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Climate Leadership Now

2. What Would Thoreau Do?

Walden Pond 2020

These days we would call him an entrepreneur. From the day he started writing books to his later years in manufacturing, Henry David Thoreau was ambitious and innovative. Not in the sense of building a company and an empire, but in the sense of making a living through excellence. At Walden Pond he set out to create a literary work of art, distilling two years of experience into one year for the ages. (In his day, writing well was a good way to make money.) Living on the Pond, he also made extensive observations of the natural world that scientists still use. When he eventually moved on to traditional commercial life in his family's factory, he designed what today we might call an innovative communication tool (then, an improved lead pencil and the machine to manufacture it). Read more in Robert Sullivan's illuminating book The Thoreau You Don't Know: The Father of Nature Writers on the Importance of Cities, Finance, and Fooling Around.

 

To read Thoreau's Walden; or, Life in the Woods is to discover the eloquence of nature and the beauty of a contemplative life. Yet, to understand it fully is to realize that in his day the Pond was a commercial site. A railroad ran next to the pond (it still does), and Thoreau built his cabin from the remains of a railroad worker's shanty along with other locally recycled materials. Companies made good use of the site: Ice Fort Cove, a few hundred yards from Thoreau's cabin, was named after a large commercial operation that, before refrigeration, cut blocks of ice from the pond and shipped them by rail and sea to places as far away as India. Also, near the Pond was the woodlot for the town of Concord, which is less than 2 miles away. To throw at this scene some modern interpretive jargon, we might say that life at Walden was embedded then as now in a broad set of human and ecological systems.

 

Of course, Thoreau never heard of global warming.  Yet if he were with us today, I have no doubt that in his roles as innovator, entrepreneur, writer, citizen scientist, businessman, and respected family member, he would be doing everything in his power to stop it. And so should we.

 

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1. Welcome to Team Humanity

 

We, the members of Team Humanity, must figure out…and very soon…how to face up to the climate crisis.  Yes, it is important that we understand the reality of climate change, but it is even more important that we understand how human beings make decisions about the problem.

 

This blog explores Team Humanity's strengths and weaknesses as decision-makers, leaders, and followers. My name is Rae André. As an organizational psychologist, I apply social science and informed reasoning to help people solve complex problems like destructive climate change. These days I am asking questions like How should Team Humanity organize to save the planet?  What does psychology suggest about which goals we can aspire to?  How will we manage the conflict between powerful stakeholders? Who will lead the change we need now? What challenges will members of the Team face personally and professionally?

 

Lots of people are focusing on the kind of big picture change the world needs now. In the Climate Leadership Now blog we explore their initiatives and how individuals can contribute.  Yes, please do all you can to reduce your personal carbon footprint, but also dedicate yourself to working for the broader kinds of change we so urgently need. To solve the climate crisis, we, the members of Team Humanity, must act quickly to foster widespread change in communities, industries, and governments. 

 

We need leaders from all walks of life and we need dedicated followers to support them. We need people like you who want to see action now. Welcome!

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