Love & Work
A notebook about how we work, learn, love and live.
This morning during a check-in I was sharing how uneasy the daily news is making me feel. My friend and client Jamie Wolf reminded me of Steven Covey's circle of concern and circle of influence. This idea distinguishes between proactive people – who focus on what they can do and can influence – and reactive people who focus their energy on things beyond their control.
He reminded me that this letter focuses on ideas that we can actually use to influence our own lives right where we live.
Thanks, Jamie. I needed that.
Happy Friday.
Futures Thinking
"If we anchor our sense of humanity’s potential to a fixed-up version of our present world, we risk dramatically underestimating just how good life in the future could be."
"Future people, after all, are people. They will exist. They will have hopes and joys and pains and regrets, just like the rest of us. They just don’t exist yet.
"But society tends to neglect the future in favor of the present. Future people are utterly disenfranchised. They can’t vote or lobby or run for public office, so politicians have scant incentive to think about them. They can’t tweet, or write articles, or march in the streets. They are the true silent majority. And though we can’t give political power to future people, we can at least give them fair consideration. We can renounce the tyranny of the present over the future and act as trustees for all of humanity, helping to create a flourishing world for the generations to come.
"We face massive problems today, and the world is full of needless suffering, but in some ways we have made remarkable progress over the past few hundred years. Three hundred years ago, the average life expectancy was less than 40 years; today, it’s over 70. More than 80 percent of the world lived in extreme poverty; now just around 10 percent does. Women were, for the most part, unable to attend universities, and the feminist movement didn’t exist. No one lived in a democracy; now over half the world does. We’ve come a long way.
"We have the power to encourage these positive trends. And we can reverse course on negative trends, too, like increases in carbon emissions and factory farming. We have the potential to build a world where everyone lives like the happiest people in the most well-off countries today." - William MacAskill
Book Excerpt: The Case for Longtermism
How We Live
"Rights of nature establishes a legal duty for humans to protect and restore ecosystems to health because that is their right."
"Although most of the world largely continues with business as usual, a growing number of governments have embraced cutting-edge legal solutions that would allow humans to live in harmony with nature.
"One of the most promising legal solutions is 'rights of nature.' It recognizes that nature is a 'legal entity' or 'persons' with fundamental rights. This movement received global attention when Ecuador recognized the rights of nature in its 2008 Constitution. Now, rights of nature is recognized in some 12 countries through a combination of national and local legislation, landmark court decisions, treaty agreements, and other legal developments.
"Rights of nature corrects shortcomings of modern environmental laws. Environmental laws operate as a tourniquet, creating rules to prevent nature’s loss but doing little to address root causes—such as an economy that incentivizes the maximum exploitation of nature for profit. By contrast, rights of nature establishes a legal duty for humans to protect and restore ecosystems to health because that is their right.
"The rights of nature, although still in its early stages, is gaining momentum. In 2017, the Constitutional Court of Colombia declared the Atrato River—one of Colombia’s largest rivers—to be a 'subject of rights,' with rights to protection, conservation, maintenance, and restoration. The Court also created a guardianship body to serve as the voice of the river, just as a child might have a legal guardian. Finally, the Court ordered state authorities to create a plan—a blueprint is in the works—to decontaminate waterways in the Atrato River basin, to end illegal mining, and take other actions to uphold the rights of rivers." - Grant Wilson
Article: Humans Have Rights and So Should Nature
Learning, Community
"There is a pleasure and a more personal feel to holding a book in your hands."
"A veteran of the brutal Syrian civil war has set up a book kiosk in the seafront town of Tartus, offering a selection of over 2,000 titles available for anyone who wants to take a moment to read; and if you read 15 pages you get a free coffee! Mohamed Zaher says it takes about $200 a month to keep the kiosk going, and he relies on donations from well-off locals.
"The Syrian economy, unsurprisingly, is not doing well these days: with something approaching 90 percent of citizens living below the poverty line, books have become a luxury in day-to-day life, which is why Zaher—aka the Wisdom Seller—has become a popular regular stop for so many locals. As Ghada Aizouqi, 45, told Positive News:
"'There is a pleasure and a more personal feel to holding a book in your hands. This was made difficult as a result of books’ prices soaring in recent years, and I settled for digital copies. But since Wisdom Seller started, it has become a habit of mine to come here every other day and read for no less than an hour.'" - Jonny Diamond
Article: Reminder: Books are Actually Good and Make People Feel Better.
Urbanism
"Urban density was once seen as a sign of unhealthiness and poverty. But today it is necessary to make cities sustainable."
"Social scientists have also long struggled with the question of density. To them, the city has often appeared in contrary terms: as an engine for immigrant assimilation and economic empowerment; as a site of deviance; and as a space for cultural freedom where one can sever constricting familial and social ties. In much of the world’s poorer nations, living in the sprawl remains a mark of affluence, and density is something to be transcended. What does an alternative look like? Is another kind of density possible, with close-knit communities, sustainable places where car use is minimised, where consumption is decreased, and where people can walk out their front door into a unique and enlivening environment?" - Max Holleran
Article: Living Closer Together
Democracy, Learning
"But here’s the thing about the wisdom of crowds – it only applies when those individual decisions are reached independently. Once we start influencing each other’s decision, that wisdom disappears...."
"... and that makes social psychologist Solomon Asch’s famous conformity experiments of 1951 a disturbingly significant fly in the ointment of democracy.
"You’re probably all aware of the seminal study, but I’ll recap anyway. Asch gathered groups of people and showed them a card with three lines of obviously different lengths. Then he asked participants which line was the closest to the reference line. The answer was obvious – even a toddler can get this test right pretty much every time.
"But unknown to the test subject, all the rest of the participants were 'stooges' – actors paid to sometimes give an obviously incorrect answer. And when this happened, Asch was amazed to find that the test subjects often went against the evidence of their own eyes just to conform with the group. When wrong answers were given, a third of the subjects always conformed, 75% of the subjects conformed at least once, and only 25% stuck to the evidence in front of them and gave the right answer." - Gord Hotchkiss
Article: Does Social Media 'Dumb Down' The Wisdom Of Crowds?
Communication, Lingustics
Definitions of terms used to describe environmental justice
Image via PennFuture
Are you fuzzy on terms like MAPA and Neocolonialism? This guide will help.
Article: Your Guide to Environmental Justice Language
Advertising, Social Messaging
"Keep your hands up for true human values."
Nicely done, Leo Burnett Ukraine. This is advertising at its best. This is why I love advertising.
Article: Campaign Spotlight: Leo Burnett Ukraine Asks, What if Icons of Peace Got Tired Too?
One-liners
Article: Historic Roman site in UK reburied for its own protection
Article: How contraceptive brands are increasing online advertising since SCOTUS overturned Roe v. Wade
Article: For a limited time, select Burger King restaurants will offer reusable sandwich containers and beverage cups to create a circular system that reduces single-use disposables.
Article: People who read live longer than those who don’t, Yale researchers say
Playlist
Paul Simon is a national treasure. Rhiannon Giddens is a national treasure. To watch them perform one of his songs, American Tune, together at the Newport Folk Festival is such a treat. She brings the lyrics and spirit of the song into the light of the 21st century.
"And I don't know a soul who's not been battered
I don't have a friend who feels at ease
I don't know a dream that's not been shattered
Or driven to its knees
But it's alright, it's alright
For we lived so well so long
Still, when I think of the
Road we're traveling on
I wonder what's gone wrong
I can't help it, I wonder what has gone wrong"
This song performed in this setting by these two now feels so comforting.
I love how she bows to him when she enters the stage. I love how he bows to her at the close of the song.
Video: Paul Simon and Rhiannon Giddens “American Tune” Live at Newport Folk Festival, July 23, 2022
Image of the Week
Article: Photographer Captures Perfectly Timed Shot of Whale Sneaking Up on Unsuspecting Whale Watchers
What's Love & Work?
Love & Work is the weekly newsletter by me, Mitch Anthony. I help people use their brand - their purpose, values, and stories - as a pedagogy and toolbox for transformation.
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