“Where are all the good people?”

“Where are all the good people who are supposed to stop this from happening?”

This is the heart wrenching question asked by Joan Meyer shortly before she died. The 98-year-old co-owner of a Kansas newspaper died after local police raided her home and seized her computer and cell phone in what was likely an illegal raid and misuse of power.

This unfortunate incident is the latest in a rising trend of authoritarianism. There are many who want to rewrite history, to prevent us from knowing the truth, as if pretending and hiding are responsible strategies on which to build a future.

Prager U, a right-wing group which draws much of its funding from some of the country’s biggest frackers is one of the latest purveyors of disinformation. Problematically, they are targeting children.

In a healthy society this kind of propaganda would be largely condemned and relegated to fringe groups.

Yet in today’s America, Florida’s department of education has approved PragerU videos to be shown in K-12 classrooms throughout the state.

One video calls feminism a “mean-spirited, small minded and oppressive philosophy.”

Another says that “the planet has heated up and cooled since prehistoric times, even without the burning of fossil fuels.” Well, yes, but what Prager leaves out is that right now the heating is because of the burning of fossil fuels, as every part of the international scientific community agrees.

In one Prager video, a young girl tries to explain to her classmates that clean energy is in fact “unreliable, expensive and difficult to store.” Which is no longer true: it’s now the cheapest power on the planet.

The girl’s grandfather tells her not to worry that her friends think she’s old-fashioned for wanting to stick with coal; he compares her stand with the bravery of the Warsaw uprising.

It’s not enough to be an apologist for the fossil fuel industry, they are imagining themselves as comparable to the brave fighters against Nazism. To call it shameless barely begins to scratch the surface.

This is not about republican vs. democrat, or liberal vs conservative. All of these false dichotomies must fall away.

The choice is between truth and dangerous lies.

Which brings us back to Joan Meyer’s question.

I know there are millions of ‘good people’ out there.

But, where are we? We have become distracted, isolated, unpracticed at coming together to take a courageous stand.

It can be easy to feel helpless in the face of such institutionalized greed and ignorance.

But institutions are made up of people. If we good people stay on the sidelines, the current trajectory is going to create unprecedented suffering.

We are already getting a preview of this as catastrophic disasters become ever more frequent. As I write this, they are still finding burned bodies in Maui. Twelve-year-old rape victims in the United States of America are being forced to give birth to their rapist’s baby.

Let us not squander the freedoms we have left by being too distracted to actively do some good.

Systems don’t disrupt themselves.

As Carl Sagan said,
“In our obscurity, in all this vastness, there is no hint that help will come from elsewhere to save us from ourselves.
The Earth is the only world known so far to harbor life.
There is nowhere else, at least in the near future, to which our species could migrate. Like it or not, for the moment the Earth is where we make our stand.”

The Earth is where we make our stand

We must preserve and cherish this pale blue dot, the only home we’ve ever known.

We have to do more than shop, vote and hope.

Let’s not let Joan Meyer’s question, or her death, be in vain. Good people, it is time to rise.

If we rise together, we could be an unstoppable force.

Let’s create a world where no vulnerable being ever has to ask again where the good people are because we are everywhere- making our voices heard and our presence known.

What is at stake right now is nothing less than everything.

We can’t do it alone

Our isolation, loneliness, and culture of rugged individualism contributes to our disempowerment.

It is more powerful to hold space for our hopes and dreams in community, rather than wallow in our despair and anger in solitude.

This is a pivotal moment in time in the trajectory of the American experiment and the Anthropocene itself. We have the privilege of being alive right now.

I am invited you to gather with me for a day of solidarity and community on Saturday September 23.. This is my first in-person event since Covid and I am excited to invite you into my new home in Concord, MA (which isn’t so large so this will be an intimate event 🙂

I recently finished up an online 4-week mindfulness class and the most common benefits reported afterwards were:

I feel less alone
I feel more empowered

YES! This is exactly what is needed.

Empowered and Connected Retreat Day (Benefit for the Ocean)

All profits will go to the Captain Paul Watson Foundation

Sat. September 23, 2023, Concord, MA, 10 AM-4 PM (address provided after registration)

I am inviting you to a day of mindfulness practices, a healthy plant-based lunch (gluten free options available), opportunity for journaling/writing followed by some time in small groups, holding space for each other’s’ dreams and concerns.

We will start and end the day with a short ceremony to open and close the space. Weather permitting, we will have the option to spend some time outside. We will come together in a container of non-judgment and loving support.

The first half of the day will be dedicated to self-care. The second half will be dedicated to exploring what you are uniquely positioned to do in the world.

There is power in supportive, heart-storming co-creation. You have gifts, talents and passions that are unique to you. Let’s help each other tap into what wants to happen through each of us.

All profits from this event will go towards supporting the Ocean, as protected by the Captain Paul Watson Foundation. As Paul famously says, ‘if the oceans die, we die.’ Unfortunately, the oceans are suffering from the results of the Anthropocene so your presence at this day will be a gift to yourself and the ocean.

Click Retreat Registration 2023 to register. I’d love to see you there. I can only fit a very small number of people so please sign up right away if this calls to you.

Here is my new backyard. I’m starting to call it ‘The Shimmering’ because the mornings often look like this. 🦋

I know many of you aren’t local to MA. I may be offering a similar event in Sedona later in the Fall.