On Leadership

It was an “October Bright Blue Weather” day. I strolled along a country road, happy to be nowhere in particular and everywhere in general. A national election of momentous import was playing out and from countryside to cityscape I couldn’t escape the constant bombardment. I’d made up my mind for whom I’d vote fully four years earlier when my country had embarrassed itself, alienated the majority of its voters, and distanced all but our worst enemies by electing a bombastic infantile egocentric con-man. It was with thoughts of his four inept and divisive years that I settled in the shade of an apple tree to think about good leadership.

There was a time in my professional career when everything fell into place. For a time, it seemed that the sun erased all shadow from wherever I placed a foot, everything I touched was golden, and both those above and below me sought my counsel. The curious thing is that that time followed immediately upon a decision I made not to pursue an egotistically-motivated leadership role that I knew would go to a colleague who was less qualified than myself. I told myself and a close friend that my motivation for seeking the position over my colleague was not motivated by ego, but I realized within days of making that statement that it was false. As soon as I released myself from the grips of pride and focused on how I could promote the greatest good, my path became clear and I felt the strength of purpose born of humility and unselfish modesty. The big idea that I had born, nurtured for many years, and been waiting for the right time to introduce to my organization as a model for our benefit and that of society at large was now ready to be unveiled. Having reaped the benefits of my good intentions and come into possession of great influence, my hope for the world came down to aligning my vision with action in six parts.

It was a heady time because my ideas and recommendations were starting to receive serious attention. At the same time, the ideas were relatively new and I had not yet received any meaningful challenges to their relevance or feasibility. I knew that having arrived at this fortuitous time by forgoing my pride, the initial steps along this new path had to be taken with equally pure intent to avoid stumbling. I’d heard it said that “no pride, therefore no harm” and I was determined to avoid missteps. I decided to let the ideas speak for themselves and trusted that others would agree that I was on to something when they read my explanation of how the ideas were applicable to the many diverse stakeholder groups our organization served. Stage 1: One who is in great possession without pride has made no mistake.

Having equipped myself with the proper frame of mind and unveiled my idea publicly, my next acts were to recruit helpers and supply them with the wherewithal to convey the idea to others. It felt like I was organizing an orchestra of volunteers who all shared the desire to be a part of performing my masterpiece. And, while I knew in my heart that the piece I’d written was my best work, I knew that like any creation, in time it would be open to interpretation and take on a life of its own. Nevertheless, I was pleased to be conducting what I felt was the most beautiful and complicated of musical scores as performed by everyone from novices to virtuosos for an audience ranging from skeptics to admirers. As the music wafted throughout the organization, I was rewarded by inquiries from others who sought to add to the happening in whichever ways they were able. I welcomed them all. Stage 2: Resources and helpers abound – go for it!

While my idea was novel to my organization and still somewhat unfamiliar to many people, I by no means claimed ownership or exclusivity. Quite the contrary, I did what I could to publicize what, why, and how we were doing it and encouraged others to explore how the ideas resonated within their own organizations. In my mind, the more people and organizations that embraced these ideas and aligned their values and behaviors with them, the sooner we’d achieve the much-overdue and long-awaited paradigm shift that might just avert the greatest existential threat of the Anthropocene. Stage 3: Being generous with one’s abilities and possessions benefits all.

It was hard at times to avoid feeling left out of the decision-making cadre of the organization. While I’d held more central roles in the past, in recent years others had been assigned to positions that I once held or aspired to. I felt marginalized by the senior leadership of the organization and considered leaving the organization on several occasions. Each time, I managed to shun envy and quell my pride. I kept my distance with professional courtesy from those in power and saw from that vantage point the weaknesses of their leadership styles. My unchallenged technical expertise and my indisputable seniority, while not tangible, were my most valuable possessions. With them I had the authority to focus on the important business at hand and avoid the distractions that come with power and responsibility. Stage 4: Shunning envy and the temptation to dwell on the riches of others, one remains focused on what is important.

I don’t know if I was what would be called a charismatic leader at that time: maybe it was me, maybe it was their friends, maybe they were just curious.  For whatever reason, people wanted to be a part of what we were doing. I was straightforward about the challenges before us and the consequences of inaction. Perhaps it was my sincerity and honesty that was inspirational. Maybe I just scared them all into action. Whatever the cause, I knew that as the leader of the initiative, I had to play the role. To that end I strived to present an even and professional demeanor at all times. Stage 5: Keeping presumption in check through dignity, one’s sincere benevolence shines through to inspire others.

That was a time of great progress. It seemed that those around me aligned their priorities in accordance with the good. Perhaps it was the fact that as a society we had just endured four years of our worst national leader in the history of our nation. I think that the racist, mean-spirited, narcissistic, xenophobic, bigoted, and disingenuous nature of our nation’s leader created a goodness void that people were ready to have filled. I stepped into that void in my small corner of the world with generosity, humility, and the ability to demonstrate that society could coexist in harmony with the natural environment. After all the pettiness, divisiveness, and buffoonery, I think people were nostalgic for some compassion, kindness, and honesty. People were ready to rebuild what he had helped destroy and I helped them feel like they could take matters into their own hands and make a difference again. Stage 6: At the height of power one remains modest, devoted to the good, and appreciative.

As I laced my boots and prepared to resume my trek I thanks the thoughtful person who had planted the trees there and the caring ones who had tended them. I recalled Lao Tzu’s thoughts on leadership:

The best rulers are those whose existence is merely known by the people.
The next best are those who are loved and praised.
The next are those who are feared.
And the next are those who are despised.
It is only when on does not have enough faith in others that others will have no faith in him.
The great rulers value their words highly.
They accomplish their task; they complete their work.
Nevertheless, their people say that they simply follow Nature.

The true art of good leadership seemed to me to be the ability to be perceived not as leading but simply unleashing the potential of the people one aims to help. Being helpful to others in whichever ways one is able demonstrates a willingness to see beyond one’s own ego and be of service. Leadership is not as much about having others follow as it is about providing the means for others to be empowered to grow, explore, discover, and learn for themselves. Good leaders guide rather than dictate. We must keep the ego in check, focus on the service of others, and recognize that one’s success is often due to the collective efforts of others. In such situations, we’d do well to recall the Chinese proverb: “One loses by pride and gains by modesty.”

#ClimateStrike

I was worried as I arrived at Pittsburgh’s version of the global climate strike with a friend at about 11:40 on a beautiful Friday morning the 20^th of September 2019.  I was worried that the Pittsburgh region wasn’t going to make me proud.  I’d already seen the massive crowds assembled in Brisbane, Luxembourg, and other large and small cities to the east across the ocean that Greta Thunberg had just weeks before traversed in a zero-carbon emissions sailboat to help focus global attention on the climate crisis.  I didn’t expect Pittsburgh to mobilize anywhere near the numbers who were rallying with Greta in New York City that morning, but I’d hoped to see school buses convoying into the downtown, hordes of people streaming with signs toward the rally point, and streets cordoned off by police cruisers.  Instead it was quiet and I was feeling both embarrassed that our turnout might not measure up and glad that my friend and I added two to the small crowd that was gathering.

As we made our way to the Climate Reality Project table where protest signs were available, we were shocked to hear two professionally-dressed older white men confronting the teenager who stood by herself behind the table.  They were accusing her of “child abuse.” They said it wasn’t right to be frightening children with unfounded worries and they insisted that she present facts to support claims that there’s a crisis.  I’d seen both these guys around town in my professional capacity and I wasn’t surprised to hear the venom coming from two global warming deniers.  I was surprised though to see them ganging up on a youth volunteer at a peaceful demonstration.

Playing a “child abuse” card seemed odd.  Did they not see the irony in accusing a teenager of child abuse when it was clearly they who were abusing this young person’s rights to peacefully assemble?  Later, my friend discovered that the conservative, Washington Examiner, had run a piece by Tiana Lower on 8/29/19 wherein Greta’s parents along with “climate alarmists” and the media were accused of child abuse.  The argument goes that Greta’s “stage-parents” are milking her “clinically diagnosed obsession” with the climate crisis as a way to regain the celebrity they enjoyed before Greta’s mission overshadowed their show business careers.  Lower concludes that, “Conservatives shouldn't mock her. They should worry for her. Social media has made it too easy to prop up children as moral authorities — even children especially predisposed to crack under the pressure.”

If anyone is cracking under pressure, it’s President Trump who suffered Greta’s scorn after mocking her impassioned speech to the UN.  The full transcript of her remarks can be found here, but to appreciate the intensity and passion with which she delivered them, do yourself a favor and listen (along with the more than 3 million others who had done so as of 9/23/19).  That the climate-change-denying leader of the largest economy on the planet (and the nation most responsible for this crisis) would crack is understandable after being schooled by Greta that, “for more than 30 years, the science has been crystal clear” and that,

 “…you are still not mature enough to tell it like it is.  You are failing us. But the young people are starting to understand your betrayal. The eyes of all future generations are upon you. And if you choose to fail us, I say: we will never forgive you.”

In response, the president tweeted: “She seems like a very happy young girl looking forward to a bright and wonderful future. So nice to see!”  The Commander in Chief of the most powerful nation on the planet feels it’s necessary to mock a 16-year old from Sweden?  With leadership like that, the mindset of the two thugs I observed attempting to bully the young climate strike volunteer is sadly understandable.

I’m glad my friend and I were there to observe and intercede.  Not that the volunteer really needed our help, it was just embarrassing to see and I guess we felt that two more older white guys entering the fray on the side of climate justice might help balance the equation.  They tired of having to tangle with people their own size pretty quickly after that and stalked off, probably seeking other youngsters to abuse.

But, by then, it was about noon and the crowd had grown significantly. Speeches commenced, youth leaders shared impassioned testimonials, adult supports including a member of the Electrical Workers Union voiced their support, and community and political leaders contributed to infusing the crowd with hope and action.

Then it was time to take to the streets and our march did Pittsburgh proud.  While I wish we had ten or twenty times the 500 or so who attended, we did stop traffic, turn pedestrian heads, and attract media attention.  Most importantly, we asserted ourselves as having the sovereign power that Al Gore wrote about that same day in the New York Times: 

“The people, in their true function as the sovereign power, are quickly understanding the truth of the crisis, and they are the ones who must act, especially because the president is not on speaking terms with the truth and seems well beyond the reach of reason.

This will require a ferocious attack on the complacency, complicity, duplicity and mendacity of those in Congress who have paid for their careers by surrendering their votes and judgment to powerful special interests that are sacrificing the planet for their greed.  To address the climate crisis, we must address the democracy crisis so that the people themselves can reclaim control of their destiny.”

To “reclaim control of their destiny” we all need to engage politically and reassert our sovereignty.  We do that by reevaluating, rethinking, and empowering ourselves with action.  As Reverend Jim Magaw said in a recent sermon to the Unitarian Universalist Church of the South Hills,

 “I have decided that I’d rather be part of a movement making history instead being pushed around by it… I will speak out in whatever way I can to point out the ways in which our leaders and our social, political and economic systems are continuing to cause great harm to people who are marginalized and oppressed and great harm to our planet, which is at risk of becoming uninhabitable in just a few generations because of our own human irresponsibility and recklessness…And I will act in such a way as to turn away from despair and turn toward hope.

…the only way to turn toward hope is to act. In the words of Greta Thunberg, “Once we start to act, hope is everywhere. So instead of looking for hope, look for action. Then, and only then, hope will come.””

The Climate Reality Leadership Corps recommends actions such as those listed below that are aimed at stimulating others to rethink what’s needed, recognize what’s possible, and help change things:

·        Contact an influencer (call, write, or meet with elected officials and community/business leaders);

·        Write letters and op-eds (whether published or not, get your message out to the media for a wider distribution);

·        Post a blog (share your thoughts, concerns, and ideas on social media or other electronic forums);

·        Publish news articles (if you have access to a publication, submit an article);

·        Participate in an event (get out, pitch in, share ideas, and engage with others!);

·        Meet with co-leaders (collaboration with others who share your passion goes a long way toward helping us persevere and have fun);

·        Mentor others (share your expertise and passion with others in training events or informal gatherings);

·        Organize an event (inspire others to come out and get involved by arranging an educational event, a workshop, a petition drive, a rally, a strike, or other activity);

·        Appear in the media (if you have access to TV, radio, or other public media formats, get interviewed and speak up!);

·        Host a webinar (get your message out to a mass audience and let it live in perpetuity); and

·        Give a presentation (this is the core action that Climate Reality Leaders are trained to deliver to groups large and small using the latest information assembled in high-quality graphics by the Climate Reality Project).

I’m hopeful that this climate strike represents a societal tipping point that will propel us toward sweeping policy changes that will have large-scale and long-term benefits.  I only hope that our collective actions come quickly enough to re-balance the already-tipping climate scale before humanity is tipped off entirely.

Cracked Concrete and Blue Crayons

Our House

A vision without a task is but a dream,
a task without a vision is drudgery,
a vision and a task is the hope of the world.

My dad borrowed this anonymous inscription on an 18^th century English church as the motto for his grassroots organization, the Alternative Living Technologies and Energy Research (ALTER) Project.  His vision was of university-based living laboratory teeming with eager students, earnest faculty, and engaged community members all seeking a more harmonious relationship with Nature.  His task was the transformation of a forgotten farmhouse on the campus of Slippery Rock University into what would become in 1990 the nation’s first Master of Science degree program in Sustainable Systems.  After its renovation, we called the farm Harmony House in part because of the adjoining Harmony Road but mostly to inspire a relationship with Nature we hoped would spring from the seeds that would be nurtured there.  Twenty-seven years after his abrupt passing in the spring of 1990, just weeks after having dedicated Harmony House to its mission (in true ministerial tradition, just like his pastor father before him), the Robert A. Macoskey Center for Sustainable Systems continues to fulfill three missions:

·       Education about sustainability through events, workshops and programs;

·       Physical demonstration of sustainable technologies and systems; and

·       Supporting sustainability-focused academic initiatives and research.

I am an environmental scientist today in large part because of the hope he had for the world.  In my high school years, I had no particular career aspirations and was content to pursue the passions of youth.  The mainframe computer with its decks of Fortran cards was interesting but I didn’t ride the wave of computing that captured the attention of many.  I did have a knack for drawing though that was encouraged by artistic parents.  So, when senior year rolled around and I was unable settle on a path, Dad took me to Slippery Rock so I could show his art professor buddy my portfolio.  Whether the professor saw a glimmer of talent or was doing a favor for a pal I don’t know, but I was welcomed the next fall to the art department.

That was 1977.  Just four years earlier, the U.S. had experienced its first energy crisis.  Three years before that, the first Earth Day had been celebrated and then the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency was formed.  In response to those and other events my dad had developed one of the more popular courses on campus called Philosophy and Alternative Futures.  Through expert guest lecturers and student research, he and his students explored the nexus of environmental ethics and innovative technology that was permeating popular culture in works like Operating Manual for Spaceship Earth (Fuller, 1969); Small is Beautiful (Schumacher, 1973); Soft Energy Paths (Lovins, 1977); and Progress As If Survival Mattered (Friends of the Earth, 1977).  Maybe it was attending his class that changed my mind about my career path as an artist.  Maybe it was the awareness that I didn’t really understand the environmental science behind what I was attempting to convey in my art.  Or, maybe it was my pragmatic acknowledgement to my future father-in-law (a salt-of-the earth Western PA steel worker) that my earning potential as an artist was not as great as practically any other choice.  Whatever the reasons, my junior year found me newly married and enrolled in the department of environmental sciences.  For the next two years, I’d often commute the 30 minutes to and from our home town to campus with Dad and talk about his vision and plans while trying to formulate my own.

Still at a bit of a loss in those days about what to with a degree in environmental science, 1981 found me accepted to one of the few such graduate degree programs in the country.  Although by mutual agreement, the marriage of high school sweethearts didn’t survive beyond two years at Mr. Jefferson’s University of Virginia, one thing that did was my passion for a systems integration of the environmental sciences.  At UVA I discovered not only lifelong friends including my wife of 32 years, but the interdisciplinary nature of environmental issues and the importance of considering the multiple scientific and social dimensions of our global problems and solutions.  A few years later with that M.S. and a little luck, I was able to validate my career path for a skeptical grandfather and patron by landing a job as an air quality scientist with the consulting firm, Environmental Science Associates, Inc. in San Francisco, California.

My naïve vision at that time was of an environmental protection corps that would clean up all of society’s pollution, establish an era of environmental stewardship and sustainability, and eventually eliminate the need for environmental cleanup altogether.  Thirty-one years later, while some of our biggest environmental legacies like many Superfund sites, the ozone hole, and atmospheric lead exposures have been mitigated; many old problems continue and new ones constantly emerge.  Sadly, environmental issues aren’t going away and we need more people, not fewer, working on these problems.

Several years ago I created this blog and named it Unshutter the Lantern as a reference to the hermit who emerges from his seclusion to share his thoughts with whomever is willing to listen.  As may be discerned from its address, hermitorhero, I struggle with the dichotomy between a desire for hermit-like seclusion and the need for hero-like leadership.  One of the first things I posted was a series entitled The Philosophy of Sustainability.  It had taken me years to articulate and express that vision and I felt good about the result but a practical task to implement that vision eluded me.

One day as I sat in an unstimulating office meeting this past August, I was excited to learn from the local non-profit, Sustainable Pittsburgh, that Al Gore would be coming to town in October to present training through his Climate Reality Corps.  After a quick review of the organization and their mission, I completed the application and submitted it for consideration.  My family and friends can attest to my excitement on being accepted to what would become the 36^th and largest training event in the eleven years since An Inconvenient Truth started a movement.

Like most kids, mine drew pictures of our house when they were children.  One my son drew from memory while in third grade gnawed at my psyche for years.  While the front porch and awnings are a bit crooked and the overall image is a bit abstract, he accurately depicted the disintegrating concrete driveway with its cracks and weeds.  That he had recalled those details as being integral to his image of our home has stuck with me ever since.  Not that as a child he would consider the cracks to be good or bad but that he had internalized that decay as part of his world.  I lived with the recognition that the disintegration of our driveway was normal to him and that bothered me.  He was away at college by the time we were able to finally have a new concrete driveway installed and sending him a picture of that freshly-poured surface helped to exorcise those old feelings.

Then all of those old memories came flooding back during one of the three days of Climate Reality training sessions in October.  We heard a story about a woman in China whose child drew pictures of her home with skies colored gray.  The mother asked why they were gray and reminded the child that the sky is blue.  When she pointed to the sky and saw the hazy smog, she understood why her child had internalized that as part of her reality.

Of course gray skies are just one of the many consequences of our unsustainable lifestyles.  The long list of large-scale consequences includes ecosystem destruction, species extinction, sea level rise, increased drought and fire, disappearing glaciers, and political instability.  Closer to home, the annual western PA waist-high snowfalls of my youth are long gone while tropical diseases like the zika virus have already reached the Mason-Dixon line.  Tick season lasts longer than ever, poison ivy grows more persistently, and as I write we’re having a thunderstorm in November, in Pittsburgh.

Nevertheless, as a scientist, consultant, and systems thinker, I’ve had faith in the ingenuity and fortitude of people to solve our global problems if we could recognize that the cracks in our driveway and the leaden skies overheard were actually bad things – not permanent parts of our reality that our children and theirs had to accept.  Then came Trump and his systematic efforts to dismantle environmental protections, global cooperation, and any sort of meaningful leadership of Americans as global citizens.  That was the last straw for me and one that I believe broke the back of many sturdy folks who have held out hope that national leaders would achieve positive change toward sustainable environmental policies.  

I want to look back 30 years from now in my golden years with praise and admiration for the achievements we all have yet to realize as we work to counter the reality we’ve all grown to accept as normal.  Complacency and faith must be replaced with urgency and action.  Climate change is not a belief system so don’t ask if people believe in it or not.  It’s a reality and it’s just science.  Sure, there are myriad complicated interrelationships, but fundamentally it’s very simple.  Does the energy equivalent of 400,000 Hiroshima atomic bombs sound significant?  What if you knew that globally we are releasing that amount of energy into the atmosphere EVERY SINGLE DAY!  That’s not complicated – it’s just wrong.

So, when someone asks you, “must we change?” tell them emphatically, “YES!”

When they ask, “but can we change?”  The answer is “YES!”

Then ask them the question we all need to internalize, “will you change?”

The reality of our climate crisis is that, “YES, we will change.”  Change is inevitable, but at this time we still have the choice to change in a manner that we can control and manage.    It is already late and the path to a sustainable future will be challenging, painful, and sad regardless of how diligently and earnestly we work together to mitigate, adapt, and reduce suffering.  But, the longer we wait, the less viable that path will be as Nature will dictate the terms and the timeframe.  There is still hope if we band together with the many others around the globe who have been leading our leaders to a sustainable future.  If you share the vision of a sustainable human future on Earth, the time is now to find a related task worthy of your hero nature and get to work.  If we all do that, there will always be a need for blue crayons.

For more information, I urge you to explore these resources:

Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change:  http://www.ipcc.ch/

Skeptical Science:  https://www.skepticalscience.com/

Real Climate:  http://www.realclimate.org/index.php/archives/2007/05/start-here/

Climate Reality Project:  http://www.climaterealityproject.org

National Climate Assessment:  http://nca2014.globalchange.gov/

Union of Concerned Scientists:  http://www.ucsusa.org/global_warming#.WfC9S-SWzB0

Climate Communication:  https://www.climatecommunication.org/

Yale Center of Environmental Communication: https://www.yaleclimateconnections.org/

For 58 More - What Happened in Vegas Ended in Vegas

A fortnight ago, one man ended 58 lives, injured over 500 others, and altered those of a multitude of family and friends.  Even if you were not directly or indirectly scathed by the October 1, 2017 Las Vegas tragedy, you may still feel numb, shocked, sickened, outraged, and incredulous.  You should.  We all should.  But we should do more than think about it while life goes on in all its myriad forms from the mundane to the profound.  We will walk the dog, prepare the food, and get up and go to work a week later, a month later, a year later.  So too, women will give birth, the clergy will preach, artists will create, and we will raise and dedicate monuments.  But, will we take meaningful action to prevent another such tragedy?  Or, will the hideousness of America’s infatuation with guns continue to accumulate bloody statistics like the compounding scars of Dorian Gray’s decaying portrait that remains hidden from public view?

What catharsis is required to awaken us from our collective stupor and re-establish a sane, rational, and humane society in America?  Will this be the 9/11 equivalent for gun violence in America?  The answer can be yes if we don’t just think about it, wring our hands, shake our heads, and don our bulletproof garments to head out the door – packing heat, just in case.

Instead of accepting that this pattern must inevitably continue, will you engage in a meaningful conversation with your neighbors and elected officials on the topic?  Will you ask questions such as:

·      Can this behavior be stopped?

·      Is it the fault of the gun manufacturers?

·      Is it the fault of the ammunition manufacturers?

·      Is it the fault of the industries that thrive on our fears and vulnerabilities?

·      Is it the fault of the consumers?

·      Should there be a limit on the number of firearms one person can own?

·      Should there be a limit on the number of firearms that can be purchased within a given period of time?

·      How are mental illness records used to control gun purchases?

What questions do you have?  If Americans are going to retain the “right to bear arms” why not be public about it?  Hell, there’s a website to show where the child molesters live in your neighborhood – why not include anyone with an arsenal on that list too?  Of course, law-abiding gun owners are not criminals but isn’t it time we acknowledge that firearms in America pose a unique and recurring threat to every community where they are owned?  If people choose to have guns, then let’s make it public knowledge.  My neighbors know I have a licensed and registered car - what do gun owners have to hide?

The conventional argument suggests that when law-abiding citizens don’t have arms, then only criminals will.  Conversely, when law-abiding citizens have arms, they acquire the potential to become mass murderers.  Some may say there’s no reason to limit the number of guns one owns because only one can be used at a time.  Right, use one and then start using another, just like what happened in Las Vegas where at least 10 weapons were found at the scene. 

Are we doomed as a society to accept that any moment in any public place our lives may be taken by a bullet?   I urge you to read the October 5, 2017 Washington Post update to its original December 2015 listing of mass killings in the United States since 1966 here: https://www.washingtonpost.com/graphics/national/mass-shootings-in-america/  Tragically, there have been 131 events when four or more people were murdered by one or more gunmen since 1966.  The toll has now reached 948 victims including 145 children and teenagers.

Any one of us could be next on the list.  Help rid us of the rot of gun violence in America and restore our nation’s portrait to the virtuous ideal to which we aspire as a society.

For more information, see:  

http://smartgunlaws.org/gun-laws/policy-areas/who-can-have-a-gun/categories-of-prohibited-people/