Bob Inglis, Hope, and Hope to See You Soon
Bob Inglis served in the House of Representatives as a conservative Republican who lost his seat in 2010 because he dared to say we should follow the science of climate change. We used clips of him in our podcast episode “Talking climate with conservatives.” I have since followed his group, RepublicEn (“home of the eco right”), and have listened to some of his recent talks. He gives me hope that one can disagree on some fundamental political and economic issues yet find common ground. As he said in one talk I heard, we did so in in World War ll, that is what one does when one faces an existential threat. So, is there some hope, is there common ground?
Well, Bob Inglis, life-long conservative Republican, just announced he will vote for Kamala Harris, facing the ire of his former colleagues, standing up for real values. His decision wasn’t just about climate change and science, it was also about sanity and core values of truth and decency that Donald Trump rejects (he calls Trump a “sick puppy”). So yes, that gives me hope.
I will not be posting for a while as I take a sabbatical. There are great resources for news, and you can find some suggestions on our website page “Groups and Websites” both under the section “News Resources,” and also on the websites of many of the groups.
When reading the news I find it easy to get whiplash: electric vehicles/solar/wind etc. are great and ascending, they are terrible and no one wants them. We are making progress, all is lost. Don’t get swayed by headlines. Sometimes I found the headline shouts about how badly some environmental effort is going, how there are downsides, but the conclusion is, well, it’s actually not so bad, just not perfect.
Sure, learn about the limitations and problems. We need to do better. But go past the headlines.
It’s never perfect. It’s complex, it isn’t easy, there’s no free lunch. That’s why we haven’t fixed it yet. That is not an excuse for not trying, for not having some hope. That’s what those who profit from demoralizing you into inaction want.
Hope is a double-edged sword. It shouldn’t be a substitute for facing reality, a source of false comfort, a delusion. But without hope, some guiding star, all WILL be lost, inaction and those who profit by inaction will rule the day at your expense, and doom will become a self-fulfilling prophecy. Don’t hope for perfection, hope that we can avoid the worst. That is true and possible.
As a new book I just started reading is titled: what if we get it right? (“What if We Get it Right? Visions of climate futures,” by Ayana Elizabeth Johnson, published by One World, an imprint of Random House).
Stay just hopeful enough, stay real, and stay focused on being a good earthling. Do what you can when you can, but do something. For now, vote for those who care. Support those who are trying. We can all do that, at least a bit.
I hope to be back posting soon.