Good morning, CoSo. 😊

Woke with the energy for a run, which is a huge relief. The body's been feeling really rough this past while - carrying a lot of stress in it. It's good to get back to basics.

If your skeleton and meat sack are causing you problems, too, I hope you have enough energy in the tank to move a little, or stretch.

If not? Water, rest, and patience.

(Pretty sure the warranty's up by now, so swapping it out's not an option! 😉)

Just a wee news brief this time. 🕊️

In it, I connect a recent report highlighting the huge greenhouse gas emissions from US and UK military operations (sky's blue, Pope's a Catholic, etc.) with the overall challenges that wars present while we're also trying to combat climate change.

COP28 already has funding problems, as illustrated in a recent Pre-COP meeting.

What will it take to bring the world together properly to save (more of) us from climate change disaster?

https://onlysky.media/mclark/military-emissions-climate-funds-and-a-hard-road-to-cop28/

Going for a quick think-y walk while headache meds kick in.

I hope you folks know that you are doing *so much* just by holding your own as best you can - amid all the worldly news, all the constant fights for democracy, and all the more personal crises: financial pressures, workplace strife, family rifts, health scares and active threats...

I forget this all the time myself.

I get *so* angry at myself for not having surmounted more, faster, and better.

So if you've forgotten, too?

Don't. 🫂

(So, skipping over to a piece on the environmental cost of militaries and war today instead. That'll be "fun". I do not have high hopes for COP28 at November's end - but we need to keep reminding folks that climate change is coming for us all the same.)

The first question I always ask myself, when writing news analysis, is simple:

How will this help?

Followed by--

What harm does this risk?

Thirdly--

What steps have I taken to reduce harm to the best of my ability?

Followed by--

What will I do if harm happens anyway?

So much of major news coverage needs to ask if it's helping, if it's anticipated negative consequences, if it's done due diligence to minimize them, & if it's ready to address error & harm with integrity.

We deserve better.

I was delayed today for a good reason.

I've been saying for a while (in newsletters too) that media needs to slow down.

I had a piece on respect for the dead that I was going to have up yesterday. But it's a tough one, involving the challenge of telling accurate stories of what transpired, and there are snowballing conspiracy theories to be taken into account with *whatever* I finally publish on that nuanced theme.

So it'll go up Nov 11, after I've had more time to sit with all factors, but--

Afternoon, folks. 💫

Behind my time today - hope you're exactly where you want to be with yours!

This week's first newsletter explores zero-sum and positive-sum thinking by diving into economic history and... Star Trek. Because why *do* we configure speculative fiction so narrowly?

Imagine how creatively we could dream, if we saw political theory as a kind of world-building too.

#BetterWorldsTheory #SFF #StarTrek #Economics
https://open.substack.com/pub/mlclark/p/on-zero-sum-versus-positive-sum-thinking

All right. One more class (the other has rescheduled for tomorrow morning), and then I can edit and send out the first newsletter.

This one started with Star Trek and human psychology, but in the writing, I also managed to hook in a lot of economics theory and history?

I dunno with my brain sometimes. These days, I'm routinely oscillating between existential despair & "oh! let's write an essay/story on this weird, esoteric theme!"

If you're on a similar roller-coaster, I hope you're doing ok!

Here's a nice piece for any friends in the US voting today. Rooting for your version of consensus!

"Woodard came up with the theory that the US is really composed of about eleven different ‘nations,’ each with its own mentality—and that that split in outlook helps to account for much of our schizophrenic politics. Seen in that light, American history comes to seem like a grasping search for consensus — an ever-capsizing ship attempting to balance on some even axis."

https://open.substack.com/pub/innerlifecollaborative/p/can-america-exist-without-a-shared

Morning CoSo. ☕

I tossed and turned all night, but also had one of those dreams in which I tell a whole story to myself (this one, a story of academic jerkwaddery - not as fun as the mysteries I sometimes create).

So... I can't tell if that means my head's on straighter or weirder this morning, but I do sorely appreciate everyone who showed up when I was feeling frightfully low last night. 🤗 These are weird times and I'm more alone than usual these days - except when I'm here.

Happy Tuesday!

The older I get, the more I marvel at people who've been able to keep the engine going in their lives for as long as they have.

This is a tough moment... oh, everywhere. In it, I find myself more often than not noticing a quiet in my heart where all hopes for better once existed.

But also, the *world* feels small these days: petty, cruel, and immature.

So again...

I really admire those able to stick it out long term.

It takes work to keep believing in the work: some years more than most. 💙

Deep dive writing for the rest of the day (no classes tonight because it's a holiday here).

But before I go?

If, like me, you find it frustrating how much one person is allowed to dominate the news after having done so much harm - and if you're also struggling with the complex reality that his type can spend lifetimes grifting & doing harm while most of us are barely getting by, while trying *not* to do harm...

You're not alone.

Be kind to yourself, & switch off the news a few times today. 💙

*Granted, when a lot of folks in the US have religious people say they'll pray for them, it's definitely often weaponized.

But how can one even think of dismissing the faith of someone who has nothing else in life to turn to for comfort or hope? Instead of atheists (occasionally) mocking spiritual folk, we'd do well to roll up our darned sleeves and build a world where folks have more to rely on from day to day.

We're a long way off, but we're working at it, across the cosmological spectrum. 💛

All right, back from crossword time & diving into work. :)

Today's new word was "pordioseros". Limosnas what we usually call aid given to beggars, but "por Dios" - for God('s sake) - is another way of saying "please help". The help given is thus also known to some as a "pordiosero".

I often have street folk bless me (dios le pague - may god repay you), & I think many fellow atheists don't realize how important the act is for many struggling: their only way to "reciprocate" in an unjust world.

Relatedly, I quite loved the latest Past Present Future, which argues that "Anthropocene" is the wrong word for the era we're moving through, with which to confront its pressing challenges.

The problem isn't *humanity*; it's a form of human organization that's lately caused terrible outcomes. Drawing from Hobbes, the host proposes the "Leviacene" as a more fitting description of this moment.

An excellent reflection on differences between inherent & constructed crises.
https://pca.st/episode/2625f60c-ccb6-4706-aab2-256d2b630846