Regression Analysis
I call David. Chicago Climate Week came and went last month. Despite astonishing federal rollbacks, canceling more offshore wind energy leases being but one recent development, climate cheerleading and activity continues. I looked over the Climate Week schedule but couldn’t muster sufficient enthusiasm to attend. "We're all trying to find a foothold, aren't we?" David remarks on the phone. It wasn't the insight I was hoping for. An internationally recognized expert, David is the most prominent climate thinker I know. He has always been both encouraging and challenging during past conversations, possessing a wealth of ideas rooted in a deep understanding and broad perspective. A natural systems thinker, David sees climate not as a singular issue but inherently intertwined with other fabrics that need to be addressed concurrently. More than three years ago, he saw our current political conundrum on the horizon and edited a collection of essays exploring the intersection of Climate and Democracy. My work used to be largely centered on environmental issues, including climate change, but over the last several years has shifted to more human, immediate, and tangible matters. I can't comprehend the current mass acquiescence to such an aggressive anti-climate agenda. Confronted with "irrational" forces more powerful than my ability to influence them, I'm left to negotiate some relationship to them. My alcoholic father knew that drinking was directly hastening his demise. During his last weeks, I made regular runs to replenish his supply of brandy. David has never provided clear paths, do this or that, that's never been his modality. He's a visionary and a teacher, highlighting and elucidating but not dictating. He knows better, as much as I'm sure he sensed my yearning for some kind of direction and certainty. Figure it out.
