To Be Of Use

As we await President Obama’s State of the Union address tonight, it seems fitting that I would come across this poem by Marge Piercy. Unfortunately we have more “parlor generals and field deserters” in Congress than the country can tolerate. Thankfully there are millions of Americans who will get up tomorrow and continue to carry their heavy loads with “massive patience”… “who strain in the mud and muck to move things forward.” I honor them tonight.

To Be Of Use

The people I love the best
jump into work head first
without dallying in the shallows
and swim off with sure strokes almost out of sight.
They seem to become natives of that element,
the black sleek heads of seals
bouncing like half submerged balls.

I love people who harness themselves, an ox to a heavy cart,
who pull like water buffalo, with massive patience,
who strain in the mud and the muck to move things forward,
who do what has to be done, again and again.

I want to be with people who submerge
in the task, who go into the fields to harvest
and work in a row and pass the bags along,
who stand in the line and haul in their places,
who are not parlor generals and field deserters
but move in a common rhythm
when the food must come in or the fire be put out.

The work of the world is common as mud.
Botched, it smears the hands, crumbles to dust.
But the thing worth doing well done
has a shape that satisfies, clean and evident.
Greek amphoras for wine or oil,
Hopi vases that held corn, are put in museums
but you know they were made to be used.
The pitcher cries for water to carry
and a person for work that is real.

Flat and Fat

My nephew was 11 and living in a suburb of Chicago when he first visited with us at our cabin in Western Maryland. I told him in advance that the cabin was a “TV-free zone.” A few days into the visit, Ben announced to me that “I was probably the only house in Maryland that didn’t have a TV.” I reminded him that I had given him the heads up. “Oh that’s OK, Aunt Jenn. Who needs TV when you have the wilderness?”

Unfortunately Ben’s experience – and attitude – is not the norm. Today too many kids are spending more time than ever inside in front of flat screens. The Kaiser Family Foundation just released a report Generation M2: Media in the Lives of 8-18 Year Olds that shows every type of media use has increased over the past 10 years, except (and sadly for this book lover) reading.

Kids are now clocking 7.5 hours per day “consuming media” -- these rates are even higher for Blacks and Hispanics. That’s almost as much time, the report notes, as adults spend at work. When taking into account multi-tasking media use, it really adds up to nearly 11 hours a day.

And here’s the kicker: the report also shows that the youth who spend more time with media say they have lower grades and lower levels of personal contentment.

The irony shouldn’t be lost on anyone that in the same week, federal health officials reported that one out of every five U.S. teenagers has cholesterol level that increases the risk of heart disease. At least one-third of youth are overweight or obese and that means soaring rates of Type 2 diabetes and other physical ailments that could easily make this generation the most unhealthy yet.

Michelle Obama’s work on childhood obesity is welcomed and the effort should include an emphasis on outdoor time. Kids need time outside, in unstructured play, for their mental, physical and social well-being. Check out some of these resources that can help kids (and you!) get a daily green hour that will keep them healthier and happier.

Jonah Lehrer, writing in the Boston Globe shares some interesting studies on how nature –even a glimpse—can help us focus. It’s referred to as “attention restoration theory” and nature is the single biggest ingredient; and very beneficial to our brains.

Studies show that kids with ADD focus better after spending time outdoors. All of us will focus better after spending time outdoors! So, while I appreciate your visit to this blog, I’d rather you get up and get outside.

Advice for the President's Speechwriters

What should the President say in the State of the Union? Well, if his speech writers were asking me, I'd say the President needs to come out tough and stay tough. He needs to hit these four themes:

1. Of the people, by the people, for the people
2. “No” is not a solution
3. Hold on to the vision
4. Better, but not good enough.

And in case they asked for it, here's a draft:

We must not lose sight of why we are here. Our work must be "of the people, by the people, and for the people. " We are here in this Chamber because people voted for us to govern for the people; not for corporate power, not for special interests, not for our own personal gain. We are “of the people” – and to me that means we must walk in their shoes. We must understand -- to our core—that Americans are suffering, they are angry and they are afraid that things will only get worse. They have little faith in our ability to do our jobs. Doing our jobs means we have to be about the How.

We do not have the luxury of ignoring the multiple challenges this Administration inherited. I am about how we can meet these challenges and solve these very complex problems. If you disagree with my approach, tell me how you propose to solve them. Just don’t tell me and the American people, “No.” We cannot govern under a two-letter policy of “No.” “No” is not a solution. “No” is not leadership.

To those who suggest this Administration has taken on too many issues too fast, I say, step up and work with me, or step out of the way. There is much work that needs to be done and I will not limit my vision of the greatness we can create together because of those who want to rewrite history or be obstructionist.

I still hold on to the vision that America can be better. Where every American will have health care and no one will be denied coverage because of a pre-existing condition. I hold on to the vision that we will have health care reform in this country to prevent insurance companies from ending coverage because someone has been too sick for too long. I still hold on to the vision that America can lead the clean energy revolution, create millions of new jobs and make our country energy independent. I still hold on to the vision that my daughters and their generation will enjoy a healthier and safer environment. I still hold on to the vision that America can be a respected leader in the world community.

I refuse to accept that the partisanship that has poisoned our political process is here to stay. I still hold on to the vision that we can work together on behalf of the American people.

The State of the Union is better, but it is not good enough. While I am proud of this Administration’s accomplishments in our first year, there is much more work to do. Americans deserve better. We have not solved all the problems we inherited, and we cannot do it without the leadership and commitment of all of you sitting here tonight.

It is time to stop worrying about our jobs and ensure we create the jobs Americans need. It is time to stop worrying about our campaign budgets, and create the opportunities Americans need to repair their budgets. It’s time to stop obsessing over our own political power and give Americans back the power they need to improve their lives. It is time to stop the hateful rhetoric that breeds anger and division among our citizenry. It’s time that lobbyists for Big Oil and Big Coal, Big Banks, Big Insurance and Big Drug companies step away from the controls.

It’s time that “Main Street matters more than Wall Street” becomes more than a catchy tagline.

Climate Change and Change Management

Been putting together a presentation outline for the Chesapeake Bay Organizational Development Network entitled, What’s Climate Change have to do with Change Management? Hmmm.. that would be everything.

There are numerous “laws” of change management that can impede change efforts if ignored. Three of these laws are worth noting when examining the status of climate and energy legislation: The Law of What Is, The Law of Resistance and The Law of Imagination.

The Law of What Is simply means meeting people where they are. This means ensuring that the starting place for any change effort is not your destination, but the shared experiences that define the reality of those who will need to be part of the change. “It’s the economy, stupid” is that starting part.

Any change effort will always have forces for change and forces for sameness, hence the Law of Resistance. Fully embracing the resistance is the only way to move beyond it – what organizational development specialists call the “paradoxical theory of change.” Resistance is a natural byproduct of change – it’s something that should be respected, not destroyed. Ignoring it doesn’t work either. What’s so interesting about the current state of affairs on energy and climate legislation, is that the political resistance doesn’t match what Americans want. Poll after poll reinforces Americans interest (especially among Independents) in reforming our energy policies. The fact is – what Americans are concerned about -- jobs, the economy, dependency on foreign oil – can all be addressed through reforming our energy policy and addressing climate change. It is the pathway out of economic anemia. And yet, resistance, largely sitting on partisan fault lines, isn’t going away. The forces for sameness are still winning.

Add to this, the phenomenon of “system justification” described in Apocalypse Fatigue: Losing the Public on Climate Change, by Ted Nordhaus and Michael Shellenberger, at Yale Environment 360 -- the more one hears about the need to change, the more one hunkers down and justifies the existing system – aka lifestyle. This is particularly true when talking about climate catastrophe. There has always been a fine line between communicating the perils of inaction on climate change and keeping people hopeful that there are solutions they can see and understand.

In a good read, “Stranger than Fiction: Avatar, Copenhagen and the Politics of Climate Change, Anthony DiMaggio quotes Upton Sinclair: “It is difficult to get a man to understand something when his job depends on not understanding it.” (By the way, I don’t agree with his take that Copenhagen was a failure, see December posting, “Why Copenhagen Was A Success.") The difficulty Sinclair refers to is all about resistance – and it’s not just the Exxon executives resisting because their job depends on it or those Senators resisting because their corporate donations depend on it – it’s still millions of Americans who resist because they fear change – and think their jobs and lifestyles depend on not changing. Which brings us to the next law, The Law of Imagination.

We need to capture the imaginations of the American people about how their world can be different and better. The “imagine a world where America leads the clean energy revolution … where once shuttered manufacturing plants are buzzing with activity … where the air is cleaner… where we don’t have to worry about our energy sources running out. .. where we don’t send our hard-earned tax dollars to foreign countries, …. where the economy is strong and jobs are plentiful… ” We still have work to do to paint this picture in a way that finally allows people to stop holding on to the same so they move toward the change that’s needed. We also need to capture the imagination of obstructionists who could actually be turned into heroes by delivering a jobs bill that improves the economy and the environment at the same time.

We need to become master storytellers, communicating a positive, aspirational narrative, moving more Americans into a world they can see themselves in, a world they don’t want to miss out on, a world they will want to demand for themselves and their children. We simply can’t get the reform needed without more Republicans, Independents and Democrats demanding the economic opportunities they deserve -- and that can result from passing climate and energy legislation.

Murky Water... and Air

All of us who fish know that one of the worst conditions you can fish in is murky water. Murky means you just won’t be able to see the fish. Murky means too much has been stirred up and the fish, well, get to hide better in the murky water.

So it is with Senator Lisa Murkowski – deciding to stir it up. Deciding to hide under murky water and generate a whole bunch of murky, dirty air. A couple of fossil fuel lobbyists have written an amendment to weaken the Clean Air Act and have gotten Senator Murkowski to do their bidding for them.

Seems like Senator Murkowski, from Alaska, doesn’t like the fact that the Supreme Court ruled that under the Clean Air Act, the Environmental Protection Agency has the authority to regulate the pollution that causes global warming -- pollution that is melting the very land mass that is called Alaska. EPA Administrator Lisa Jackson is just doing her job – beginning the process to regulate carbon pollution. Seems like Senator Murkowski doesn’t really want to do her job as a Senator – which is to legislate.

Despite the fact that the Senator from Alaska doesn’t deny that climate change is real, and she’s been known to actually talk about the impacts to the state she represents, she doesn’t want EPA to do anything about it. That, the Senator contends should be the purview of Congress. OK. So doing something about it means stopping the EPA from doing anything about it, even though the Senate has still done nothing about it. Hmmm… sounds pretty murky to me.

The Senator’s spokesperson, Anne Johnson suggested that the reason the Senator is going ahead with this Dirty Air Amendment is that she doesn’t want the threat of “EPA regulations hanging over their head.” And how does that actually prevent Congress from doing its job? Interesting to note that Johnson also said that, “Alaska is ground zero for climate change. If anyone is going to be able to talk this much about it, it's someone from Alaska." So, again, the Senator wants to strip EPA of any authority to regulate the very pollution that is making Alaska ground zero for climate change because the Senator from Alaska isn't doing anything herself?

Seems like the Senator from Alaska also hoped to hide under the murky water the fact that in this campaign cycle she’s the #1 recipient of money from electric utilities and is #4 in the line up for oil and gas handouts.

Alaska is on the frontlines of global warming and Senator Murky needs to figure out just who she wants to represent – the fossil fuel industry or the people of Alaska. That’s pretty clear. If the Senator really cares about those villages that in her own words are “falling into the ocean," because of climate change, she needs to make a clear choice.

It’s time polluters stopped messing with the air we breathe. The Clean Air Act is one of the most successful laws Congress has ever passed and has improved the lives of millions of Americans – children and the elderly in particular – who suffer from asthma and other respiratory conditions.

The amendment to weaken the Clean Air Act may come up as early as Wednesday, January 20. Call your Senators and tell them to vote NO on the Murkowski amendment. Congress needs to focus on the real business at hand: passing a climate and energy bill that will improve the economy, protect the environment and our national security. We need legislation that caps carbon pollution and creates an investment infusion in clean energy technology. That’s pretty clear.

Re-entry

For many of us who had the opportunity to take a break over the “holiday season,” the re-entry into the maddening pace can be a bit shocking, especially if we gave ourselves the break we really needed. Did you unplug? Did you let go? Rest?

For me, the week was spent in the quiet surroundings of a cabin in the woods; spending time every day outside experiencing a true Garrett County winter. There’s something more than invigorating about being outside in single digit weather, filling bird feeders, bringing up wood and breaking track in the new fallen snow. Time was spent making meals with family and friends, reading True Compass, by Senator Ted Kennedy. Writing. Embracing the solitude. Letting the day have its own fullness. Getting a lot of sleep.

Dr. Ester Buchholz was a pioneer in researching the benefits of solitude and has been often quoted about its value: “Others inspire us, information feeds us, practice improves our performance, but we need quiet time to figure things out, to emerge with new discoveries, to unearth original answers.”

Wayne Muller in Sabbath, reminds us “that the world aches for the generosity of well-rested people.” He goes on to suggest that:

“A ‘successful life’ has become a violent enterprise. We make war on our own bodies, pushing them beyond their limits; war on our children, because we cannot find enough time to be with them when they are hurt and afraid, and need our company; war on our spirit, because we are too preoccupied to listen to the quiet voices that seek to nourish and refresh us; war on our communities, because we are fearfully protecting what we have, and do not feel safe enough to be kind and generous; war on the earth, because we cannot take the time to place our feet on the ground and allow it to feed us, to taste its blessings and give thanks.”

Muller speaks of his own experience sitting on dozens of boards and commissions with people who, as he surmises, because they are so tired, overwhelmed and overworked they lack the time and the capacity to “listen to the deeper voices that speak to the essence of the problems before them.” The result is a quick fix which provides “the seed of a new problem.”

So, perhaps, we should be grateful that Congress is taking a break. We can always hope that the time away will bring the wisdom and wake up call needed to get a climate and energy bill passed by Earth Day, 2010 that takes care of the essence of our economic and environmental problems.

And perhaps even Arianna Huffington and Cindi Leive will decide that their one month resolution to get enough sleep will become a life time resolution.