“Make no little plans; They have no magic to stir men’s blood…”

A quote for reflection:

Make no little plans. They have no magic to stir men’s blood and probably themselves will not be realized. Make big plans; aim high in hope and work, remembering that a noble, logical diagram once recorded will never die, but long after we are gone will be a living thing, asserting itself with ever-growing insistency. Remember that our sons and grandsons are going to do things that would stagger us. Let your watchword be order and your beacon beauty. Think big.

Daniel Burnham, Chicago architect. (1846-1912)

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[Introduction] Special Project: Where do we go from here? A Look at America Following the 2012 Elections

[By Jesse Parent]

How many times have you heard: “One of the starkest contrasts in terms of America’s overall direction in some time” – perhaps the one thing everyone agreed on. Yet while America has made a choice, and a fairly significant one at that, there are so many issues to be addressed; so at least for me, personally, there is a very different feeling compared to the aftermath of the 2008 election.

I want to take a moment to capture the feeling(s) of the moment, the ‘zeitgeist‘, the state of America and thereby its relation to the global and modern historical context. To do that, I’ll be doing a great deal of thinking and reflecting, as well as (see Learnist) collecting a number of the commentaries, articles, and reflections arising from the aftermath of Election 2012. I want as broad a scope as possible; the aim is to have an accurate sample so as to produce a good illustration of this moment in history.

There is so much to process, and for many, there is a feeling of how different things ‘could have been’ if Mitt Romney was elected instead of the reelection of President Barack Obama. There is a strange sense of confusion yet also re-orientation – it’s something I personally am not sure how to capture or comment on yet, which is why I am starting this project.

The end result will be a full length essay or report, a smaller executive summary, and hopefully, several works cited and even commentary on those works cited.

Likely topics will include: The economy in general, and specifically the coming “Fiscal Cliff“, which has recently stunned or scared the stock markets ; the issue of demographics in America (I’ve never heard so many different news programs say so openly things like “Old, white, angry men aren’t all there is to America anymore”) ; related, social issues like women’s rights, equal pay, marriage equality, immigration, and so on ; climate change and environmental issues (recovering from #Sandy…); energy (see the rest of this site); and the general nature of politics in the US.

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If you have any good stories that would add to the perspective of this moment in history, please leave them in the comments below. I’m working on a collection so far on Learnist, link here.

Stay tuned and make the most of the year 2012…. 2013 is only a little over a month away, now.

- Jesse Parent

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For more of Jesse’s thoughts throughout the week and to see what news he’s following, you are invited to join the conversation via Twitter and Facebook.

Stunning image from NYC – #Sandy flows into the World Trade Center site

To me, this is fascinating. I tweeted:

Something powerful about this image, #Sandy flows into #WTC site. Zeitgeist moment, most curious image sofar twitter.com/jpinfluence/st…

— Jesse Parent (@jpinfluence) October 30, 2012

I do not know who originally shot this picture, but let me know and I will give them due credit [edit: may be (AP Photo/ John Minchillo)]. To me it combines climate change, 9/11, global economy, globalization (to name a few) and essentially the last decade of political events and contemporary developments – things that have shaped my life and will continue to shape the future. My, oh, my.

What do you think?

Or if you have any other images, feel free to share them below.

Stay safe, my friends

- Jesse

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For more of Jesse’s thoughts throughout the week and to see what news he’s following, you are invited to join the conversation via Twitter and Facebook.

COMMENT: Critical Issues – Creating a Safe Space for Substantial Dialogue

This is another in a series of comments about creating and fostering substantial dialogue about important issues of our time. In Scott Edward Anderson’s recent post: Our Climate War: FRONTLINE’s “Climate of Doubt”, he touches upon the problematic nature of trying to discuss topics of import here in the USA. My comment is below:

I think this quote can be said for many programs that try to address energy and / or climate:

 “What really troubles me about the FRONTLINE program last night is that we’ve lost all foundation for rational, reasonable debate in this country. We have become a nation of blamers and attackers. Anything we don’t agree with is shouted down rather than reasonably argued against. It happens on both sides of the issue and good people are getting hurt in the process.”

 I’ve commented on this a great deal, and my position continues to evolve. The part of me that wants to be ‘cool and detached’ says that this is a natural process that will take place as various competing contexts and frameworks for how to even understand these issues play out.

 The advocacy part of me says that there has to be a very, very strong push to try to keep expanding the realm of perception here. I don’t think humans ‘generally’ are very good at un-reduced concepts, or over-lapping, inherently multidisciplinary issues. Superstitions and other kinds of abstract explanations creep in a lot in such cases. What’s more, and in agreement with you, the nature of ‘discussing serious issues” in the US is laughable quite often, and perhaps even more often particularly ineffective. There are a lot of people and forces to blame for this divisiveness.

 The one agreement that can be made is that there needs to be a forum for serious dialogue, and I suppose in a small way TheEnergyCollective is actually trying to afford that here.

 From an analysts perspective, it is difficult to choose the right amount of cynicism; believing that dominant forces and base comprehension will win out – knee-jerk reactions, vs the more complicated and broad ‘possibilities’.

 I suppose my latest thought about this is that there is really very little ‘free market competition’ about ideas like this; it’s generally a reduction of two or three forces/sides at play, and you have to have an allegiance to one side and see it as the truth.

 It seems to take a very special situation to create ‘open’ discussion, where it’s not treason if you’re wrong, or have dueling propaganda machines cluttering things. I think the unfortunate situation of the person who really cares about energy or climate is that, if you really want something significant and meaningful to happen, you are going to have to, as a matter of course, put effort (tedious and often unproductive effort), into dealing with what the block quote is getting at.

 To me, that’s what separates the troopers from the dilettantes or people who just want to make a buck off an idea – we have to tend the garden of discourse and discussion itself. While I used to be more reclusive in saying such things, I guess I’m just realizing it’s a matter of course now.

 So, thanks for sharing.

For the regular reader of this site and it’s offshoots, this is a common theme, but I try to bring it up when I can; it’s about spreading the understanding and respect for substantial dialogue. I hope to expand more upon this in some YouTube videos within the coming weeks. Unfortunately, the tedious work of tending the garden and keeping it welcoming is something that requires us to gallantly encounter the ills, awkwardness, ignorance, haste, and all manner of neurosis that we ourselves have (often) done nothing to deserve. But this, I still maintain, is part of the price we have to pay; there are decades, even generations, of frameworks and ways of thinking that have to be waded through – and knowing when to be diplomatic or forceful is a challenge on its own.

With the weight of the world on your shoulders, can you give just a little more patience to have a meaningful conversation? I often falter on this matter, myself. If you’re persevering, know at least in spirit myself and others are there with you, trying to help it along.

‘we get to carry each other, carry each other’

- Jesse Parent

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For more of Jesse’s thoughts throughout the week and to see what news he’s following, you are invited to join the conversation via Twitter and Facebook.

Related articles

• Our Climate War: FRONTLINE’s “Climate of Doubt” (thegreenskeptic.com)
• PBS FRONTLINE – “Climate of Doubt” airs tonight (climatesciencewatch.org)

Carl Sagan – I (May Have) Found A Mentor, Role-Model, Inspiration

By Jesse Parent | I do not use words like mentor, role-mdel, or inspiration very often. To be perfectly honest, I’ve ceased trying go find anyone I directly relate to (something I’d been striving for since middle school) in recent years; there was not a sense for multidisciplinary approach, communicating education and awareness, and broadening perspectives whilst still focusing on actually learning.

But I will put the disclaimer on this that I have not yet come to know Mr Sagan fully, only a few ‘encounters’ – Cosmos, his TV series, and some writings. But I write this in a formal declaration that I want to know about this person, because I wonder, hope, and fear, that his path may be similar to my own — and for someone who has felt without a contemporary for some time, it’s a refreshing feeling. Yet it is alarming, too, because now that my hopes actually have some evidence for celebration, I need to know more to be sure – and I could be wrong, about all of this. We shall see.

I will be using Learnist here, probably quite extensively, and substituting my own commentary along the way. Here is my main Carl Sagan page, which will house other such pages.

Like Dr Carl Sagan, I have a similar argument:

His argument was not with God but with those who believed that our understanding of the sacred had been completed.

I believe the pursuit of understanding is both sacred and necessary.  There are so many other quotes to pull from, but I will merely start here. I am a fan of Star Trek (et al), and have had youthful hopes  of being able to emulate such a high form of living in humanity. At one point I wanted to become an astronaut, a space explorer – but in college I learned more of the world and realized there was much work to be done ‘here’, first. Perhaps now I have come full circle and realized the importance of STEM education, and how science and understanding of the physical world is quite related to the well being of humans in general. To that end, I hope to learn more about Mr Sagan. Stay tuned for more updates.

I’ll leave you with an episode online from Sagan’s award-winning series & book, Cosmos: (moved to comments)

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For more of Jesse’s thoughts throughout the week and to see what news he’s following, you are invited to join the conversation via Twitter and Facebook.  

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COMMENT: Economic Woes: 50% of workers aged 25 and below, and 78% of teens earned less than $10 per hour

In discussion about whether or not to raise minimum wage, a staggering statistic raises questions, and brings perspective.

Those are amazing statistics:

In 2010, 50% of workers aged 25 and below,
and 78% of teenagers earned less than $10 per hour.
Raising minimum wage is sure bet to create more jobless young Americans – Economics – AEI

When I first saw this, I wasn’t sure what to think. I’ve had my share of hours spent in no-pay internships, and jobs paying less than 10$ an hour, but I didn’t think this was the case. Hopefully those numbers are a bit better two years later, but still, that’s my generation.

But then I thought about the people around me, particularly in the most typical of cases. Half my ‘close’ friends right now are unemployed or underemployed. One of them just got a job after being out of work for essentially a year. In some cases, yes, I tried to encourage my friends to take a job I knew was available and they did not. But in general, it’s safe to say it is a norm — that most of the 25 and under crowd doesn’t know what it’s like to make more than 10$ an hour. That’s about 25K a year, if you’re working full time hours, weekly — which most of these jobs aren’t.

Myself, I started working multiple jobs, and have been taking courses on and off. It hasn’t been easy, but I think I’ve been fortunate in the flexibility I’ve had. Yet even then it is difficult. Economic woes make it harder on families in general – staying together, staying in touch, staying strong. That’s something I’ve seen first hand in my own life, and friends’ lives, too. It is a constraint on personal space, privacy, time, opportunities — even the amount of food, or quality of food you can eat.

Hopefully things are turning around.

If you read the article above, I’m curious as to what your thoughts are about raising minimum wage. I’d say I’m against something like a 10$ minimum wage. More generally, I think there simply needs to be a better focus on training and education – helping people get to the places where the jobs are. It’s “my job” to know what’s going on in the world, but it’s my job because I’m curious about it beforehand – and while it is up to individuals to know ‘what’s up’ as far as the job market, the United States could do a better job of prioritizing and celebrating (dare I say incentivizing) the fields that are important in the emerging economy. Tech, computers, health, biomedical, science & engineering.

In a piece concerning five big items you won’t hear covered in the presidential debates, Mattae Kramer mentions this one: “5. The US education system is what made this country prosperous in the twentieth century – but no longer” - which I very much agree with. The quality is there in the schools, I believe, but it is not accessible and there is not enough effort to create a pipeline of well educated, globally competitive, future-oriented workers.

10$ an hour is where we’re at, and until we’re trained better and in the right fields, not much is going to change.

What do you think?

- Jesse Parent | 2 October 2012

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For more of Jesse’s thoughts throughout the week and to see what news he’s following, you are invited to join the conversation via Twitter and Facebook. 

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