Found Quotation


A year or two before Al Gore’s An Inconvenient Truth was released, I went to a panel discussion and film (alas, I cannot remember the title of the film) about global climate change. One of the speakers was a Nepalese attorney who was working on a case in the World Court that sought to address the impact of various corporate practices on the Himalayan snow cap.
One of the things this man said continues to resonate with me: “Why is it,” he asked, “that Americans are always turning on lights in the day time? Do you ever think about how much energy we could save and dangerous, climate-changing emissions we could stop, if we just relied on day light during the day instead of adding unnecessary electric lights?”
Sometimes at the top of the list of that for which I am grateful are the problems that I have. I fully appreciate my good fortune in only having problems I can handle in one way or another. Not every one is so blessed.
I was thinking this about “problems” and how to address them in the most graceful way as I read the Supreme Court’s decision. Heavy going reading, but absolutely fascinating from so many perspectives. Awe-inspiring in fact to think of the collective behavior and engagement of so many millions (yes millions by active involvement to greater or lesser degree or by apathy and inaction in this democracy of ours) of people that contributed to this writing. One aspect of it is how much of people tend to think, both individually and collectively, as life endlessly posing problems to be solved (I include myself in this) and not as offering opportunities to engage, shift, nurture, and grow. How we approach the Supreme Court’s decision collectively and individually will most certainly contribute to its impact.
Peace and light, E — Posted with WordPress for BlackBerry.