Hey friend,
The other day I was listening to a podcast, "Conversations with Tyler", where Tyler Cowen hosted Amia Srinivasan in exploring the prospects of Utopian Feminism. Amia, a philosopher professor at Oxford, holds a relatively progressive view on the future of sex work, and the premise of the conversation intrigued me because it promised an intellectual challenge. A quarter way through, I noticed the conversation was getting a little heated, but dismissed it as my own discomfort with the topic. Half way through, however, the friction in their conversation was palpable, which prompted me to wonder if other listeners felt the same way. Since there isn't a comment section on Spotify, I did a quick search on the web to see what people were saying about Amia's rather hostile response to Tyler.
It turns out I wasn't the only one who felt that way. Their heated conversation had generated so much response over Twitter and Tyler's website that he released an ex post commentary, something that he was "reluctant to do" and "had never done before". Given Amia's forceful presentation of her ideas, one may have anticipated a sort of vindication from Tyler. However, I was pleasantly surprised to see how much grace Tyler demonstrated in his response to the many aggrieved listeners. This prompted me to think about the importance of grace in dialectics.
I think Tyler sums it up best with this quote: "You have to learn to learn from people who bother, annoy, or frustrate you. If you do, they will not in fact bother, annoy, or frustrate you." How counter intuitive is this? Opportunities to learn from people with different perspectives often come our way, but we're so often hardened by our ego. I know that's been true for me.
This is to say I suspect grace (and humility) must be the foundation not only for our intellectual curiosity, but also our politics. A professor once told me that every person has something valuable to teach. Humility allows that lesson to enter our psyche. Yet how often do we see it play out in our leadership?
To use a Christian aphorism: the spiritual maturity of a congregation will never surpass that of its pastor. Likewise, our response to geopolitical discourse regarding "who's to blame" and "what needs to be done" will always be a finger pointing game, unless we're wired with the same value system. If I'm being honest, I think that's the effect of sin. Conceitedness leads us to push blame. To condemn.
What if we took a step back to focus on the spirit of collaboration instead on disputes? To apply this posture to this newsletter means considering humanity as the sum of our parts. Our green offering, therefore, ought to be of stories that see us coming together. Not apart.
With this new posture, Iām doing a little restructuring of this newsletter. Iāll be drawing from a larger range of sources that fit into this theme of the best humanity has to offer a planet in crisis. I do have a inclination to make it more about value systems and beliefs, but Iāll make sure to include innovations and stories as well. Enjoy!
The Impact of Selfish Ambition
Iāve wanted to do this for a while, but up to this point have had little courage to share what I believe in. So here it goes:
I believe there is a direct correlation with how the Christian doctrine can influence the development of our social and political systems. Christianity itself characterizes value systems that are damaging to the individual ā what it characterizes as āacts of the fleshā. This is seen in Galatians 5:19-21:
(19)Ā The acts of the flesh are obvious: sexual immorality, impurity and debauchery; (20)Ā idolatry and witchcraft; hatred, discord, jealousy, fits of rage, selfish ambition, dissensions, factions (21)Ā and envy; drunkenness, orgies, and the like. I warn you, as I did before, that those who live like this will not inherit the kingdom of God.
The truth is that climate change is a politically and economically thorny problem. How does one convince people and governments to invest in a far-off future? Itās clearly not a problem that can easily be addressed by most politicians, given the immediate and pressing needs of their constituents. Because it involves defining and understanding our responsibilities to future generations, our action (or inaction) on climate change falls squarely into the realm of moral and political philosophy.
Itās for this very reason that advancement in technology, public policy, and even culture must be governed by a moral system. For me, that system is Christianity, though admittedly I havenāt gotten it all āfigured outā. Christianity itself is wired with so many branches of thought; so much so that it is just as convoluted as secular politics. I hope to eventually arrive at a more informed opinion, but in the meantime I can offer examples that support my argument. So hereās one, in the form of a film:
Pandora (2016)
This 2016 Korean film is about a nuclear power plant that had been built in a rural town. After an earthquake strikes, the plant is badly damaged and explodes, causing wide spread panic within the town. At the national level, however, we see politicians downplaying the severity of the explosion in order to prevent press coverage. They have the economy in mind, which may appear justifiable when youāre sitting comfortably in the comforts of an office, miles away from the disaster.
At the power plant itās a different story. People are suffering from the effects of radiation poisoning and itās complete chaos. The nuclear fuel room is overheating and will explode unless they pump sea water into the room. In spite of this desperate need workers are prohibited from doing so because it will result in the decommissioning of the plant. Again, we see selfish ambition blurring the morality of the leadership, favoring the economy ($$) over mitigating the suffering of people.
Isnāt it frightening to know that this selfish ambition is a condition present in all of us? Thereās no way to remove it, but the Bible once again offers a remedy. This is seen in Galatians 5:22-23:
(22)Ā But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, forbearance, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, (23)Ā gentleness and self-control. Against such things there is no law.
Can we apply these values in our politics? What would that look like? For one, Iām thankful to have gotten a glimpse of it from Tyler Cowen.
Interesting Things Iāve Encountered
[Podcast] Putting a price on carbon
A new Singapore-based global carbon exchange will be launched this year. I suppose this will be the next big stage in the climate journey for South East Asia in particular, incentivizing the development of high quality carbon credits. What exactly does that entail? This podcast by Singapore's Straits Times explores this in an interview with former World Bank VP, Dr. Vinod Thomas.
[Article] Kinship time
"Kinship time is understanding time through the lens of relationships. Not just familial or human-to-human, but the everyday relationships we invest our time into, ones of mutual responsibility, like mentor and mentee, or between communities, or with plants and animals. Qualities of a kinship relationship include consent, trust, and reciprocity."
[Short film] North
Svalbard is an archipelago high within the Arctic Circle. The largest of its islands is called Spitsbergen, meaning āpointed mountains.ā In 1920 a treaty known as the Svalbard Act was signed by several nations recognizing Norwegian sovereignty over the islands, and declaring the whole region a demilitarized zone. This is a short film about how Svalbard, over the course of recent history, became increasingly linked to developments in climate science, and climate change.
Photo of the week
Thanks for reading, and have a blessed weekend!
Loveā¤ļø,
Daniel