MARCH 16, 2006
One
of the great books is my library is For The Common Good by Herman Daly and John Todd. It calls us to re-think economic policies using a different set of criteria to measure success. It is a little slower reading than the DaVinci Code, which I did not like and only read 60 pages or so, but this heavy duty book is well worth the effort because the two gentlemen who wrote it are well respected thinkers.
Thinkers are more important than writers, readers, sellers, or printers of books. They are a rarity and one day I would like to start the Thinkers Hall of Fame. The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame is in Cleveland, the Baseball Hall of Fame in Cooperstown NY, and the Thinkers Hall of Fame could be in Washington DC to remind our leaders to think.
John Todd, theologian and thinker, reflected on the state of the environment in the era when we were just beginning to ask important questions about our future and he wrote a wonderful little book called Is it Too Late? Dr. Todd makes the argument that the world is on the tipping point, the precipice, and the point of no turning back and implores us all to change our behavior. My memory is a little hazy about the exact details of the book, but his premise is in the title.
Is it too late to halt global warming? Is it too late to halt the effects of over population and over-consumption? Is it too late too halt the melting of the polar ice caps? Is it too late to stop the long term consequences of climate change? Is it too late to do anything at all about these enormous challenging facing the human family? His conclusion is that it is not too late if we work as a global community addressing population and consumption and non-cooperation as driving the crisis.
The only caveat is that Is It Too Late? was written in 1970.
Dr. John Todd called us to awaken 35 years ago, but we have been sleep walking instead. Coincidental or providential, 1970 marked the first Earth Day and the modern era of environmental activism. Put the question of his book title with Earth Day on April 22 and we have a natural benchmark against which to measure how we are doing. On April 22nd I will remind myself to ask the question and to assess what I am doing to make a difference. Until then find a thinker and 'buy them lunch.'
--Peter