I have been listening to the Jane Goodall and Douglas Abrams book on Hope. I think I was “hoping” for a magic hope pill. Which was in fact too much pressure to put on any book, even by someone of such great inspiration. I have a little less than 3 hours left. I am optimistic I will have it finished before book club on Thursday. If so, I will get to put up another finger for books I completed for a book club.
I am enjoying the book for the stories Jane shares, her journey through hope. It is a good review. Right after her death, Lauren and I watched her documentary “Reasons For Hope. She has done amazing things that she could never have accomplished without it. But in addition to hope her success has been a combination of stubbornness, perseverance, some luck and an absolute love of her work. The hope portion and her four reasons for hope; The Amazing Human Intellect, The Resilience of Nature, The Power and Dedication of Young People, and the Indomitable Human Spirit, are all worthy. Her descriptions of people taking Herculean efforts to do things like save the Black Robin in New Zealand from extinction. At one time there was only one fertile female on the planet, poor dear. This Eve of the bird world has 350 descendants. And there are other success stories, the American Bison, Survivor Trees, I just heard that Pandas, the face of endangered species, are no longer endangered. Then there is the Sudbury Regreening Program. Something I have never heard of. Which is embarrassing considering Google AI informed me it is “one of the world’s most celebrated environmental restoration success stories.” I can tell I am going to need to throughly check out this story and do a separate post. Suffice to say, the Sudbury Recipe or variation of it, has been used to regreen the Norilsk and Kola Peninsula in Russia, Gansu & Yunnan Provinces in China, The Rust Belt in the US, the list goes on.
But, every time I hope, I realize we are in an environmental 2-step. Ecologists move us one step forward figuring out ways to clean up our air and water. Then, for some unknown reason, the US government declares it is woke to want clean air and water. It is patriotic to dismantle a slew of protections, for vehicle emissions, power plant rules, methane rules, rollbacks to the Clean Water Act. They have opened protected ocean waters to commercial fishing industries. They have expanded drilling to millions of acres of public land and waters for oil and gas extraction. They have narrowed protections to endangered species by excluding habitat destruction. They are allowing pesticides and agricultural chemicals like glyphosate, aka Round Up. Yes, the Monsanto Round Up. Monsanto no longer exists, but Round UP does. Monsanto was digested for $63 billion by Bayer in 2018. Bayer did change the formula for residential Round up. You know the whole cancer thing. However, large scale agriculture still uses the other formula, the one linked to cancer. So, the environmental two-step actually feels like, one step forward, ten steps back.
Back to hope. How do we hold on when we sabotage ourselves constantly? Jane did bring up something very important. Before the people in Gombe would help the chimps, they had to be helped. When someone can’t afford electricity, or to pay for groceries, they aren’t going to care about protecting the air, water and land. Jane worked directly with local African communities to partner for solutions. They created a model that works for specific places in Africa. We need a model that works here. Particularly in rural communities that are in food and medical deserts. Create opportunity and you inadvertently create hope. Jane also says hope isn’t passive. I believe that. Hope is created through doing, helping, inventing.
This book isn’t going to create hope for us. We have to do the hard work of making that happen. Each and every one of us. Every day. Because every day there are going to be things that suck and suck hard. What Jane and Douglas are addressing, I think, is for us to hope in spite of all the reasons not to. To dig down and bring on our A hope game. They show us real change can be accomplished by believing you can make a difference. Animals, given a bit of nurturing have fought their way back from extinction. Villages burned to the ground during war have rebuilt, and rebuilt stronger. 2000 year old seeds have been planted, grown and produced dates not tasted since the time of King Herod.
Mayors, governors, congressmen, presidents, can be exchanged for ones that believe in US. That believe TOGETHER we are stronger. That do not vilify beliefs that are different. We need leaders who are strong enough to rise above greed and ambition and personal gain. Leaders who bring out our hope, not hate. As Jane said, “We have a small window and we need to act.” Now is the time for us to take action. While our elections are free and we still have a voice. We can vote for hope.