And we all have some agency in that with our investments. The banks and companies like Exxon know about the risk from burning fossil fuels and yet they continue to invest in NEW FF infrastructure that will extend the emissions far into the future. Then they employ advertising companies to spread the word that the problems aren't that bad and that they care about the future of the planet. That's my definition of evil. Growl. Spit. Teeth barred.
But I'd love to hear your thoughts about what we should be focusing on and how to mobilize more people in this existential fight for life, love and interconnection? There are many threads to pull, many paths to go down!!
Unfortunately you are right. And we don't have time to wait until the risk increases, because the longer we wait, the likelihood of success lessens.
Well, it was a violent demonstration in 1968, "Days of Rage". Maybe I'll walk around with a sledgehammer smashing the windshield of every car idling in the parking lots?
And now that you have grown older, will you not pick up that same misused hammer and use it to hammer out justice? Let drop all anger and hammer out love?
Michael, I wish you were right, but I don't see myself going from car to car in sackcloth and ashes, saying, "Please madam, for the good of the Earth, turn off your car." Nor do I see myself wielding the hammer of wrath.
I could see myself getting an ordinance banning gasoline-powered leaf blowers. None of the steps is a mass movement of the kind Kathleen began this discussion with. Alas.