[MCN] "I can't breathe" -- if ocean fish could speak

Thu Jun 18 10:09:30 EDT 2020

*Disclaimer: These are my opinions

Patty, you have demonstrated the common logical fallacy known as "tu
quoque" where instead of engaging with the important critique offered by
Annie, you have diverted attention, quite sarcastically, to her presumed
personal faults. Made more interesting by the fact that you readily admit
you don't know her. I would hope that you would agree that the fact we are
all fallible does not invalidate our opinions.

You may see Lance's rhetoric as a lapse of judgement, but I see it as
something much more problematic and I am grateful that Annie spoke out
against it. Appropriating the dying words of black men murdered by police,
words that are uniting people across the world against police violence and
systemic racism, in an attempt to garner attention for an email that has
nothing to do with police violence or systemic racism, is harmful and
reductive. For Lance to double down in the face of that criticism by
leveraging George Floyd's death as a rhetorical device is wholly
inappropriate.

Lance, I appreciate your passion and continued efforts to educate people
about important environmental issues. You are of course free to send as
many emails as you wish, but for what it's worth, I find the rate and
volume of your posts causes me to ignore them. You have accounted for 70%
of the emails sent through MCN in the last month. The information you share
is important and valuable for many but perhaps this is an opportunity to
rethink the efficacy of your approach. Or perhaps there are others that
feel similarly to Patty and would be willing to offer their thoughts.

Above all I hope this is an opportunity to consider how we can best engage
with and support critical efforts to address racial inequities and violence
. It is by no means easy or comfortable but I can think of few things more
important right now.

Respectfully,

Trevor

On Wed, Jun 17, 2020 at 8:28 PM Patty A via Missoula-Community-News <
missoula-community-news at bigskynet.org> wrote:

> Annie, I do not know you, however, I am wondering how you actually know
> that utilization of the listserve is down because Lance posts climate
> emergency articles on It......seems it could possibly be a stretch for you,
> or anyone, to assume that without actual evidence.   Yes, I agree it was a
> lapse in judgement for Lance to utilize the tragic death of George Floyd to
> being attention to a climate emergency issue, and it is appropriate to
> bring it to his attention and to educate him about it....I assume you have
> maintained a perfect life in every spoken, and written word that you have
> ever uttered, or you certainly wouldn't so soundly excoriate someone with
> such anger and vehemence for making such an error.  While I certainly
> respect each person's right to speak their own opinions, I would ask that
> you please own your own opinions, as you do not speak for me.  I happen to
> know a number of people in Missoula, including myself,  who are gravely
> concerned about the climate emergency, and read and appreciate Lances
> postings.  The articles he provides for us greatly contributes to my work
> as a climate activist. When I'm too busy, I just simply skip them.  My
> grave concern for the planet doesn't diminish my unparalleled care about,
> and support for Black Lives...they are not mutually exclusive.
>
> While there is much to be outraged about these days, hopefully we will not
> beat down those of us who actually dedicate our lives to trying, in our own
> way, to make the world a better place, even if we do not always do it
> perfectly!
>
> Sincerely,
>
> Patty
>
> On Wed, Jun 17, 2020 at 1:33 PM Annie Heuscher via Missoula-Community-News
> <missoula-community-news at bigskynet.org> wrote:
>
>> Lance, while I agree that the fossil fuel industry is harming all of us
>> and especially minority communities, your continued reference to George
>> Floyd is entirely inappropriate.
>>
>> On Wed, Jun 17, 2020 at 1:22 PM Lance Olsen <lance at wildrockies.org>
>> wrote:
>>
>>> I think you might agree that fossil fuel industry has its knee on all
>>> our necks, and especially on the necks of minority communities.
>>>
>>
>> On Wed, Jun 17, 2020 at 1:24 PM Lance Olsen <lance at wildrockies.org>
>> wrote:
>>
>>>
>>>
>>> On Jun 17, 2020, at 11:41 AM, Annie Heuscher via Missoula-Community-News
>>> <missoula-community-news at bigskynet.org> wrote:
>>>
>>> I would strongly encourage you to cut back dramatically on your emails
>>> to this listserv (1-2 emails per *month *would be reasonable and would
>>> compare fairly with others' usage of the listserv)
>>>
>>>
>>> I’ve been thinking the same thing lately
>>> Lance
>>>
>>> ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
>>> *Elizabeth Kolbert:* " And I think the point that Bill has made, and I
>>> agree with it, is *maybe* we can avoid the worst possible future. But I
>>> don’t think at this point we can avoid a lot, a lot, a lot of damage.”
>>>
>>> *Bill McKibben:* *“Look, Betsy’s right. *So we’re not playing for
>>> stopping climate change. We’re playing *maybe *for being able to slow
>>> it down to the point where it doesn’t make civilizations impossible. That’s
>>> an open question. There are scientists who tell you we’re already past that
>>> point. The consensus, at least for the moment, is that we’ve got a narrow
>>> and closing window, but that *if we move with everything we have, then,*
>>>  *perhaps,* we’ll be able to squeeze a fair amount of our legacy
>>> through it. But Betsy is right, an already very difficult century is going
>>> to become a lot harder no matter what we do. It’s at this point trying to
>>> keep it from becoming not a difficult and even miserable century but a
>>> literally impossible one.”
>>>
>>> https://www.newyorker.com/news/the-new-yorker-interview/bill-mckibben-and-elizabeth-kolbert-on-the-un-extinction-report
>>>
>>> *^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^*
>>>
>>> *Camilo Mora:* “ ….  our choices for deadly heat are now between more
>>> of it or a lot more of it.”
>>> https://www.ahajournals.org/doi/abs/10.1161/circoutcomes.117.004233
>>>
>>> *Michael Mann:* ““A new normal makes it sound like we have arrived in a
>>> new position, and that's where we're going to be. But if we continue to
>>> burn fossil fuels ... we are going to ... get worse and worse droughts, and
>>> heat waves, and super storms, and floods, and wildfires.”
>>>
>>> https://www.pbs.org/newshour/show/climate-change-is-making-wildfires-more-extreme-heres-how
>>>
>>> *Kate Marvel:* “The whole idea that everything’s going to work out
>>> isn’t really helpful because it isn’t going to work out ” said Kate Marvel
>>> a climate scientist at the NASA Goddard Institute for Space Studies.
>>> Climate change is going to worsen to a point where millions of lives,
>>> homes, and species are put at risk she said.
>>> https://newrepublic.com/article/151608/case-against-climate-pessimism
>>>
>>> *My own view:* <<
>>> https://mountainjournal.org/why-rising-temps-mean-the-end-of-the-world-as-we-know-it
>>> >>
>>>
>>> *^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^*
>>> “A new area of study is the field that some of us are beginning to call
>>> social traps. The term refers to situations in society that contain traps formally
>>> like a fish trap, where men or whole societies get themselves started
>>> in some direction or some set of relationships that later prove to be
>>> unpleasant or lethal and that they see no easy way to back out of or to
>>> avoid."
>>>
>>> John Platt. Social Traps. American Psychologist, August 1973
>>>
>>> -----------------
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