pp200924  Press Saves the Earth’s HOLS:  Human and other life sustainability in the balance 

 Imperfect people in a perfect world

Al Gore was an imperfect person. His book title, Earth in the Balance, was not the perfect title, for it implied that mankind could somehow save the Earth. Obviously, it is mankind – among all the living things – destroying only Earth’s human and many other kinds of life sustainability.

I appreciate and admire his effort, however. He was naïve, like me, putting his trust in the wisdom of Americans and trusting that the Republicans would do the right thing. History teaches he was wrong, that there are many humans who hate and fear others and above all they fear they are wrong.

The Dunning-Krueger effect is strong in people who face uncertainty and lack understanding of that which they cannot see or touch. They fear surprises and not knowing what lies around the next bend, over the hill, and the end of their life.

The Earth will go on after mankind is extinct, as it has since other species did. That’s why I always say, let us try to save Earth’s human and other life sustainability. The Earth does not need saving, it is us and our children that we can try to save by helping Earth’s human and other life sustainability.

Face your fears day

October 14 is National Face Your Fears Day. What am I afraid of? Chiefly I am afraid I cannot change Americans who are afraid of things they cannot see or even languages spoken that they do not understand. In their fears and paranoia, they often think something is being said about them! I remember that feeling and I face the fear, studied a few languages and, although I didn’t learn any of them well, the exercise taught me I am not the center of anyone’s attention nor target of derision or jokes.

The Dunning-Krueger effect does not work on me. Yet, when it comes to saving the Earth’s Human and other life sustainability, the effect is fatal, pervasive as it is in the educational systems of the U.S.A. Teachers, even, too often who are trained in institutions where fear wreaks havoc on evaluation systems and teaching philosophies.

Reinhold Niebuhr said: “Lord, grant me the strength to accept the things I cannot change, the courage to change the things I can, and the wisdom to know the difference.” Who was he? A public intellectual and philosopher of theology with sympathies for the poor working class. He is ranked highly among America’s thinkers and his books are widely read.

I think of his famous quote often when I see I cannot change things, that I can see the difference, and I feel the strength to change what I can. It is the how of changing things that I focus on. How can I change the way printmaking is taught in high schools and colleges, for example?

One action at a time, I believe, and the tenacity to stick to my premise – that printmaking is the ancestor of all things STEM and the artform most likely to benefit young people facing the task of saving Earth’s human and other life forms’ sustainability.