The Poet Economist

World Ocean Day event on the SS LILAC

Answering the Ocean’s Call: Stewardship of Our Ocean, Our Future is a World Ocean Day event on the historic SS LILAC. Speakers included: Mary Habstritt, LILAC Preservation Society Nina Hitchings, The River Project Myra Jackson, Geoversiv Senior Advisor for Whole Earth Civics Joseph Robertson, Geoversiv Founder and President (moderator) Mary Crowley, Ocean Voyages Institute and…

No Surrender: Paris is Now the People’s Business

The Paris Agreement is a very good thing for the United States—for its people, its economy, and for its sovereign interest in a world that favors both democratic institutions and peace. Yesterday, President Trump declared open opposition to the intelligent, inclusive, innovative planning of a vibrant American future. He justified this decision using fake evidence,…

Paris: What is at Stake?

The Paris Agreement brings trillions in new investment and provides President Trump with his best opportunity to build a new American economy of durable prosperity. In his Inaugural Address, Trump pledged that the forgotten will no longer be forgotten. Resource curse: Withdrawing from the Paris Agreement will do nothing to create jobs or raise incomes…

Exploring Earth Systems

On Tuesday, May 9, the Norway House will host a moderated discussion on Exploring Earth Systems: the Geoversiv Approach to Smart Future-Building, with Don Shelby and Joseph Robertson. The event will be held in the Norway House gallery, where explorer David Thoreson’s brilliant, moving photography exhibit ‘Over the Horizon’ is currently on display. RSVP at…

Non-Partisan Citizen Empowerment is Working

Originally published April 28, 2017, by ICLEI USA Throughout the 21st century, cities are likely to be more and more the engines of design that determine how we live and whether our way of making a living in the world is sustainable. Every society everywhere grapples with questions of how much decision-making authority should be…

La poética planetaria

Estamos en el umbral de un futuro orgánico-generativo, en el que administrar la ecología integral es un principio vital Lo que llamamos “mundo” es algo que vamos inventando con nuestros deseos y exploraciones, códigos y peleas, cartografías y accidentes. Todo ocurre según límites y prescripciones que no siempre vemos venir delante. El misterio de cada…

Diplomacy is Capability

Diplomacy is often referred to as “soft power”. That framing is more a measure of diplomatic prowess than a result of the simple fact of having diplomats. Bad diplomacy may, in fact, reduce the amount of overall influence a nation has. Soft power is not a given; it is a complex, high-stakes endeavor, and necessary…

The Presidency is Non-Linear

We live in a world defined by complexity. Much of what we are able to achieve in our day to day lives, which would have seemed magical just two generations ago, is the result of endless entanglement with people living and working and dreaming elsewhere. Technology and communication as we now know them require inputs…

Truth Matters

Frederick Douglass was born a slave, but eventually escaped to freedom. He then became a publisher, abolitionist, orator, and US Ambassador. In his autobiography—a true must-read for anyone who wants to understand American history—he describes how learning to read drove his process of personal liberation. He learned he was free in his mind long before…

UNFCCC Stakeholder Participation Reform Proposal

Submission from Citizens’ Climate Education on ways to enhance participation of non-Party stakeholders in the implementation of the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change and the Paris Agreement. This proposal is built around the same core structure as our submission made 21 May 2016, at request of the Secretariat, for inclusion in the Facilitator’s Report on the…

Science is a National Security Imperative

Sound science and the free flow of facts are a national security imperative. Without genuine investigation, a willingness to discover evidence, and ways to ensure that reliable, useful, accurate information is moving freely, everyone is less able to know which choices will have which ramifications, and so everyone is less able to make informed choices…

Climate Solvency: Human Rights as Drivers of Future Thriving

The following essay is based on my intervention at the CNDH Maroc Special Event on Human Rights and Climate Change, held on 6 November 2016, in Marrakech. Climate disruption itself is a human rights issue. The state of our climate system is a lens through which to read progress on human rights at all levels, in…