11.10 | take deep breaths while watching the climate conference

Ecology without class struggle is gardening
– Chico Mendes

✉️ letter #14

Er, so. COP26 is probably the climate change conference of our time - and I've been dutifully posting bits and pieces about it - but then I realized that if anyone interrogated me about what's actually going on there, I wouldn't really be able to say anything coherent.

I, like probably many of you, have been digesting it mostly in think pieces from other people's opinions.

But I have this newsletter - which is supposed to be about ethical ideas like what we're all doing to create a more sustainable world. So what the heck was I doing lazily reposting other people's thoughts?

I'm rectifying that with my own little Elaine-branded primer on what's going on with this whole shindig. Read through to figure out what's going on, friends!

Elaine’s little primer to COP26

So, unless you’re under a very specific climate change-denying rock, you probably knew that there was some major world leaders’ meeting going on right now that had something to do with the environment. I try to break it down.

elaine is xyzelaine

🌱 the ethical ideas newsreel (of stuff NOT about Cop26)

• Beat the drum for the four-day workweek everyone! NPR breaks down why this "revolutionary" idea is so good for us and what are the obstacles in getting it implemented.
• I'm someone who LOVES that high of doing boatloads of work in the shortest time possible, which means I'm also prone to burning out spectacularly. This was a good reminder that, as a "content creator," I really need to plan rest and rejuvenation into my schedule.
• I am an advocate for pay transparency. The whole idea of not telling other people in your company how much you were able to negotiate for only helps undermine salaries of people who don't know better. And woah, guess what, apparently it's bad for employers who want to retain their employees as well.
• Experts warn that we aren't prepared for the surge in disability due to long covid, which has affected between 1/4 to 1/3rd of people who contracted the disease. And this piece in fast.ai warns that one of the reasons is that lobbyists are trying to downplay it as a "psychogenic problem" - because if you don't recognize it as a real issue, it's easier just to blame the patient for being weird, disorganized, and lazy.
• And tying it together - one final thing about climate change, human health & the world. This is a good read and kindly summarizes what I think is wrong with the world right now:
  
  "The economy we have today is destroying our well-being. It unleashed human ingenuity, created financial wealth, and lifted billions of people from poverty. But it also damaged ecosystems and exacerbated social inequality... And by accelerating climate change and biodiversity loss, our current economy imperils future generations’ ability to survive and thrive. As a planetary health physician, I believe that the treatment for this disease is economic – not medical."

🎵 song of my week

Yo, everybody - I think I need some music recommendations, stat! Nothing's really been speaking to me as of late. The closest thing to a song I've enjoyed is this Alessia Cara single.

Like, it's adorable in that Alessia Cara "I'm an intense internet introvert with really relatable anxiety problems" way with lyrics such as:

Only So many sheep a girl can count
Patchouli candles burning out
I try to meditate it all away but, damn it, it's too quiet now
Daylight helps distract my head
Monsters hide under my bed
They bother me with all kinds of things
Like, "Where do I go when I'm dead?"

It's the same vibe she brought to her first ever single "Here," which I did enjoy a lot when it first came out. But, in the end, this one is a pretty forgettable pop confection.

I want something that's either an unforgettable earworm or a true masterpiece. Help me out or next time this section's going to be a college-era nostalgia fest.

✨enjoying: one final piece of pop culture fun

Once upon a time, on a lark at some event or another I was helping out at, I invented a character called Encouraging Pterodactyl. It was a silly conceit - we just happened to have a pterodactyl cut-out and I thought it'd be funny if you had a flying dinosaur tell you nice things about yourself and your ongoing efforts to do whatever some such... Especially under the assumption that things weren't going well. So the phrases Encouraging Pterodactyl would say were like:

• Not everybody gets it right on the first time! You did well considering you're new at this!
• It's okay to be sad! All human emotions have their place and time, and there will be plenty of moments to feel happy afterwards!
• The efforts you put forth are appreciated and noticed and will bear fruit some day!

Anyway, I was thinking about this character when watching this video, which contains probably the opposite of Encouraging Pterodactyl: Undermining HandPuppetosaur.

Watching him first come up gave me a mighty chuckle. His comments are so specifically cutting to the host of the video that it really feels like you're actually watching a memoir piece, an author's somewhat Steppenwolf-ian struggle with self, which I suppose is what it is in the end.

It also manages to be a wonderful 45-minute breakdown of the history of dinosaur movies and how to critique cinema (and other pieces of art) better. In any case, I really loved this and MAN there is some good talent on Youtube.

Did you enjoy it?

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