I'm staying and fighting! There are 8 billion people on the planet -- my own personal life just isn't that important in the big picture, especially because I don't have dependents. Protecting democracy, protecting nature, fighting back on behalf of all those who aren't in a position to fight are all more important than what happens to me personally. Thank you for staying and fighting, too! Here's my current list of actions:
- Going to demonstrations -- I'll be out there on June 14th
- Contacting my reps
- Communicating with friends and family about what's happening and what actions we can take
- Writing to the local newspaper (people read those letters, believe it or not)
- Donating to the Environmental Voter Project (and sometimes volunteering, too)
- Donating to pro-democracy and pro-environment organizations, including: ACLU, Earthjustice, Climate Science Legal Defense Fund, Amigos de Guadalupe Center for Justice and Empowerment, The Human Trafficking Legal Center, NRDC, Protect Democracy Project, Forest Service Employees for Environmental Ethics, Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility, Green Foothills, California Bicycle Coalition, 350.org, Democracy Forward Foundation, Protect Our Winters, Center for Biological Diversity, Planned Parenthood, Brennan Center for Justice, Open Secrets, Calmatters, Center for Artistic Activism, Voteriders, and more.
Some of newsletters I subscribe to are The Ink (highly recommend); Lucid; Chop Wood, Carry Water; Robert Hubbell’s Today’s Edition and Rebecca Solnit’s Meditations in an Emergency
Me too, I'm staying and fighting as long as I can, but at age 78 I need to focus. Re. your thoughts about NYT and the media, NYT is a paper of record and I agree NYT and other 'respected' media need to find the courage to 'tell the whole story of the polycrisis at a societal level.' But for me, NYT is a kind of echo chamber for its +/- 10 million subscribers. 'Found courage' might allow them to report more at a societal level but I wonder how much of our society that message would actually influence. 77.3 million voted for DJT and 89 million didn't vote. Perhaps 1% of those 166 million look at the NYT from time to time... maybe. And, if we are going to disrupt fascism, we don't need to mobilize all of us NYT readers and NYT followers on social media. We need to get the attention of all of them. I really wonder how much influence our demonstrations and post card writing and letters to editors are really having. The level of such activity has increased exponentially and yet here we are... with that feeling of terror.
Good points! Here's how I see it, as a person trying as hard as he can to help build a climate movement (and now, just the movement) for 19 years. We need the "echo chamber" as you say to become mobilized by a sense of urgency, to get out in the streets and also to change institutions, to take real risks, not to not remain disengaged on the sidelines signing petitions and calling representatives.
When the NYT and other outlets normalize climate change by presenting it as if it's "another issue," as opposed to our planet on fire and dying, a threat to all of humanity and all life for the next few million years, when the NYT refuses to communicate that everything is at stake, when the NYT fails to clearly indicate the cause (the dishonest fossil fuel industry people and the extractive capitalist system that would replace any fossil fuel CEO who tried to be "good" with another dishonest profit-driven money zombie)... when the NYT and other media deeply downplays the issue and hides relevant context that would make it clear what a crisis we're in, it's much harder to build that movement.
The movement needs to mobilize people. But the movement is a few small voices (like mine), still a small fraction of the population, versus these HUGE megaphones (like the NYT) constantly signaling people to essentially "stay calm, let's preserve the neoliberal status quo, get out and vote for moderate Democrats." You are correct that we will not mobilize outside of the echo chamber by writing letters or essays in the NYT. The way to mobilize outside of the echo chamber is by building a very powerful movement - 10x or 100x more powerful than the climate movement has been so far. Media downplaying works against that.
I'm not asking for journalists to be activists. Just to tell the whole story.
I hear you, Peter. I'm still not sure if all NYT readers left calm behind and worked as one to fight climate change and fossil fuel co's, that fascism would be beaten or if carbon dioxide and methane would begin to decline in the atmosphere and oceans. Little Greta Thunberg has built a bit of a movement in Europe but her impact has been diluted lately with her efforts to support the Sámi people and Gaza. She's doing the right thing but climate change is beginning to get lost in the shuffle. However, perhaps there is something to learn from a 15 year old school girl who sat outside parliament with a few handouts and one year later addressed the UN in NYC and was Time Magazine Person of the Year. Peter, why don't you contact Greta. Introduce yourself. Explain your cause and the NASA climate connections and your job probably in jeopardy. Get Greta to sail back to the USA for a media blitz with you. She will be like catnip for the media, even Fox News, and will get you exponentially more attention than you are getting now. Make an alliance. Help her in Europe. Write a book together... Don't let Bill McKibben or Jane Fonda get near her. Tell her why. Anyway, it's an idea :)
I'm staying and fighting! There are 8 billion people on the planet -- my own personal life just isn't that important in the big picture, especially because I don't have dependents. Protecting democracy, protecting nature, fighting back on behalf of all those who aren't in a position to fight are all more important than what happens to me personally. Thank you for staying and fighting, too! Here's my current list of actions:
- Going to demonstrations -- I'll be out there on June 14th
- Contacting my reps
- Communicating with friends and family about what's happening and what actions we can take
- Writing to the local newspaper (people read those letters, believe it or not)
- Writing postcards to voters through postcardstovoters.org
- Donating to the Environmental Voter Project (and sometimes volunteering, too)
- Donating to pro-democracy and pro-environment organizations, including: ACLU, Earthjustice, Climate Science Legal Defense Fund, Amigos de Guadalupe Center for Justice and Empowerment, The Human Trafficking Legal Center, NRDC, Protect Democracy Project, Forest Service Employees for Environmental Ethics, Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility, Green Foothills, California Bicycle Coalition, 350.org, Democracy Forward Foundation, Protect Our Winters, Center for Biological Diversity, Planned Parenthood, Brennan Center for Justice, Open Secrets, Calmatters, Center for Artistic Activism, Voteriders, and more.
I'd love to hear how others are fighting back!
A few more important actions:
- I've joined indivisible.org
- In addition to this substack, I've also subscribed to Heather Cox Richardson, The Contrarian, and Tristan Snell.
How are other people staying informed in this era where the billionaires have a stranglehold on most news media?
I’m doing many of the same things you are.
Some of newsletters I subscribe to are The Ink (highly recommend); Lucid; Chop Wood, Carry Water; Robert Hubbell’s Today’s Edition and Rebecca Solnit’s Meditations in an Emergency
Me too, I'm staying and fighting as long as I can, but at age 78 I need to focus. Re. your thoughts about NYT and the media, NYT is a paper of record and I agree NYT and other 'respected' media need to find the courage to 'tell the whole story of the polycrisis at a societal level.' But for me, NYT is a kind of echo chamber for its +/- 10 million subscribers. 'Found courage' might allow them to report more at a societal level but I wonder how much of our society that message would actually influence. 77.3 million voted for DJT and 89 million didn't vote. Perhaps 1% of those 166 million look at the NYT from time to time... maybe. And, if we are going to disrupt fascism, we don't need to mobilize all of us NYT readers and NYT followers on social media. We need to get the attention of all of them. I really wonder how much influence our demonstrations and post card writing and letters to editors are really having. The level of such activity has increased exponentially and yet here we are... with that feeling of terror.
Good points! Here's how I see it, as a person trying as hard as he can to help build a climate movement (and now, just the movement) for 19 years. We need the "echo chamber" as you say to become mobilized by a sense of urgency, to get out in the streets and also to change institutions, to take real risks, not to not remain disengaged on the sidelines signing petitions and calling representatives.
When the NYT and other outlets normalize climate change by presenting it as if it's "another issue," as opposed to our planet on fire and dying, a threat to all of humanity and all life for the next few million years, when the NYT refuses to communicate that everything is at stake, when the NYT fails to clearly indicate the cause (the dishonest fossil fuel industry people and the extractive capitalist system that would replace any fossil fuel CEO who tried to be "good" with another dishonest profit-driven money zombie)... when the NYT and other media deeply downplays the issue and hides relevant context that would make it clear what a crisis we're in, it's much harder to build that movement.
The movement needs to mobilize people. But the movement is a few small voices (like mine), still a small fraction of the population, versus these HUGE megaphones (like the NYT) constantly signaling people to essentially "stay calm, let's preserve the neoliberal status quo, get out and vote for moderate Democrats." You are correct that we will not mobilize outside of the echo chamber by writing letters or essays in the NYT. The way to mobilize outside of the echo chamber is by building a very powerful movement - 10x or 100x more powerful than the climate movement has been so far. Media downplaying works against that.
I'm not asking for journalists to be activists. Just to tell the whole story.
I hear you, Peter. I'm still not sure if all NYT readers left calm behind and worked as one to fight climate change and fossil fuel co's, that fascism would be beaten or if carbon dioxide and methane would begin to decline in the atmosphere and oceans. Little Greta Thunberg has built a bit of a movement in Europe but her impact has been diluted lately with her efforts to support the Sámi people and Gaza. She's doing the right thing but climate change is beginning to get lost in the shuffle. However, perhaps there is something to learn from a 15 year old school girl who sat outside parliament with a few handouts and one year later addressed the UN in NYC and was Time Magazine Person of the Year. Peter, why don't you contact Greta. Introduce yourself. Explain your cause and the NASA climate connections and your job probably in jeopardy. Get Greta to sail back to the USA for a media blitz with you. She will be like catnip for the media, even Fox News, and will get you exponentially more attention than you are getting now. Make an alliance. Help her in Europe. Write a book together... Don't let Bill McKibben or Jane Fonda get near her. Tell her why. Anyway, it's an idea :)