Reunion: For God, For Country And For the Planet
Class Discussion at Reunion:
Time for your input!
One of the defining issues of the last half-century has been the challenging relationship between people and the planet. Everyone is affected. Many of our classmates have been directly involved. Because of the strong interest expressed by members of the reunion program committee and others, we’ll talk about this subject on Friday afternoon at our reunion.
We have agreed to facilitate a class discussion on the broad subject of the environment and people. We have invited some classmates who are practitioners in the field to serve up a “tasting menu,” by discussing the current state of play and what we all may have learned on some representative topics for several minutes each. Then we will open the discussion to everyone present.
So far, Skip Hobbs, Howard Newman, Jim Porter, David Roe, Bob Sussman and Buzz Yudell have agreed to help us get started. We can discuss some specific environmental topics such as climate, oceans, renewable energy, green buildings, electric vehicles, food, water, and waste, and/or some more general “people” topics such as population, human motivation and interactions on environment, “grand strategy,” politics, and personal actions.
Some classmates have suggested that we should consider focusing our discussion and extending its impact by afterwards creating a product that reflects at least some of what classmates think we might have learned on this subject since we graduated. The product could be a letter to the Class of 2019, an article or op-ed for publication, and/or something else.
At this point we seek your input:
- What topics would you particularly like to hear about and discuss?
- Would you like to offer a several-minute “tasting menu” talk? On what topic? (Note that we are doing well in this department already.)
- What do you think about focusing our discussion and extending its impact by means that have been suggested or by other means? For instance, do you have thoughts you would like to share with the Class of 2019?
Please contact us at tkemmons@aol.com, and derryallen@aol.com, with your thoughts.
As a product of such a gathering of our classmates, I’d like to suggest that each of us sign the the Earth Day 2020 50th anniversary Grandfather’s Pledge, which states that “I promise my grandchildren and all the grandchildren of the world that I will be your voice, your champion in promoting a healthier, more sustainable Earth.”
Given the utter failure to adequately respond (especially in the US) to the ample warnings since the 1970’s, we probably should be focused mostly on dealing with the collapse of the many ecosystems that is now sure to happen. Read (or at least check out a review of) Bill McKibbon’s Falter: Has the Human Game Begun to Play Itself Out?