You saved my life here. The last week has been a series of people abandoning my mother and I because we ask a lot of questions. Both of us work with education and children; we think kindness and critical thinking are paramount. I feel very alone. And I hope many other people here will stay strong. Thank you Nate. 🤟🏻
"I'm trying to build that community." You are not trying*; you are* building that community. For whatever it's worth, this podcast puts a lot of wind in my sails. Keep going.
Hear, hear. The quote at the end made me realize how surprisingly few people seem interested in even engaging with the full complexity of our predicament. Much less those who can do so with an open mind, a loving heart and ready hands. If we must burn the carbon to create and power the internet, we might as well use it to support the people who, for whatever inexplicable reason, are ready to engage with the complexity and do the work. Please also know that some of us are nurturing this capability in children. Big thanks to Nate and team, as always, for providing the unique and valuable resource that is TGS.
same. so many of the conversations with Nate follow me around through life...and have lead down some new paths of discovery and understanding and reflection. I keep coming back. Hoping to be tempered and humbled...and more capable of facing what's going on. Community is hard to come by these days. Not as simple as living in the same physical location. Many bridges are necessary now.
Thank you, Nate. I'm feeling and lot as I write this. I've been a quiet listener for some time, and it brings me a great deal of peace to do so despite the complex and often seemingly impossible issues we face. Your podcast inspires me to keep learning (even if it's uncomfortable at times), and to do what I can. It feels like a ridiculously small contribution, but what I know is that I deeply care about this planet, the life on it, and the future of it. That changes my approach to everything and everyone around me, and maybe that matters.
Thank you, Nate. For all the work that you do. This Frankly made me cry, because you manage to stay so curious, humble and composed in the face of our predicament. I feel rage and grief a lot of the time. This message calmed me down a bit. So thank you.
Thank you Nate. I'm a US and Swedish citizen that recently bought a small 5 acre farm where I was born in Sweden. Your podcast has been a great motivator for me to do something of importance with my local community to be better prepared for things to come. I try to explain to my family members of what I learn from you and others, but it seems like it's too abstract for them to internalize. I fear that realization may come too late to most people, but as soon as I'm settled here, I'll try to spend most of my time trying to change that. Keep doing what you do and hopefully more and more people will start taking action.
I have similar experiences with family members, some friends, and people from work. I wonder how large the percentage of people is in my wider social network that is aware of the kind and size of the issues. Based on some of the reactions I’ve received on social media and in offline interactions, I believe I’ve increased awareness for some.
As someone from Asheville (specifically Swannanoa which is pretty much gone), you are spot on. No one here harbors any resentment for our neighbors and their political orientation. What is all around us is devastation but also love and unconditional support. What is tragic but also beautiful is that calamity really unites communities. Thank you Mr Hagens, please never stop being a pillar of reason so many of us rely on for a measured wide boundary view of what is happening to our planet and people.
Thanks for all your podcasts so far. They are so informative. Wishing you all the strength you need to keep up the high quality of these podcasts! I'll be listening and doing what I can in my little circle.
You're a good person, Nate. I'm a 67 yr old and (wrongly) thought I was brilliant for decades. That said, looking back over the years, I marveled at what I thought I surely knew, but I was wrong about. To be clear, Noam Chomsky was right when he said that in the US, there is really only one political party with two branches who feed from the same money trough. We are living through a global inflection point. It's ugly, depressing, angering, and scary at the very least. That said, I'm not one who typically scares easily. But human society is unwinding, and we humans are taking humanity, all life on earth, and future generations down with us. It really is terribly sad and depressing.
There is no "both-sides-ism" here, because of the distinct difference between democracy and dictatorship, "A form of political behavior marked by obsessive preoccupation with community decline, humiliation or victimhood and by compensatory cults of unity, energy and purity, in which a mass-based party of committed nationalist militants, working in uneasy but effective collaboration with traditional elites, abandons democratic liberties and pursues with redemptive violence and without ethical or legal restraints goals of internal cleansing and external expansion. The belief that one's group is a victim, a sentiment that justifies any action, without legal or moral limits, against its enemies, both internal and external." Robert O. Paxton, Anatomy Of Fascism "The parallel between antifeminism and race prejudice is striking. The same underlying motives appear to be at work, namely fear, jealousy, feelings of insecurity, fear of economic competition, guilt feelings, and the like. Many of the leaders of the feminist movement in the nineteenth-century United States clearly understood the similarity of the motives at work in antifeminism and race discrimination and associated themselves with the anti slavery movement." Ashley Montagu "It would be hard to name a more certain sign of poor self-esteem than the need to perceive some other group as inferior." Nathaniel Branden "Whether it's before the election or after the election, the principle is the American people are choosing their next president and their next president should pick this Supreme Court nominee. All Citizens United did was to level the playing field for corporate speech. We now have, I think, the most free and open system we've had in modern times. For everybody who thinks it's warming, I can find somebody who thinks it isn't. #MoscowMitch McConnell 🐢 "Periods of progress in gender, labor, or racial emancipation have also been fertile terrain for openly racist and sexist aspirants to office, who soothe fears of the loss of male domination and class privilege and the end of White Christian “civilization.” Cultural conservatives have repeatedly gravitated to antidemocratic politics at such junctures of history, enabling dangerous individuals to enter mainstream politics and gain control of government. Designed for instant impact and encouraging feelings of omnipotence, Twitter is the perfect tool for an impulsive, attention-addicted strongman From the start, authoritarians stand out from other kinds of politicians by appealing to negative experiences and emotions. They don the cloak of national victimhood, reliving the humiliations of their people by foreign powers as they proclaim themselves their nation’s saviors. Picking up on powerful resentments, hopes, and fears, they present themselves as the vehicle for obtaining what is most wanted, whether it is territory, safety from racial others, securing male authority, or payback for exploitation by internal or external enemies. Elites are the authoritarian’s most important promoters and collaborators. Afraid of losing their class, gender, or race privileges, influential individuals bring the insurgent into the political system, thinking that he can be controlled as he solves their problems (which often involves persecuting the left). Once the ruler is in power, elites strike an “authoritarian bargain” that promises them power and security in return for loyalty to the ruler and toleration of his suspension of rights. Some are true believers, and others fear the consequences of subtracting their support, but those who sign on tend to stick with the leader through gross mismanagement, impeachment, or international humiliation. As leaders stabilize their rule, they use propaganda to legitimate their authority. Discrediting the press is a kind of insurance policy. When journalists turn up evidence of the government’s violence or corruption, the public will already be accustomed to seeing them as partisan The decay of truth and democratic dissolution proceed hand in hand, starting with the insurgent’s assertion that the establishment media delivers false or biased information while he speaks the truth and risks everything to get the “real facts” out. Once his supporters bond to his person, they stop caring about his falsehoods. They believe him because they believe in him. The ideal subject of totalitarian rule is not the convinced Nazi or the convinced Communist, but people for whom the distinction between fact and fiction (i.e., the reality of experience) and the distinction between true and false (i.e., the standards of thought) no longer exist. All twenty-first-century authoritarians suppress climate change science, lest that discourage the plunder of national resources that generates profits for them and their allies. Deutsche Bank has funded authoritarian states from Hitler’s Germany to Putin’s Russia, as well as lending to businesses like the Trump Organization that are suspected of helping autocrats and their cronies to launder their money. A great privilege of life under democracies-taking freedom for granted-becomes a weakness when that freedom is under assault.” Ruth Ben-Ghiat, Strongmen: Mussolini to the Present
@@SimonQuig Global warming is as real as a heart attack. You cannot be wise without some basis of knowledge, but you may easily acquire knowledge and remain bare of wisdom. Not ignorance, but ignorance of ignorance, is the death of knowledge. Alfred North Whitehead
Thank you for your heartfelt words. The ending quote inspires me to keep as often as I can the big picture in mind. I trust that in spite of humanity’s dire situation, we can, with the support of all living beings, raise our consciousness and transform life on this beautiful planet.
Hearing you read these comments I hope you see this one. Nate, thank you for this, for what you do. This mission you’re on is very helpful to many. Thank you, good work, and keep it up as you can.
read. and appreciated! Yes -this is not easy, and there is no 'winning' from here - so support and understanding from listeners is really important to me. Onwards 🙏❤🌍
Thanks for your intelligent and loving words, we have to build communities now and educate ourselves and others to try and bring light in the darkness. Thanks for being one of our brightest lights. Appreciate your work so much.
I appreciate you Nate. I can’t say I’m concerned in a way I might be. Impermanence is a foundational part of life and I have peace. I don’t know what might happen though I’m grateful for today and will see this journey through to the best of my ability. Thanks for sharing your heart.
Damn it, just hours ago I was feeling miserable with all this absurdity, and hoping for some sane view, and I immediately thought about this channel, and here you are... thanks. We're F exhausted..
Thank you again, Nate. Hearing "it's not your fault" made me totally cry, with such an emotional charge... I realized that something was hidden in the backstage of my mind ("you're guilty") until your words brought it into the light. Awareness gives people sense if responsibility, but responsibility is not guiltiness. And the distinction of these two, it's another internal work we must do. Keep doing it, Nate.We're literally a world of people all around doing what we have to do, searching awakening on everyone. We don't know what the result will be, but we can't not try it. Abrazos desde Argentina.
Thank you, this is how I’ve been approaching things with family and friends - it’s “beyond political” and I feel the future challenges pose both unfathomable threats but also opportunities to unite us like never before.
Regardless of who wins, I will continue planting trees, digging wildlife ponds, building with natural materials, making biochar compost, regenerating soils and growing chemical-free food.
Dear Nate. This episode is Love. I so dearly wish we in India could have a podcast like yours to speak to the worlds here. From here, I find your words helping me reorganize, again, as to how I show up. Take care.
@@Charlie-UK, yes, but we all must be open to possibility, that no matter how certain we are about X, Y or Z, things mightn’t quite be as we think they are when perceived from another perspective. No one is omniscient.
While there have always been third parties, the U.S. most actively had around five influential parties in the 1850s before consolidating into the two-party system we recognize today. meanwhile in the civilized world of Europe they have many parties and a mixed proportion party system.
0:02 : "in the next week... Or two, or three weeks, or ... ??" 2:50 "hopefully not literally ballistic" Lol. The caveats needed for this opening are hilarious / tragic.
I watched this on my iPhone, made with slave labor, from strip mined rare earth minerals. It’s time to put this radiation box down and head back out to my garden, where I can’t hear the political animals on either side drone on, but I can see the affects of aerosol injected skies. I’m better at planting trees in soil than seeds of discontent in my neighbors.
Nate, I don't often comment as much as I should ... but.... your calm and factual comments/guests etc on your shows, is like an island of reason in our messed up world, that seems to be driven more and more, by unhinged short term political gain, no matter the country. Please don't stop !!! I particularly enjoyed your show on Oceanic Slowdown: Decoding the AMOC with Levke Caesar. This was a scientist with "skin in the game" who spoke clearly, on why we should sit up take notice what is happening around us.
I'm not from the US so I want to ask. Can Trump's voters verbalize and articulate with logic and facts what they gained by electing Trump. Or do they just follow their feelings and have a feeling of winning, like in a baseball game, for example?
Those people voted for someone who they think will take care of them. They wanted a "strongman". They are frightened, and Trump was sold to them as "daddy" or "savior". They want everything to be "better", like a simpler time in the past that never was. In contrast, Harris spoke to people as an adult to other adults. She tried to relate to people as equals. She did not sell herself as a savior. Sadly, her campaign managers got that wrong.
One thing is certain, if we continue down this path of unsustainable consumption, industry, and ecocide, then we are doomed to experience an untimely mass extinction event and planetary ecosystem collapse.
US is entering a period of its existence where “Loving your neighbours as yourselves “ is the most important need of the hour. All economics don’t and can’t hold the whole fabric of society together when love and respect is missing.
Since you introduced Iiain gilchrist as a guest on your program i have gradually come to believe our blindness to the disaster we have created but cannot see may be a result of the left right brain hemisphere. Somehow the super organism grabs the attention of our left hemisphere by providing more and more material things to the exclusion of long term thinking, planning and viewing the planet as a system. Bodes not well for where we are heading and while in some fashion the planet will continue our role will change greatly in unexpected ways Great work. Fun to end the week with the brain cells working away!
Exactly correct, as a older man who understands and always searches for the truth, however frustrating, one learns to appreciate life, all creatures great and small, even those we disagree with, life is to short to dwell on things we have no power to change, try to enjoy what time we have left, this is a great podcast with extremely interesting interviews, thank you Nate, peace !
Your the first person that causes me to feel like I am back in my university environment. My goal has been and will continue to be to spread awareness of you and your podcast. You are a foot soldier for the natural world Nate. Keep going. Thank you
I want a candidate/party who will openly talk about the issues discussed on The Great Simplification and who will take substantive steps to address them. In the US, one party pays lip service to some of the ideas (Democrats), the other party has its head in the sand for the most part (Republicans).
That’s why I vote Greens. Even though they get very little support I hope that there is a groundswell at some point. Not sure how the Us system works but in Australia we have this opportunity to make a difference.
Would people vote for somebody on a policy of less jobs? We can't work our way out of this, doing less is doing more but any party now is there to maintain business, even greens.
@@antonyjh1234 because people have to pay for rent and food. If there would be living wage and a system where people literally don't end up on the street, people would be more relaxed to think they survive. Now, you don't even have a shelter place. Now, you only have unsanitary, extremely depressing "living" "solutions" if you can't make enough for your monthly expenses. Nothing more than your monthly expenses. I don't know.... I think it is disconnection between people who are living in different realities. People who can't feel empathy for others. It is so shocking when you provide evidence that for many, life is harder than it was decades ago. It is more work to pay for rent and food. You can't skip rent and food. Even those who are doing better should always care about how the rest of the society is doing with their rent and food. What are the percentage of the whole society that strugles? Those are the people who can be the costumers of small businesses if they have money to be a costumer. Everybody should care that small and middle sized businesses are thriving. Those are the ones in your neighbourhood. Those that you can see how they treat you, their workers, the environment etc ... Those can be willingly green or made sure that it is unlawful to harm the environment. Small and midsized businesses have to care about you. Monopolies don't. Small and midsized businesses are the solution for being efficent, being green, carrying about eachother, and not creating huge power differences and injustice. To have a society that puts more intrest in small and midsized businesses, you have to have a goverment that are not flooded with money from corporations and special intrest. There are ways to do that. There are ways to work against corruption. There are ways to have transparency. It has been too long that we didn't pay attention to it because we "lived in the now" and the consequencies were decades ahead. With this much complexity, you have to look forward. It takes time for things to build up and even more to correct things that went wrong.
In the recent podcast during which you commented more than once that we can print the interest, but we can't print the commodities, both of your guests pretty much danced around that observation instead of dealing with it. That in itself was illuminating. Having diverse perspectives presented is good.
I wonder how much we could have avoided this situation if we'd focused more on communication, understanding, tools of how to think about and process information, formats of resolving disagreements, and gaining from the parallax of perspectives. We're far too immature as a species as we've set too much of our cultural tone on being "winners" and burying our heads in the sand with all the frantic work we've put on each other to work all the damn time and keep up with the joneses.
You know how much people had to work to provide for their families? At the time when they had more than 2-3 child per couples? To feed them, to have clean clothing, to have clothing, to have a chance to go to school.... If you even were lucky to born into a family that had enough land to provide. That is why they came to the "promise land". To have a chance to work on/with something. To have a tractor it is already "modernity". Without machines, it is very hard to provide for your family. The problem is when we don't pay the price for things we are using. When I buy something, it doesn't include how much stress it created on the environment. It doesn't include how we will replenish that stress and fix damages. If it was made somewhere in Asia, it doesn't include that the worker is paid enough to have a reasonable life standard. Because we don't pay the amount that it is really needed to cover everything, we don't make things lasting. It is free to be thrown away. It is all possible because there are places on this earth where people and nature can be exploited. It can be exploited because there are no laws. There are no laws for it because there is no democracy and a couple of powerful people dictates the rest accordingly to their personal intrest. They see others as objects. Life was always hard. Always. Life was unjust. Humanity sacraficed so much to have some decency. Are we suppose to go back to hunting and gathering? I think once we settled down, we always worked hard. Producing enough food (without machines) are challenging. Especially for many children. That we needed also because there were diseases, natural disasters, wars etc. To see go back a couple of hundred years, not just when the boomers were growing up. That time is nothing in human history. Even 200-300 years is nothing. But even 200-300 years going back would be a life that many wouldn't like to live in.
Nate, a number of your guests, true climate experts ,havesaid , we don't know how long we have before its too late to rescue this biosphere, and prevent the completion of the 6th extinction (more than 75% of species gone). If we want the opportunity to build better communities and sustainable life connections after the simplification, we need to be working on saving what we can of the exis ting biosphere. Its nice to say you are apolitical, but as you know, for the time being, political outcomes will influence the likelihood humans will have a chance to try to stabilize the planet within habitable boundaries, and prevent the extinction of too many of the remaining complex life forms. Humans will still be humans after the simplification. The best scientific information I can find about why we are a caring species, why we have an altruistic streak, is that morality is necessary to have a working society. The evolved capacities include both caring, and punishing violators. Hunter-gatherers currently (there are about 45 that have been studied so as to learn about their morality) are very moral, and punish outliers and reward those who are generous to others. Successful people in successful communities, where social cohesion is high ,are those who can get along with others ,and bring people together, and find consensus. I am 77. I doubt we will survive. but I won't stop trying, and I believe to assume that we can ignore the battle over political leaders, paticularly regarding who is more likely to understand ,and take action based on scientific realities about the danger to the biosphere. I have worked as a carpenter, and still use my tools regularly, despite being a (retired) M.D. Love is a verb ,and a synonym is caring for, and nothing makes me happier. But tough love is real, and a sometimes necessary type of love, and some people act in ways that we are forced to remove them from the community, or they will break the community apart. We need to be articulating the folly of the electric car fantasy, and the myth of decoupling GDP and energy consumption. Energy is energy, regardless of the flavor. The biosphere needs us to give alot back, NOW, not after most of it is gone.
The de Chardin quote at the end is the missing element for most of us. Yesterday, I took part in a street challenge in Glasgow. They were offering a prize for watching a three-minute video. I sensed that it wasn't a tacky corporate marketing stunt, so I gave it a go. It was an incredibly graphic video about animal cruelty in factory farming. I nearly cried. Not because of the video footage, which was certainly shocking and upsetting, but because the charity volunteers actually talked to people about their reaction and their lives afterwards, and they took their time. The opportunity to have a genuine discussion with someone about something other than their jobs, their bills, their purchases or their holidays is depressingly rare for most people in westernised countries.
I appreciate the accessible framework for discussion. I found myself wishing you referenced the humanitarian crises we are grieving in addition to the ecological ones.
Well done Nate, well said. Even over on Substack, it's getting heated. Their AI bot gets involved, fuels the fire of clickbait, like it's some sort of sensationalist Sunday newspaper platform. Sane mind, sane heart, soul road. Go well Nate, shine the light of reason.
No matter who is in power, the Earth remains. Having hope and helping neighbors is my new goal. All of us need "Victory Gardens". I think it's a good place to start. Gardening is rewarding in mind, body, and soul. All of us could use healthy food, saving money, and physical activity. It is good therapy away from the dopamine doom scrolling. Gardening together also fosters calm conversations! Preparing and eating together is teamwork. Be well, Nate.
The "doomsday clock" says it's about 5 minutes to midnight. I think it's 5 minutes after midnight. I am living the most environmentally friendly life that I can & I am spending as much time as I can with loved ones.
Nate, there are many ways of knowing as there are many ways of living. Science is only one way of knowing. The crux of the matter is we all live in one world. We can only carry on with our lives when we respect ourselves and respect others. I like your new insight “living in a multipolar world is better than living in a blown up world” well said.
I admire your epistemological philosophy and your approach to the election, Nate. I agree that we need to talk with people who have different views that we do, which you do bravely and skillfully in your interviews. May you have a nice walk and clear mind today. And keep on . . .
It’s dark because you are trying too hard. Lightly child, lightly. Learn to do everything lightly. Yes, feel lightly even though you’re feeling deeply. Just lightly let things happen and lightly cope with them. I was so preposterously serious in those days, such a humorless little prig. Lightly, lightly - it’s the best advice ever given me. When it comes to dying even. Nothing ponderous, or portentous, or emphatic. No rhetoric, no tremolos, no self conscious persona putting on its celebrated imitation of Christ or Little Nell. And of course, no theology, no metaphysics. Just the fact of dying and the fact of the clear light. So throw away your baggage and go forward. There are quicksands all about you, sucking at your feet, trying to suck you down into fear and self-pity and despair. That’s why you must walk so lightly. Lightly my darling, on tiptoes and no luggage, not even a sponge bag, completely unencumbered.” ― Aldous Huxley , Island
Thank you.Nate. Nobody can win without some kind of loss somewhere, it looks like we are going to be losers on both sides of the Atlantic. Very little creative change can come through governing, the change we need is fundamental coming through our mother loving planet organ our heart which in turn creates human 3.0.which turns, envy, greed, and pride, into compassion, sharing non-judgementalism. A more grounded, humble being, guided by creation, which will finally lose all ability to doubt. A human who understands that he is a creator within a constantly unfolding creation.
I’m so grateful for this during a time when all I feel I can do is hold my breath and wait for a cataclysmic event or a series of cataclysmic events. I’ve got so many things I want to change in my local community like getting rid of petrol based leaf blowers for starters. It’s good to have the encouragement from you to get off my butt and do something positive.
Nate you are doing incredible work. I think it’s a shame you aren’t leading America politically. I don’t think you would want to nor do I think America is ready for someone like you, but you would he one of the few I can think of who would be able to have the virtues and information to meaningfully guide us forward. I worry that most people are are “political” in either party don’t give a rats ass about anything that actually matters and just wants their stocks to inflate faster and faster. Thank you Nate!
Nate, It is practically impossible even to engage in a logical conversation in my community about critical issues discussed here on your channel. I've been called all doom and gloom by those whom are vastly outnumbering us, conditioned to the normalcy bias
I appreciate your message and suggestions. I'm afraid that in my location, keeping my head down, at least for some amount of time, is the safest course for me. I believe we are actually in a civil war without bullets. Families, neighbors, towns are fractured. I'm wondering how, or if, the opposing sides in the Civil War healed.
It would be interesting to see statistics on the percentage of climate deniers who changed their minds about climate change after being a direct victim of a natural disaster. I suspect it would be surprisingly lower than expected.
The problem is that you cannot prove any particular disaster is due to climate change, only a statistical increase over time can tell that. Good luck trying to convey that to general population...
You’re one of the closest things we have to a “hero” in the modern world. If we get out of this alive, it will be because we follow the example set by folks like yourselves and begin enacting these necessary changes ourselves.
You saved my life here. The last week has been a series of people abandoning my mother and I because we ask a lot of questions. Both of us work with education and children; we think kindness and critical thinking are paramount. I feel very alone. And I hope many other people here will stay strong. Thank you Nate. 🤟🏻
Keep holding the light. And asking those questions. You are appreciated. ❤
"I'm trying to build that community." You are not trying*; you are* building that community. For whatever it's worth, this podcast puts a lot of wind in my sails. Keep going.
My people are those I've never met. I need to grow roots where I am.
Hear, hear. The quote at the end made me realize how surprisingly few people seem interested in even engaging with the full complexity of our predicament. Much less those who can do so with an open mind, a loving heart and ready hands. If we must burn the carbon to create and power the internet, we might as well use it to support the people who, for whatever inexplicable reason, are ready to engage with the complexity and do the work. Please also know that some of us are nurturing this capability in children. Big thanks to Nate and team, as always, for providing the unique and valuable resource that is TGS.
Have just discovered his work and am delighted to have done so. Excellent work Nate , with many thanks 🙏🌻
Subscribed.
same. so many of the conversations with Nate follow me around through life...and have lead down some new paths of discovery and understanding and reflection. I keep coming back. Hoping to be tempered and humbled...and more capable of facing what's going on. Community is hard to come by these days. Not as simple as living in the same physical location. Many bridges are necessary now.
Thank you, Nate. I'm feeling and lot as I write this. I've been a quiet listener for some time, and it brings me a great deal of peace to do so despite the complex and often seemingly impossible issues we face. Your podcast inspires me to keep learning (even if it's uncomfortable at times), and to do what I can. It feels like a ridiculously small contribution, but what I know is that I deeply care about this planet, the life on it, and the future of it. That changes my approach to everything and everyone around me, and maybe that matters.
It absolutely does!
Thank you, Nate. For all the work that you do. This Frankly made me cry, because you manage to stay so curious, humble and composed in the face of our predicament. I feel rage and grief a lot of the time. This message calmed me down a bit. So thank you.
Thank you Nate. I'm a US and Swedish citizen that recently bought a small 5 acre farm where I was born in Sweden. Your podcast has been a great motivator for me to do something of importance with my local community to be better prepared for things to come. I try to explain to my family members of what I learn from you and others, but it seems like it's too abstract for them to internalize. I fear that realization may come too late to most people, but as soon as I'm settled here, I'll try to spend most of my time trying to change that. Keep doing what you do and hopefully more and more people will start taking action.
I have similar experiences with family members, some friends, and people from work. I wonder how large the percentage of people is in my wider social network that is aware of the kind and size of the issues. Based on some of the reactions I’ve received on social media and in offline interactions, I believe I’ve increased awareness for some.
You just made me cry!! Feeling the love a whole world away down here in New Zealand and sending it back.
As someone from Asheville (specifically Swannanoa which is pretty much gone), you are spot on. No one here harbors any resentment for our neighbors and their political orientation. What is all around us is devastation but also love and unconditional support. What is tragic but also beautiful is that calamity really unites communities. Thank you Mr Hagens, please never stop being a pillar of reason so many of us rely on for a measured wide boundary view of what is happening to our planet and people.
One of your best yet. Thank you. And I love when Nate's voice breaks with emotion. He is a real man, he can cry.
Thanks for all your podcasts so far. They are so informative. Wishing you all the strength you need to keep up the high quality of these podcasts! I'll be listening and doing what I can in my little circle.
You're a good person, Nate. I'm a 67 yr old and (wrongly) thought I was brilliant for decades. That said, looking back over the years, I marveled at what I thought I surely knew, but I was wrong about.
To be clear, Noam Chomsky was right when he said that in the US, there is really only one political party with two branches who feed from the same money trough.
We are living through a global inflection point. It's ugly, depressing, angering, and scary at the very least. That said, I'm not one who typically scares easily. But human society is unwinding, and we humans are taking humanity, all life on earth, and future generations down with us. It really is terribly sad and depressing.
There is no "both-sides-ism" here, because of the distinct difference between democracy and dictatorship,
"A form of political behavior marked by obsessive preoccupation with community decline, humiliation or victimhood and by compensatory cults of unity, energy and purity, in which a mass-based party of committed nationalist militants, working in uneasy but effective collaboration with traditional elites, abandons democratic liberties and pursues with redemptive violence and without ethical or legal restraints goals of internal cleansing and external expansion.
The belief that one's group is a victim, a sentiment that justifies any action, without legal or moral limits, against its enemies, both internal and external."
Robert O. Paxton, Anatomy Of Fascism
"The parallel between antifeminism and race prejudice is striking. The same underlying motives appear to be at work, namely fear, jealousy, feelings of insecurity, fear of economic competition, guilt feelings, and the like. Many of the leaders of the feminist movement in the nineteenth-century United States clearly understood the similarity of the motives at work in antifeminism and race discrimination and associated themselves with the anti slavery movement."
Ashley Montagu
"It would be hard to name a more certain sign of poor self-esteem than the need to perceive some other group as inferior."
Nathaniel Branden
"Whether it's before the election or after the election, the principle is the American people are choosing their next president and their next president should pick this Supreme Court nominee.
All Citizens United did was to level the playing field for corporate speech. We now have, I think, the most free and open system we've had in modern times. For everybody who thinks it's warming, I can find somebody who thinks it isn't.
#MoscowMitch McConnell 🐢
"Periods of progress in gender, labor, or racial emancipation have also been fertile terrain for openly racist and sexist aspirants to office, who soothe fears of the loss of male domination and class privilege and the end of White Christian “civilization.” Cultural conservatives have repeatedly gravitated to antidemocratic politics at such junctures of history, enabling dangerous individuals to enter mainstream politics and gain control of government.
Designed for instant impact and encouraging feelings of omnipotence, Twitter is the perfect tool for an impulsive, attention-addicted strongman
From the start, authoritarians stand out from other kinds of politicians by appealing to negative experiences and emotions. They don the cloak of national victimhood, reliving the humiliations of their people by foreign powers as they proclaim themselves their nation’s saviors. Picking up on powerful resentments, hopes, and fears, they present themselves as the vehicle for obtaining what is most wanted, whether it is territory, safety from racial others, securing male authority, or payback for exploitation by internal or external enemies.
Elites are the authoritarian’s most important promoters and collaborators. Afraid of losing their class, gender, or race privileges, influential individuals bring the insurgent into the political system, thinking that he can be controlled as he solves their problems (which often involves persecuting the left). Once the ruler is in power, elites strike an “authoritarian bargain” that promises them power and security in return for loyalty to the ruler and toleration of his suspension of rights. Some are true believers, and others fear the consequences of subtracting their support, but those who sign on tend to stick with the leader through gross mismanagement, impeachment, or international humiliation.
As leaders stabilize their rule, they use propaganda to legitimate their authority. Discrediting the press is a kind of insurance policy. When journalists turn up evidence of the government’s violence or corruption, the public will already be accustomed to seeing them as partisan
The decay of truth and democratic dissolution proceed hand in hand, starting with the insurgent’s assertion that the establishment media delivers false or biased information while he speaks the truth and risks everything to get the “real facts” out. Once his supporters bond to his person, they stop caring about his falsehoods. They believe him because they believe in him.
The ideal subject of totalitarian rule is not the convinced Nazi or the convinced Communist, but people for whom the distinction between fact and fiction (i.e., the reality of experience) and the distinction between true and false (i.e., the standards of thought) no longer exist.
All twenty-first-century authoritarians suppress climate change science, lest that discourage the plunder of national resources that generates profits for them and their allies.
Deutsche Bank has funded authoritarian states from Hitler’s Germany to Putin’s Russia, as well as lending to businesses like the Trump Organization that are suspected of helping autocrats and their cronies to launder their money.
A great privilege of life under democracies-taking freedom for granted-becomes a weakness when that freedom is under assault.”
Ruth Ben-Ghiat, Strongmen: Mussolini to the Present
“It ain’t what you don’t know that gets you into trouble. It’s what you know for sure that just ain’t so. “ - Mark Twain
@@SimonQuig Global warming is as real as a heart attack.
You cannot be wise without some basis of knowledge, but you may easily acquire knowledge and remain bare of wisdom. Not ignorance, but ignorance of ignorance, is the death of knowledge.
Alfred North Whitehead
Thank you for your calm wisdom. Love listening to all your podcasts in Eastern Canada.
Thank you for your heartfelt words. The ending quote inspires me to keep as often as I can the big picture in mind. I trust that in spite of humanity’s dire situation, we can, with the support of all living beings, raise our consciousness and transform life on this beautiful planet.
Hearing you read these comments I hope you see this one. Nate, thank you for this, for what you do. This mission you’re on is very helpful to many. Thank you, good work, and keep it up as you can.
read. and appreciated! Yes -this is not easy, and there is no 'winning' from here - so support and understanding from listeners is really important to me. Onwards 🙏❤🌍
@@thegreatsimplificationperhaps support, understanding, and being able to continue on this mission is winning.
Nate thank you this episode feels like a hug from a friend. Onward to building earth and friend community.
Thanks for your intelligent and loving words, we have to build communities now and educate ourselves and others to try and bring light in the darkness. Thanks for being one of our brightest lights. Appreciate your work so much.
Thank you so much for this. I am grateful to you for all of your podcasts and appreciate your candor.
Thank you, Nate, for all the great advice you are giving us.
You are a beautiful human being. ❤
I really resonate with this one Nate. You put it into words much better than I could. Such an important message at this critical time.
You are a wonderful human Nate ❤
I love you for being so brave to talk about all these awful things with such kindness. Thank you. 😢
I appreciate you Nate. I can’t say I’m concerned in a way I might be. Impermanence is a foundational part of life and I have peace. I don’t know what might happen though I’m grateful for today and will see this journey through to the best of my ability.
Thanks for sharing your heart.
Damn it, just hours ago I was feeling miserable with all this absurdity, and hoping for some sane view, and I immediately thought about this channel, and here you are... thanks. We're F exhausted..
Thank you again, Nate. Hearing "it's not your fault" made me totally cry, with such an emotional charge... I realized that something was hidden in the backstage of my mind ("you're guilty") until your words brought it into the light.
Awareness gives people sense if responsibility, but responsibility is not guiltiness. And the distinction of these two, it's another internal work we must do.
Keep doing it, Nate.We're literally a world of people all around doing what we have to do, searching awakening on everyone. We don't know what the result will be, but we can't not try it.
Abrazos desde Argentina.
Thank you, this is how I’ve been approaching things with family and friends - it’s “beyond political” and I feel the future challenges pose both unfathomable threats but also opportunities to unite us like never before.
Nate, regardless of who wins, you and your show continue to be fantastic. Thank you.
Regardless of who wins, I will continue planting trees, digging wildlife ponds, building with natural materials, making biochar compost, regenerating soils and growing chemical-free food.
Dear Nate. This episode is Love.
I so dearly wish we in India could have a podcast like yours to speak to the worlds here. From here, I find your words helping me reorganize, again, as to how I show up.
Take care.
I respect a person that is aware that they don't know everything, freely admits it, and keeps on learning.
Thanks, Nate.
I think he is being rather modest. I wouldn't take it literally. He clearly knows plenty, as do many others here...
@@Charlie-UK, yes, but we all must be open to possibility, that no matter how certain we are about X, Y or Z, things mightn’t quite be as we think they are when perceived from another perspective. No one is omniscient.
I really really appreciate you and your efforts, Nate. You’re a wonderful human.
You can say you’re apolitical, but at the end of the day you have to vote for only two options like everyone else.
While there have always been third parties, the U.S. most actively had around five influential parties in the 1850s before consolidating into the two-party system we recognize today. meanwhile in the civilized world of Europe they have many parties and a mixed proportion party system.
Thank you for taking the narrow path rather than the wide open lazy road.
0:02 : "in the next week... Or two, or three weeks, or ... ??"
2:50 "hopefully not literally ballistic"
Lol. The caveats needed for this opening are hilarious / tragic.
I watched this on my iPhone, made with slave labor, from strip mined rare earth minerals. It’s time to put this radiation box down and head back out to my garden, where I can’t hear the political animals on either side drone on, but I can see the affects of aerosol injected skies.
I’m better at planting trees in soil than seeds of discontent in my neighbors.
Nate, I don't often comment as much as I should ... but.... your calm and factual comments/guests etc on your shows, is like an island of reason in our messed up world, that seems to be driven more and more, by unhinged short term political gain, no matter the country. Please don't stop !!!
I particularly enjoyed your show on Oceanic Slowdown: Decoding the AMOC with Levke Caesar. This was a scientist with "skin in the game" who spoke clearly, on why we should sit up take notice what is happening around us.
I'm not from the US so I want to ask. Can Trump's voters verbalize and articulate with logic and facts what they gained by electing Trump. Or do they just follow their feelings and have a feeling of winning, like in a baseball game, for example?
Those people voted for someone who they think will take care of them. They wanted a "strongman". They are frightened, and Trump was sold to them as "daddy" or "savior". They want everything to be "better", like a simpler time in the past that never was. In contrast, Harris spoke to people as an adult to other adults. She tried to relate to people as equals. She did not sell herself as a savior. Sadly, her campaign managers got that wrong.
One thing is certain, if we continue down this path of unsustainable consumption, industry, and ecocide, then we are doomed to experience an untimely mass extinction event and planetary ecosystem collapse.
US is entering a period of its existence where “Loving your neighbours as yourselves “ is the most important need of the hour.
All economics don’t and can’t hold the whole fabric of society together when love and respect is missing.
I think you're doing a good job.
with money we tried to overcome/outsmart complexity. this is failing spectacularly, miserably and hopelessly.
Beautifully expressed
Thank you for your insights, Nate. It's really appreciated.
❤, just ❤. Keep going Nate. We need you.
Brilliant as always...
Superb recommendations, Dear Nate Hagens💚
Wow Nate, you are one very special human my friend.
Love the illustrations.
Thank you! Might adjust a slight miscue western NC was devastated by floods from Helene, not eastern. But generally, very much wisdom here. Gracias.
Nate, It would be very interesting to hear a discussion of the impact of the Pentagon (military industrial complex) on the environmental crisis.
Thank you Nate
As always, much wisdom from Nate. Cheers Nate.
Since you introduced Iiain gilchrist as a guest on your program i have gradually come to believe our blindness to the disaster we have created but cannot see may be a result of the left right brain hemisphere. Somehow the super organism grabs the attention of our left hemisphere by providing more and more material things to the exclusion of long term thinking, planning and viewing the planet as a system. Bodes not well for where we are heading and while in some fashion the planet will continue our role will change greatly in unexpected ways
Great work. Fun to end the week with the brain cells working away!
Exactly correct, as a older man who understands and always searches for the truth, however frustrating, one learns to appreciate life, all creatures great and small, even those we disagree with, life is to short to dwell on things we have no power to change, try to enjoy what time we have left, this is a great podcast with extremely interesting interviews, thank you Nate, peace !
Your the first person that causes me to feel like I am back in my university environment. My goal has been and will continue to be to spread awareness of you and your podcast. You are a foot soldier for the natural world Nate. Keep going. Thank you
I want a candidate/party who will openly talk about the issues discussed on The Great Simplification and who will take substantive steps to address them. In the US, one party pays lip service to some of the ideas (Democrats), the other party has its head in the sand for the most part (Republicans).
That’s why I vote Greens. Even though they get very little support I hope that there is a groundswell at some point. Not sure how the Us system works but in Australia we have this opportunity to make a difference.
Would people vote for somebody on a policy of less jobs? We can't work our way out of this, doing less is doing more but any party now is there to maintain business, even greens.
@@antonyjh1234 because people have to pay for rent and food. If there would be living wage and a system where people literally don't end up on the street, people would be more relaxed to think they survive. Now, you don't even have a shelter place. Now, you only have unsanitary, extremely depressing "living" "solutions" if you can't make enough for your monthly expenses. Nothing more than your monthly expenses. I don't know.... I think it is disconnection between people who are living in different realities.
People who can't feel empathy for others. It is so shocking when you provide evidence that for many, life is harder than it was decades ago. It is more work to pay for rent and food. You can't skip rent and food. Even those who are doing better should always care about how the rest of the society is doing with their rent and food. What are the percentage of the whole society that strugles? Those are the people who can be the costumers of small businesses if they have money to be a costumer. Everybody should care that small and middle sized businesses are thriving. Those are the ones in your neighbourhood. Those that you can see how they treat you, their workers, the environment etc ...
Those can be willingly green or made sure that it is unlawful to harm the environment. Small and midsized businesses have to care about you. Monopolies don't.
Small and midsized businesses are the solution for being efficent, being green, carrying about eachother, and not creating huge power differences and injustice.
To have a society that puts more intrest in small and midsized businesses, you have to have a goverment that are not flooded with money from corporations and special intrest. There are ways to do that. There are ways to work against corruption. There are ways to have transparency.
It has been too long that we didn't pay attention to it because we "lived in the now" and the consequencies were decades ahead. With this much complexity, you have to look forward. It takes time for things to build up and even more to correct things that went wrong.
Thank you. ❤
"What really matters"
Well done
That was put beautifully and succinctly and I tip my hat to you sir.
As usual I 100% agree with you and your work! Thank you so much 💪👏
Wise words.
In the recent podcast during which you commented more than once that we can print the interest, but we can't print the commodities, both of your guests pretty much danced around that observation instead of dealing with it. That in itself was illuminating. Having diverse perspectives presented is good.
I wonder how much we could have avoided this situation if we'd focused more on communication, understanding, tools of how to think about and process information, formats of resolving disagreements, and gaining from the parallax of perspectives. We're far too immature as a species as we've set too much of our cultural tone on being "winners" and burying our heads in the sand with all the frantic work we've put on each other to work all the damn time and keep up with the joneses.
You know how much people had to work to provide for their families? At the time when they had more than 2-3 child per couples? To feed them, to have clean clothing, to have clothing, to have a chance to go to school....
If you even were lucky to born into a family that had enough land to provide. That is why they came to the "promise land". To have a chance to work on/with something. To have a tractor it is already "modernity". Without machines, it is very hard to provide for your family.
The problem is when we don't pay the price for things we are using. When I buy something, it doesn't include how much stress it created on the environment. It doesn't include how we will replenish that stress and fix damages. If it was made somewhere in Asia, it doesn't include that the worker is paid enough to have a reasonable life standard. Because we don't pay the amount that it is really needed to cover everything, we don't make things lasting. It is free to be thrown away. It is all possible because there are places on this earth where people and nature can be exploited. It can be exploited because there are no laws. There are no laws for it because there is no democracy and a couple of powerful people dictates the rest accordingly to their personal intrest. They see others as objects.
Life was always hard. Always. Life was unjust. Humanity sacraficed so much to have some decency. Are we suppose to go back to hunting and gathering? I think once we settled down, we always worked hard. Producing enough food (without machines) are challenging. Especially for many children. That we needed also because there were diseases, natural disasters, wars etc.
To see go back a couple of hundred years, not just when the boomers were growing up. That time is nothing in human history. Even 200-300 years is nothing. But even 200-300 years going back would be a life that many wouldn't like to live in.
Nate, a number of your guests, true climate experts ,havesaid , we don't know how long we have before its too late to rescue this biosphere, and prevent the completion of the 6th extinction (more than 75% of species gone). If we want the opportunity to build better communities and sustainable life connections after the simplification, we need to be working on saving what we can of the exis ting biosphere. Its nice to say you are apolitical, but as you know, for the time being, political outcomes will influence the likelihood humans will have a chance to try to stabilize the planet within habitable boundaries, and prevent the extinction of too many of the remaining complex life forms. Humans will still be humans after the simplification. The best scientific information I can find about why we are a caring species, why we have an altruistic streak, is that morality is necessary to have a working society. The evolved capacities include both caring, and punishing violators. Hunter-gatherers currently (there are about 45 that have been studied so as to learn about their morality) are very moral, and punish outliers and reward those who are generous to others. Successful people in successful communities, where social cohesion is high ,are those who can get along with others ,and bring people together, and find consensus. I am 77. I doubt we will survive. but I won't stop trying, and I believe to assume that we can ignore the battle over political leaders, paticularly regarding who is more likely to understand ,and take action based on scientific realities about the danger to the biosphere. I have worked as a carpenter, and still use my tools regularly, despite being a (retired) M.D. Love is a verb ,and a synonym is caring for, and nothing makes me happier. But tough love is real, and a sometimes necessary type of love, and some people act in ways that we are forced to remove them from the community, or they will break the community apart. We need to be articulating the folly of the electric car fantasy, and the myth of decoupling GDP and energy consumption. Energy is energy, regardless of the flavor. The biosphere needs us to give alot back, NOW, not after most of it is gone.
Love the quote from Teilhard de Chardin.
The de Chardin quote at the end is the missing element for most of us. Yesterday, I took part in a street challenge in Glasgow. They were offering a prize for watching a three-minute video. I sensed that it wasn't a tacky corporate marketing stunt, so I gave it a go. It was an incredibly graphic video about animal cruelty in factory farming. I nearly cried. Not because of the video footage, which was certainly shocking and upsetting, but because the charity volunteers actually talked to people about their reaction and their lives afterwards, and they took their time. The opportunity to have a genuine discussion with someone about something other than their jobs, their bills, their purchases or their holidays is depressingly rare for most people in westernised countries.
love that. thanks for sharing. (I probably would have teared up as well). There is much good in us left - just needs to be awakened
Wide-ranging. That's why I'm here. Namaste.
Damn it Nate you express
yourself so eloquently.
I appreciate the accessible framework for discussion. I found myself wishing you referenced the humanitarian crises we are grieving in addition to the ecological ones.
Well done Nate, well said. Even over on Substack, it's getting heated. Their AI bot gets involved, fuels the fire of clickbait, like it's some sort of sensationalist Sunday newspaper platform. Sane mind, sane heart, soul road. Go well Nate, shine the light of reason.
Thank you, Nate, for saying so clearly (and humbly, and also kindly) what I struggle to articulate, even to myself.
Thank you Nate.
No matter who is in power, the Earth remains. Having hope and helping neighbors is my new goal. All of us need "Victory Gardens". I think it's a good place to start. Gardening is rewarding in mind, body, and soul. All of us could use healthy food, saving money, and physical activity. It is good therapy away from the dopamine doom scrolling. Gardening together also fosters calm conversations! Preparing and eating together is teamwork.
Be well, Nate.
Thank you Nate. Excellent suggestions.
Love the Frankly's!
Love your work Nate! I'm thankful for you every day.
Thank you for this.
I’m in Nate, don’t let the bastards tear you down! Bon courage!
Thanks for everything you do Nate.
The "doomsday clock" says it's about 5 minutes to midnight. I think it's 5 minutes after midnight. I am living the most environmentally friendly life that I can & I am spending as much time as I can with loved ones.
Actually, it was recently set to 90 seconds, the closest it's ever been.
Nate, there are many ways of knowing as there are many ways of living. Science is only one way of knowing. The crux of the matter is we all live in one world. We can only carry on with our lives when we respect ourselves and respect others. I like your new insight “living in a multipolar world is better than living in a blown up world” well said.
Thank you, Nate! Somebody's gonna win...
"And then what?" ~Garrett Hardin
I admire your epistemological philosophy and your approach to the election, Nate. I agree that we need to talk with people who have different views that we do, which you do bravely and skillfully in your interviews. May you have a nice walk and clear mind today. And keep on . . .
Thank you Nate for all you do to bring the information into the field. I for one have learned so much from you and your guests. Forever Grateful ❤
It’s dark because you are trying too hard.
Lightly child, lightly. Learn to do everything lightly.
Yes, feel lightly even though you’re feeling deeply.
Just lightly let things happen and lightly cope with them.
I was so preposterously serious in those days, such a humorless little prig.
Lightly, lightly - it’s the best advice ever given me.
When it comes to dying even. Nothing ponderous, or portentous, or emphatic.
No rhetoric, no tremolos, no self conscious persona putting on its celebrated imitation of Christ or Little Nell.
And of course, no theology, no metaphysics.
Just the fact of dying and the fact of the clear light.
So throw away your baggage and go forward.
There are quicksands all about you, sucking at your feet, trying to suck you down into fear and self-pity and despair.
That’s why you must walk so lightly.
Lightly my darling, on tiptoes and no luggage, not even a sponge bag, completely unencumbered.”
― Aldous Huxley , Island
Thank you.Nate. Nobody can win without some kind of loss somewhere, it looks like we are going to be losers on both sides of the Atlantic. Very little creative change can come through governing, the change we need is fundamental coming through our mother loving planet organ our heart which in turn creates human 3.0.which turns, envy, greed, and pride, into compassion, sharing non-judgementalism. A more grounded, humble being, guided by creation, which will finally lose all ability to doubt. A human who understands that he is a creator within a constantly unfolding creation.
I’m so grateful for this during a time when all I feel I can do is hold my breath and wait for a cataclysmic event or a series of cataclysmic events. I’ve got so many things I want to change in my local community like getting rid of petrol based leaf blowers for starters. It’s good to have the encouragement from you to get off my butt and do something positive.
Great video. Thank you.
Great advice my friend.
Nate you are doing incredible work. I think it’s a shame you aren’t leading America politically. I don’t think you would want to nor do I think America is ready for someone like you, but you would he one of the few I can think of who would be able to have the virtues and information to meaningfully guide us forward. I worry that most people are are “political” in either party don’t give a rats ass about anything that actually matters and just wants their stocks to inflate faster and faster. Thank you Nate!
Keep up your good work, Nate. I'm counting on it in the months ahead.
Thanks, Nate. “Gradually but suddenly” sounds contradictory, but isn’t. Language is fun.
"The Long Emergency"
Paradox 🙂
Nate, It is practically impossible even to engage in a logical conversation in my community about critical issues discussed here on your channel. I've been called all doom and gloom by those whom are vastly outnumbering us, conditioned to the normalcy bias
I appreciate your message and suggestions. I'm afraid that in my location, keeping my head down, at least for some amount of time, is the safest course for me. I believe we are actually in a civil war without bullets. Families, neighbors, towns are fractured. I'm wondering how, or if, the opposing sides in the Civil War healed.
great one Nate!!!
Thanks You are making a difference
I’m with you Nate🙏
Excellent reminder to focus on what matters. I posted a link to this on the Collapse Club facebook group with a reminder to breathe. Thanks Nate!
Homo-Colossus is in big trouble.
It's difficult to be apolitical in this day and age... 😩 But I'm currently watching this through to gain another perspective!
It would be interesting to see statistics on the percentage of climate deniers who changed their minds about climate change after being a direct victim of a natural disaster. I suspect it would be surprisingly lower than expected.
Weather...along with natural disasters...has been going on forever and will continue to do so.
Oh well. @@pookiecatblue
Absolutely. This due to the flood of misinformation/disinformation/conspiracy coupled with the horrifyingly uneducated state of the American public.
The problem is that you cannot prove any particular disaster is due to climate change, only a statistical increase over time can tell that. Good luck trying to convey that to general population...
@@pookiecatblue, do you agree that events like that in Valencia, Spain, this week, are happening more often than in previous years?
A message that needs to be heard everywhere.
You’re one of the closest things we have to a “hero” in the modern world. If we get out of this alive, it will be because we follow the example set by folks like yourselves and begin enacting these necessary changes ourselves.