Changing everything?

I'm fascinated by how cold 45°F feels in late October compared to how warm it feels in early March. We have officially been snowed on, the local snow has melted and warmer weather is in the forecast. This weekend is Halloween and the end of daylight savings time (for this year).

quiet place, St. Croix River

Photo by J. Harrington

Recently I've been messing with my head thinking about how much of what we see as linear is actually a small part of a larger cycle. For example, I normally think of a river as flowing downstream to the sea, but we all know that the beginning of a river comes from clouds that arise from the sea, float inland and fall as rain or snow, then, eventually, flow back to sea. The seasons, as Joni Mitchell has written, "go 'round and 'round," although we often, usually?, think of time as linear, seasons are clearly cyclical or circular. Leaves that grew from buds fall to become humus or compost and, eventually, nutrients that end up in tree roots to help grow new leaves.

bare branches will bear foliage again

Photo by J. Harrington

Some folks are now getting concerned that China's population will age too quickly to keep the economy growing. I keep fretting about why so many of us confuse growth with development. They aren't the same, although it may simply being a case of mistaken identity, like thinking a river is only linear. At first I thought that the only alternative to our foolish fixation on growth was a "steady-state economy" [see sidebar]. Recently, I've been coming across more and more references to a circular economy (plus a growing number of mentions of "stranded assets").

I'm not sure whether steady-state and circular work together but I am sure we new a new and better economic story of how it's all supposed to work. There are growing numbers of us on a finite planet. That's not sustainable. I've seen just enough of a description of "one planet living" to be glad I'm not the marketing or product manager for that idea. The best news, from my perspective, is that I keep coming across a growing number of writers and thinkers who I respect who provide reasons for optimism. In case you need a pick-me-up from the current state of the world, try any of these:

• This Changes Everything: Capitalism vs. The Climate, Naomi Klein
• Hope in the Dark, Rebecca Solnit
• Hunting for Hope: A Father's Journeys, Scott Russell Sanders

I've come across several other less obvious reasons to be optimistic in the last few years. Mary Oliver has just published a new book of poetry, "Felicity". She's 80. Lawrence Ferlinghetti published "Time of Useful Consciousness" when he was 93. Donald Hall's recent book, "Essays After Eighty," was published when he was 86. That all represents, at least to me, a number of reasons and examples to keep trying. That's what optimism is all about, isn't it? Before we close for the day, please follow this link to an independent financial analysis of the proposed PolyMet project. The fact that those folks saw fit to do this much needed work makes me as optimistic as did the formation of the Downstream Business Coalition and the study on the Value of the St. Louis River. I'm thinking it's getting to be time to put less emphasis in my life on analysis and more on poetry, especially if I can stay optimistic.

Constantly Risking Absurdity (#15)

By Lawrence Ferlinghetti 

Constantly risking absurdity

                                             and death

            whenever he performs

                                        above the heads

                                                            of his audience

   the poet like an acrobat

                                 climbs on rime

                                          to a high wire of his own making

and balancing on eyebeams

                                     above a sea of faces

             paces his way

                               to the other side of day

    performing entrechats

                               and sleight-of-foot tricks

and other high theatrics

                               and all without mistaking

                     any thing

                               for what it may not be

       For he's the super realist

                                     who must perforce perceive

                   taut truth

                                 before the taking of each stance or step

in his supposed advance

                                  toward that still higher perch

where Beauty stands and waits

                                     with gravity

                                                to start her death-defying leap

      And he

             a little charleychaplin man

                                           who may or may not catch

               her fair eternal form

                                     spreadeagled in the empty air

                  of existence

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