To usher in the New Year, and to leave 2020 behind, we thought it would be a good idea to envision what a brand new governing document would look like – one that reflects the progressive values that we’re all working towards. To that end, we’re proposing to “crowdsource” a new U.S. Constitution, and we’ve drafted a new Preamble and Bill of Rights to get us started. That draft Bill of Rights would recognize the rights of nature, local democratic authority in our cities, towns and counties to advance local laws towards clean air and clean water, and would eliminate the electoral college. Years in the making, the draft is intended as a starting point, to be built brick by brick by those most invested in changing the Constitution so that it supports the paradigm-shift that we need to make as a nation.
Off an op-ed in The Guardian this week, N2K spoke with Daniel Ellsberg, of the Pentagon Papers, who makes a call for people to speak now about any plans to provoke a US war with Iran. Given Ellsberg's experience in the Pentagon at the start of the Vietnam war, Ellsberg well knows about the ability to provoke war and he is asking, given the final days of Trump, for people to step forward and do their patriotic duty in support US Constitution rather than follow Trump, who so clearly flaunts the US Constitution and who he sees as a threat to US democracy.
Bren Smith of Greenwave gives us the update on kelp and kelp farming. The power of kelp to drawdown carbon is just one aspect of Bren's work. Kelp and ocean farming also creates jobs and also provides feedstock for innovations like bioplastic and fertilizer.
Hopi have lived in the canyonlands and the southwestern United States for millennia. As such, their perspective is grounded in long-time and in a deep observation of humanity. This discussion, with Thomas Banyacya, Jr. and Leila Conners and Harun Mehmedinovic of Tree Media was conducted on the rim of Canyon de Chelly.
When we step in to help nature heal and give space for nature to complete it's life cycles, something we refer to as restoration, nature comes back strong.
What if, we, as a global community, don't wait for the politicians, the banks, investors, the larger corporations, who, if they DID step in to solve this crisis, it would be great; but, what if, we just get about the business and solve this problem ourselves, together. We can, as a global community help reverse climate disruption by drawing down excess carbon in the atmosphere. To do so, and as a start, we have chosen projects that will plant TREES, create BIOCHAR, plant KELP FORESTS and install DIRECT AIR CAPTURE MACHINES that will turn carbon into stone. Join us!
