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Doing What's Right -- Strike for the Planet week 93 [1]

['This Content Is Not Subject To Review Daily Kos Staff Prior To Publication.']

Date: 2023-09-30  

You can make a difference to the hurt being caused by climate chaos and the great extinction event in your town or your city! How? Reuse, repurpose, and recycle this information. You can push your local politicians to act. It will make a difference!

This is the letter for week 93 of a weekly climate strike that went on for 4 years in front of San Francisco City Hall, beginning early March 2019. For more context, see this story. For an annotated table of contents of the topics for all the strike letters, see this story. Meanwhile…

STRIKE FOR THE PLANET

What’s the point of a moonshot if we don’t do it right?

This week’s letter: Doing What’s Right.

Have you noticed our species’ chances of survival are rapidly falling?1, 2, 3 We’ve screwed up so badly we now need a moonshot — a rapid mass of actions and innovations — if we’re going to survive at all. This moonshot cannot be an excuse for the rich to get richer; if it is, we will fail. This time we need to do something different. This time we actually need to do what’s right.

Why should we do what’s right? You need to be a big bad bully to survive!

Actually, no. Social Darwinism that envisions the relationship between humans as being a zero-sum struggle for resources, bloody in tooth and claw, is a funhouse mirror distortion of what evolutionary biology actually tells us.4, 5 It turns out selfish traits are not evolutionarily beneficial.6, 7, 8 The data show again and again that humans who — in societies or as individuals — practice generosity and altruism receive massive benefit from these positive survival strategies.9, 10, 11, 12 Big, bad bullying is anti-survival in every way.

Fine. So we’ll try to do right by other humans.

No. Sorry. See, it turns out that life also needs other life to survive13, 14, and the greater the amount of biological diversity, the greater the likelihood of any life surviving a changing environment.15, 16, 17 What this means is that we need to do right not only by other humans but also by other animals, plants, fungi, water, life and living systems in general.

Uh… how?

It’s pretty simple, actually, and if we weren’t so savagely divorced from life in general, we’d understand just how obvious all of this is. We need:

To make kindness the guide to all our actions, plans, and expenditures, and To give legal rights to all living systems and beings.

WHAT?!

Yup. We’re not talking about the wimpy pleasantness or selfish manipulation that masquerade as kindness18, 19 or the surface environmental legislation that can be gamed or overturned by a dedicated thief.20, 21 We’re talking about the implementation at every level of radical kindness and legal recognition.

Kindness drives fairness, justice, and equity.22 Kindness is a refusal to accept that people should live on the streets23, that the poor belong in terrible pollution24, that the rich can steal from the Commons and make the poor pay for it25, 26, that only the rich and privileged and shouty have a voice27, 28, or that the hoarding of wealth is allowable.29 Kindness isn’t lip service, it’s action, and it is owed to even those fighting against it.30

Legal rights mean things that exist, that others depend on, live in, or rely on, have the legal right to exist and be protected from harm or infringement of their rights.31, 32 After all, corporations have rights and the natural world is worth many times more than all corporations combined.33 States have rights. Nonhuman entities need the right to litigate in defense of their rights, and humans must have a duty not to violate those rights.34 This isn’t a new idea.35 In fact, it is the basis of the cultures that have historically lived most lightly on and in collaboration with the environment.36

Consider this the Precautionary Principle in action.

What we’ve been doing for a few hundred years now is clearly not working.37 Therefore, what we’ve been doing has to be changed. Our ways of living have caused enormous damage, so changes to stop — and where possible fix that damage — have to be commensurately huge.

You’ve all already committed to the Precautionary Principle. It’s the law in San Francisco and has been since 2003.38 For a refresher, the Precautionary Principle can be boiled down to “First, do no harm.” So how does SF stop doing harm to the people who live here and to the environment we all live in?

Kindness and legal rights — these are the aims of our moonshot. This is the Right Stuff that can make our survival possible. These two things are the guides that will get us through a rapidly narrowing survival window to the other side. Because if we keep on as we are and allow the window to shut, our view will be that from the inside of an oven, looking out at what could have been while we bake to death.

I’ll bludgeon you with data next week to show how all of this works, but for now it seems pretty clear that we need to act, that the actions MUST be radically different from what went before, that science says kindness is a strongly positive survival trait, that we can use kindness and legal rights for nature as action guides, and that a fast and easy way to establish a healthy relationship to the natural world is to legally recognize the rights of the natural world.

So where’s our moonshot?

Or are you hoping for a SpaceX Starship event39 to “prove” it’s too hard or too expensive or too upsetting or too whatever to do what must be done? Time’s up.40, 41, 42, 43, 44, 45, 46, 47 Our situation now is what we thought the worst case scenario would be 10 years from now, and worsening daily. 2020 was the hottest year on record, and it’ll end up being one of this century’s coolest years.48 It’s time for our moonshot now.

FOOTNOTES

1. Brian Pascus. “Human civilization faces “existential risk” by 2050 according to new Australian climate change report”. CBS News. 4 June 2019. https://www.cbsnews.com/news/new-climate-change-report-human-civilization-at-risk-extinction-by-2050-new-australian-climate/ .

2. Alexa Danner. “‘Earth 2100’: the Final Century of Civilization?” ABC News. 28 May 2009. https://abcnews.go.com/Technology/Earth2100/story?id=7697237&page=1 .

3. Tatsuo Togawa. “Considering the long-term survival of the human race”. Technology in Society. Vol 21, Issue 3, August 1999. https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0160791X99000123 .

4. history.com editors. “Social Darwinism”. History dot Com. 21 August 2018. https://www.history.com/topics/early-20th-century-us/social-darwinism .

5. Rutledge Dennis. “Social Darwinism, Scientific Racism, and the Metaphysics of Race”. The Journal of Negro Education. October 1996. https://www.researchgate.net/publication/271675593_Social_Darwinism_Scientific_Racism_and_the_Metaphysics_of_Race .

6. Melissa Hogenboom. “Selfish traits not favoured by evolution, study shows”. BBC News. 2 August 2013. https://www.bbc.com/news/science-environment-23529849 .

7. Yan-Sheng Chiang and Nobuyuki Takahashi. “Network homophily and the evolution of the pay-it-forward reciprocity”. PLoS One. 15 December 2011. https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/22195019/ .

8. Oliver Scott Curry. “Why Are We Kind?” kindness.org . 6 March 2017. https://medium.com/kindlab/why-are-we-kind-ca898dd2c840 .

9. Lisa Firestone. “Generosity - What’s in it for you?” Psychology Today. 24 November 2010. https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/compassion-matters/201011/generosity-what-s-in-it-you .

10. Katherine Harmon. “Social Ties Boost Survival by 50 Percent”. Scientific American. 28 July 2010. https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/relationships-boost-survival/ .

11. Christopher Bergland. “The Evolutionary Biology of Altruism”. Psychology Today. 25 December 2012. https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/the-athletes-way/201212/the-evolutionary-biology-altruism .

12. Sandi Toksvig. “The evolution of altruism”. Future Learn. Accessed 2 February 2021. https://www.futurelearn.com/info/courses/introducing-humanism/0/steps/37085 .

13. Albert Ludwigs. “Diversity increases ecosystem stability”. Phys dot Org. 5 September 2019. https://phys.org/news/2019-09-diversity-ecosystem-stability.html .

14. Carol Kaesuk Yoon. “Ecosystem’s Productivity Rises With Diversity of Its Species”. The New York Times. 5 March 1996. https://www.nytimes.com/1996/03/05/science/ecosystem-s-productivity-rises-with-diversity-of-its-species.html .

15. Elise Furlan. “Variation is genetic key to survival”. The Age. 25 February 2008. https://www.theage.com.au/education/variation-is-genetic-key-to-survival-20080225-ge6rje.html .

16. Sara Popescu Slavikova and Ovi Popescu. “Why Is Genetic Diversity Important for Survival”. Greentumble. 10 November 2016. https://greentumble.com/why-is-genetic-diversity-important-for-survival/ .

17. University of New South Wales. “Diverse ecosystems are crucial climate change buffer”. ScienceDaily. 17 July 2012. https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2012/01/120112142226.htm .

18. Barry Davret. “4 Ways Manipulators Use Kindness as a Weapon”. Curious. 9 September 2020. https://medium.com/curious/4-ways-manipulators-use-kindness-as-a-weapon-68d53f70bbbc .

19. Kevin Ellerton. “Nice vs. Kind - What Is the Difference Between Niceness & Kindness?” Meditation Magazine. 25 November 2014. https://www.meditationmag.com/meditation-psychology/nice-vs-kind/ .

20. Drew Kann. “‘The Lost years’: Climate damage that occurred on Trump’s watch will endure long after he is gone”. CNN. 18 January 2021. https://www.meditationmag.com/meditation-psychology/nice-vs-kind/ .

21. Nadja Popovich, Livia Albeck-Ripka, and Kendra Pierre-Louis. “The Trump Administration Rolled BAck More Than 100 Environmental Rules. Here’s the Full List.” The New York Times. 20 January 2021. https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2020/climate/trump-environment-rollbacks-list.html .

22. Kira Newman. “What is kindness?” The Positive Psychlopedia. Accessed 3 February 2021. https://positivepsychlopedia.com/year-of-happy/what-is-kindness/ .

23. Noah Sanders. “Why Is There So Much Human Shit on the Streets?” The Bold Italic. 6 November 2013. https://thebolditalic.com/why-is-there-so-much-human-shit-on-the-streets-the-bold-italic-san-francisco-ccaecdc7512 .

24. Ahimsa Porter Sumachi. “Navigating the toxic triangle in Bayview Hunters Point”. San Francisco Bay View. 21 October 2020. https://sfbayview.com/2020/10/navigating-the-toxic-triangle-in-bayview-hunters-point/ .

25. Mac Hackett. “The Rich Just Keep On Getting Richer”. Vice News. 16 July 2020. https://www.vice.com/en/article/g5pdab/the-rich-just-keep-on-getting-richer .

26. Charles Lane. “Opinion: The rich got richer during the pandemic. We need to claw back their gains.” The Washington Post. 25 January 2021. https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/the-rich-got-richer-during-the-pandemic-we-need-to-claw-back-their-gains/2021/01/25/d17c8a44-5f32-11eb-9430-e7c77b5b0297_story.html .

27. Alan Wolfe. “The Power Elite Now”. The American Prospect. 16 November 2001. https://prospect.org/power/power-elite-now/ .

28. Amanda Marcotte. “Donald Trump’s most enduring legacy: The right-wing has a dangerously overblown sense of entitlement”. Salon. 19 January 2021. https://www.salon.com/2021/01/19/donald-trumps-most-enduring-legacy-the-right-wing-has-a-dangerously-overblown-sense-of-entitlement/ .

29. “San Francisco’s Gap Between Rich And Poor Second Largest In Nation, Study Finds”. KPIX. 23 March 2015. https://sanfrancisco.cbslocal.com/2015/03/23/san-franciscos-gap-between-rich-and-poor-among-largest-in-nation-study-finds/ .

30. Vivian Ho. “Lawmaker who faced anti-vax attack: ‘The movement is growing more violent’”. The Guardian. 3 February 2021. https://www.theguardian.com/world/2021/feb/03/anti-vaxxers-coronavirus-vaccines-california-richard-pan . Truth is a kindness; allowing lies to flourish is not. For more evidence: Matthew Lower and Thomas Hauschildt. “The Media as a Tool of War: Propaganda in the Rwandan Genocide”. Human Security Centre. 9 May 2014. http://www.hscentre.org/sub-saharan-africa/media-tool-war-propaganda-rwandan-genocide/ .

31. “Learn About Rights of Nature”. Global Alliance for the Rights of Nature. Accessed 3 February 2021. https://therightsofnature.org.

32. Eric Michael Johnson. “Nonhuman Personhood Rights (and Wrongs)”. Scientific American. 9 March 2012. https://blogs.scientificamerican.com/primate-diaries/nonhuman-personhood-rights-and-wrongs/ .

33. Rudolf de Groot, Luke Brander, Sander van der Ploeg, Robert Costanze, Florence Bernard, Leon Braat, Mike Christie, Nevill Crossman, Andrea Ghermandi, Lars Hein, Salman Hussain, Pushpan Kumar, Alistair McVittie, Rosimeiry Portela, Luis Rodriguez, Patrick ten Brink, Pieter van Beukering. “Global estimates of the value of ecosystems and their services in monetary units”. Ecosystem Services. Vol 1, Issue 1, July 2012. https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2212041612000101 .

34. Michael Reinemer. “The “Bill of Rights” for the environment poised to be shredded by rollbacks”. The Wilderness Society. 28 February 2020. https://www.wilderness.org/news/media-resources/bill-rights-environment-poised-be-shredded-rollbacks .

35. Jens Benöhr and Patrick Lynch. “should Rivers Have Rights? A growing Movement Says It’s About Time”. YaleEnvironment360. 14 August 2018. https://e360.yale.edu/features/should-rivers-have-rights-a-growing-movement-says-its-about-time .

36. Gleb Raygorodetsky. “Indigenous peoples defend Earth’s biodiversity-but they’re in danger”. National Geographic. 16 November 2018. https://www.nationalgeographic.com/environment/2018/11/can-indigenous-land-stewardship-protect-biodiversity-/ .

37. Fred Imbert. “Capitalism is killing the planet and needs to change, says investor Jeremy Grantham”. CNBC. 13 June 2018. https://www.cnbc.com/2018/06/13/gmos-grantham-capitalists-need-to-wake-up-to-climate-change-reality.html .

38. “SF Precautionary Principle Ordinance”. SF Gov. Accessed 3 February 2021. http://www.rachel.org/files/document/San_Francisco_Precautionary_Principle_Ordinanc.pdf .

39. It blew up on landing. See picture below.

40. Matt McGrath. “Climate change: 12 years to save the planet? Make that 18 months”. BBC News. 24 July 2019. https://www.bbc.com/news/science-environment-48964736 .

41. Heather Smith. “Climate Change: Even Worse Than We Thought”. Sierra. 8 October 2018. https://www.sierraclub.org/sierra/climate-change-even-worse-we-thought-ipcc-report .

42. Michael Grose and Julie Arblaster. “Just how hot will it get this century? It’s worse than we thought”. Phys Org. 18 May 2020. https://phys.org/news/2020-05-hot-century-worse-thought.html .

43. Amelia Urry. “The scientist who first warned of climate change says it’s much worse than we thought”. Grist. 22 March 2016. https://grist.org/science/the-scientist-who-first-warned-of-climate-change-says-its-much-worse-than-we-thought/ .

44. Rafi Letzter. “Today’s Climate Change Is Worse Than Anything Earth Has Experienced in the Past 2,000 Years”. Live Science. 25 July 2019. https://www.livescience.com/66027-climate-change-different.html .

45. John D. Sutter. “Vanishing”. CNN. Accessed 30 June 2020. https://www.cnn.com/interactive/2016/12/specials/vanishing/ .

46. Peter Castagno. “Biodiversity Loss Worst in Human History — 1 Million Animal Species Risk Extinction”. Citizen Truth. 6 May 2019. https://citizentruth.org/biodiversity-loss-worst-in-human-history-1-million-animal-species-risk-extinction/ .

47. Kristen Callihan. “Earth’s Currently Ongoing Sixth Mass Extinction Is Worse Than We Thought”. OutwardOn. 7 August 2017. https://www.outwardon.com/article/earths-currently-ongoing-sixth-mass-extinction-event-is-worse-than-we-thought/ .

48. Zoya Teirstein. “2020 was the hottest year on record. We’ll remember it as one of the century’s coldest.” Grist. 16 January 2021. https://grist.org/climate/2020-was-the-hottest-year-on-record-well-remember-it-as-one-of-the-centurys-coldest/ .

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