On Saturday, Nov. 12, 2011, I had the great privilege of delivering the Building a Green Economy talk at the Energy Security conference in Corning, New York. I had the added privilege of headlining the conference with the great Bill McKibben, whose work organizing millions to raise their voices for responsible energy and climate policy … Continue reading Building a Green Economy – presented at Corning Energy Conference
Citizens Climate Lobby took its message to Capitol Hill, meeting with 52 different members of Congress, or their energy and climate staff, in both the House and the Senate. The first CCL national conference was fortuitously timed, as the ongoing disaster in the Gulf of Mexico has brought into stark relief the nature of the carbon-fuel problem and the urgent need for action to achieve a civilization-wide overhaul of energy infrastructure, and the climate bill pending in the Senate may not have the votes to override a filibuster.
The “Lobby Day” experience was part of the first annual CCL National Conference, in the nation’s capital. The landmark event brought together climate scientists, oceanographers, environmental engineers, economists, activists, community leaders, small business owners and concerned citizens, to deliver the message to members of both parties that citizens from the community, their own constituents, will support them if they take meaningful, comprehensive action to combat climate destabilization. Continue reading “Citizens Climate Lobby Takes Campaign to Capitol Hill”
Carlos Trujillo es poeta chilote, nacido en Chiloé, gran isla chilena que ocupa la frontera entre el continente y el turbulento Pacífico, isla donde, según me dicen, tres días sin lluvia ya constituyen una sequía inexplicable y mantener en colores floridos las iglesias de madera autóctona, frente al océano y las lluvias, es un desafío constante.
O sea, las lluvias, los elementos, la navegación, o sobre el mar o de un tiempo a otro, son hechos de la vida. El poeta lleva esta isla en su sangre y sin ser poeta de lares, la actitud fresca de fértiles e íntimas meditaciones, que empuja su manejo de la tinta, su búsqueda de la palabra que mejor armonice con las demás, también nace ahí, renovada cada vez que ejerce la licencia navegadora de su pluma.
Continue reading “‘Texto sobre texto’: la poesía de Carlos Trujillo”
Vídeo completo de la presentación de cuatro poetas, incluido yo, ya disponible a través de iTunes U. El vídeo dura 80 minutos y se descarga a la librería iTunes, después de que se haya seleccionado “Get Episode” al lado del título “Spanish Poetry”, en la lista de ítems disponsibles en iTunes U. [Más abajo, os dejo ‘Un breve reportaje desde el escenario’?]
Full-length video footage of my Villanova presentation with three other poets, is now available through iTunes U. The video is 80 minutes and will download to your iTunes library, after you select “Get Episode” next to the event titled “Spanish Poetry” on iTunes U.
Continue reading “‘Poesía en español: In their Own Words’, Villanova University “
Millions of people are expected to gather on the National Mall, between the west face of the Capitol Building and the Lincoln Memorial; security is expected to be without any known precedent, and temperatures are not likely to rise above freezing… should we go? Should we go, and if we do, should we go as citizens, or as journalists? If millions of people can brave the crowds, the security and the cold, to witness an historic moment of such sweeping resonance, then why can’t we?
I realized over the weekend that I wanted to attend this event as a citizen, as a person who believes in the values of true democracy, and who believes that, flawed as the system is, it can still be bent to the virtues of those willing to engage it with principle and decency, and in that way, can be used to make life better and freer, even for the least powerful. And it came back to me what it was to witness the 15,000 people who did just this to attend then Senator Barack Obama’s campaign announcment speech, on 10 February 2007, when the conventional wisdom said he could never win.
Continue reading “Inauguration Diary: a Politics of Inclusion & of Civic Intelligence (photo essay)”
The Poet Economist 