Comments jayohara has made

  • wait, wait, isn't that what I was saying? Right On TWEETINGDONAL!On Is Bill McKibben right to be angry with Obama? posted 1 week, 5 days ago 37 Responses
  • This is instructive. We have to hear this argument again and again. Let us identify this type of thinking as the "DC Mentality" which says that political reality is set, and that we need to negotiate a way to get what we want given political reality. Actually, if Obama is smart (which I think he is), he WANTS us to get a little impatient with him. The way to get what we want is to change political reality. How do we do that? By organizing a movement that is capable of exerting pressure on decision makers. A movement that is powerful enough to (in the paraphrase of LBJ) go out and make Obama do it. Bill isn't therefore attacking Obama, quite the opposite - he's doing what's necessary to allow Obama to do the right thing. By changing political reality - by amassing our forces of the people against the vested fossil fuel interests - we create the space for The Changeinator to start putting this on the front burner. Here in Massachusetts a group of students are leading campaign called "The Leadership Campaign" for 100% Clean Electricity in the next decade - the sort of WWII mobilization that we'll need to make this happen. They've been camping out on Boston Common every week, lobbying, organizing, and they just had a very productive meeting with the Governor today. So as the stickers on the green hard hats say, let's "Get To Work!"On Is Bill McKibben right to be angry with Obama? posted 1 week, 5 days ago 37 Responses
  • Great work everyone! Great write-up Ken!On The night I slept with Jim Hansen posted 2 weeks, 2 days ago 15 Responses
  • NiceOn Calling all radicals: Unite for Kerry-Boxer posted 1 month, 2 weeks ago 32 Responses
  • Thanks Andree!On The best part about climate change posted 1 month, 2 weeks ago 1 Response
  • Hi Josh, thanks for posting this, but I think the idea of a movement uniting behind a piece of legislation is a bad idea for two reasons, which I'll explore here. First is the issue of motivating a movement, second is the tactical fallacy of supporting legislation. What we want is effective climate solutions. In order to get them we need to change politics. In order to change politics we need to alter the political landscape and transform a reluctant country into one that feels the urgency of action. The radical's job is then to unite an organized constituency behind a common understanding of the problem and what should be done about it and inspire an ever enlarging movement. Spending our time arguing for a piece of legislation that won't actually get the job done won't inspire a movement big enough to do what is required. "THE PROBLEM IS REALLY BAD!! But pass this bill that won't solve it!" Second, we need to swear allegiance to the cause, not to the people who we want to make it happen. Draw a line from right to left. In the middle put "Kerry-Boxer". Somewhere way to the right put "Sen. Inhofe". Just to the left put Al Gore, and then further to the left put "350" or "Bill McKibben". The farther to the left position, on this spectrum of change vs. do nothing, is where reality is - the reality of what we need. If we decide that we are going to rush into the middle and support something which is not what we need then all of a sudden the "radical" position becomes Kerry-Boxer and then all the mid-west and coal state Democrats will bolt. But if we are arguing for something that is in line with reality and we end up with something passed like Kerry-Boxer is now, then the politicians can play it off as taking the moderate approach. This is fundamentally the blindness created by the beltway. Nobody outside the beltway cares about legislation. Bills and amendments are not inspirational. Dr. King didn't spend his time on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial talking about the virtues of the Voting Rights Act. The bill will get worse instead of better. And most importantly our job is to CREATE NEW POLITICAL REALITIES. Signing on and organizing around a bill doesn't do that.On Calling all radicals: Unite for Kerry-Boxer posted 1 month, 2 weeks ago 32 Responses

  • Hurray!  So glad that Eliot is getting front page action at Grist.  Hurray!

    On Debunking the meat/climate change myth posted 3 months, 3 weeks ago 92 Responses

  • But he was writing about the endorsements of Environmental groups....

    On Sotomayor endorsement is an embarrassment posted 4 months, 2 weeks ago 11 Responses

  • Erick, thanks for your help with the Western Mass bikers at the beginning of the project.  But, here's the thing.  Everyone doesn't have to work for money.  Part of the problem of the environmental movement is that it is extremely top heavy - large numbers of paid activists, lobbyists, consultants and policy experts.  And the focus on these has evaporated, skimmed off or otherwise shut off the faucet on the flow of resources to democratically run decentralized grassroots efforts.  In otherwords we've supplanted citizen organizing in the shape of a social movement with professionals and organizations (with self interest).  Now, obviously these things aren't completely causal, but are in a sort of dance with each other.

    To the idea that people can't work for free - the idea that people need to work full time to get anything done is not true.  I'd like to think that environmentalists need to resurect the idea of tithing - using 10% of our resources to devote to good.  If one devoted 10% of one's time, that'd be over 5 weeks - a lot of time to get a lot of stuff done.  But instead we are driven by our socially accepted views on what is proper work and proper livelihood.  A great attack on which was led by Curtis White's "The Ecology of Work" in Orion a while back.  Or Jim Merkel's "Radical Simplicity".  If we simplify our lives down and eliminate desires (as the Buddha and Jesus and many others would have us do anyway) there's tons of time to devote to unpaid work for the environment.

    And the bonus is that if we're not paid for it we can do what's RIGHT instead of what the funders or the higher-ups want us to do.  BONUS!

    On Making change, one door at a time posted 4 months, 2 weeks ago 6 Responses

  • "If you want to save the world and stuff you gotta sing loud!"

    On Sotomayor endorsement is an embarrassment posted 4 months, 2 weeks ago 11 Responses

  • Great to see the progress, Ken, and to watch it all unfold.  Can't wait to get our teams there at the end of Climate Summer.

    On In which we chronicle the creation of a groundbreaking eco-home posted 5 months, 2 weeks ago 5 Responses

  • i LOVE my extracycle

    jut put it on a new trek hybrid frame in january on Cape Cod.  I'm trying to make the car free lifestyle work on Cape Cod, which is a challenge.  But the extracycle makes many things possible, combined with having a "go-fast" road bike when a quick trip to the post office is necessary.On Umbra on cargo bikes posted 1 year, 7 months ago 29 Responses

  • re: depression

    the the problem is exactly our over-consumption and expropriating every available resource on the planet for immediate cash advantage.  restructuring economics and work to emphasize quality of life and fulfillment of actual needs is exactly what we need.  that, combined with electric trains, urban living and massive human labor toiling on the land.  yes yes yes!  

    why is that gloomy? could it get more gloomy than a society awash in cheap, useless plastic crap?  

    i'm riding of the high of reading this article from Orion magazine, maybe you'll find it interesting too.On Taking on the belief that technotoys will allow the status quo to continue posted 2 years, 6 months ago 27 Responses

  • Jimmy's Sweater

    Why do people always invoke Carter's Cardigan to slam the idea that "less is more" and wastefulness is morally degrading?  As if somehow having to put on a long-sleeve shirt in the middle of winter was an extraordinary burden and that no human being should have stoop to that level.  How do we start to counter the notion that consumption makes us happy?On New energy rules could unleash an economic boom and help quash climate change posted 2 years, 6 months ago 18 Responses