Here are the rest of the Chautauqua Institution lecture series, Our Greatest Challenges (That We Can Actually Do Something About)
Wednesday, July 24: “The Chautauqua Climate Change Initiative welcomes environmentalist and writer Bill McKibben back to the Amphitheater stage, where he’ll be joined by journalist, Professor, and Executive Director of the George Washington University Alliance for a Sustainable Future and Planet Forward creator Frank Sesno as they discuss work both men are doing to catalyze climate action across generations.”
This was the liveliest talk of the week because it involved the interaction between McKibben, who I saw 30 or more years ago, and Sesno, who I’ve read. The bad news: Sunday, July 21, 2024, was the hottest day on record; worse news: Monday, July 21, was hotter.
Frank expressed optimism because of the young people he worked with at ASF. Bill became faux grumpy with Sesno’s “the youth are the future” tone. Faux because he notes that in his 350.org group, much of the fossil fuel divestment campaign took place on college campuses.
Still, that’s why he’s involved with Third Act, a “community of Americans over sixty determined to change the world for the better. Third Act harnesses an unparalleled generational power to safeguard our climate and democracy.”
April 22, 1970
Some older folks were involved in the original Earth Day in 1970. They vote in large numbers, tend to know people in power, and are motivated to win back the lost gains. McKibben and Sesno both have grandchildren born in 2024. They may not be as robust as their young counterparts, so they sometimes participate in Rocking Chair Rebellions. While having an arrest record as a 19-year-old could be problematic, older folks don’t care nearly as much, notes McKibben, who had been busted recently.
Bill understands why young people may be sad and cynical. Frank countered that they are angry, outraged, and motivated.
McKibben touted California’s robust renewable energy infrastructure. However, he chastised New York Governor Kathy Hochul (D-NY) for putting congestion paring in New York City on hold.
Sesno, the journalist, believes storytelling is how to sway people. He tells of a Maryland farmer about how the rains have changed long, soaking events to “deluges that wash off the topsoil, wash off the seed.” He believes that intergenerational connection creates “lived history in context.
Sesno is still a working journalist, so he eschews speaking about specific political candidates. McKibben, by contrast, would be involved with a Kamala Harris fundraiser the following day.
Being a parent
Thursday, July 25: “American Enterprise Institute senior fellow Timothy P. Carney will deliver a lecture based on his newest book, Family Unfriendly: How Our Culture Made Raising Kids Much Harder Than It Needs to Be. He argues that the high standards set for modern American parenting are unrealistic and set parents and kids up to fail—and that it’s time to end this failed experiment.”
Carney’s premise is that the declining birth rate in the United States is a result of “civilizational sadness.” “2007 saw the greatest number of births in the U.S. history, and people were calling it a baby boom.” Then, it fell so that it is below what demographers call the replacement level, a total fertility rate of 2.1. There are fewer people under ten than over 60.
He believes this is bad for several reasons. The number of retired people over the number of working people is skewed. While Social Security can continue to make payments, “if there’s no one there to answer the phone when you call the plumber about a leaky pipe, it doesn’t do you any good.”
Another point he made is that, according to Gallup surveys, American women still want between 2 and 3 kids. The birth rate is about 1.6. “If you ask women of childbearing age how many do you want to have, they say 2.3 is the ideal. How many do you intend to have? They say it averages to about 1.9, so already there’s a gap… between our ideal and our intention, and then the gap between our intention… These are not just simple deficits but a deficit of the most important thing: your family is the most important thing in your life, and we have a deficit of connection, flesh, and blood. That’s the real problem.”
Sidewalks
I agreed with quite a few of his observations. Helicopter parenting leads to an epidemic of childhood anxiety. So-called free-range parents have been investigated for neglect in the 2010s because of how far they left their young children to walk on their own. Sidewalks are good. “Walkability does matter for kids to walk to school to roam freely and, importantly, safety… The challenges of raising a family in car-dependent societies are steep. One solution is to build towns for people, not for cars.” He also touts affordable starter homes and showed mild support in favor of immigration.
Carney believes communities and churches could have mixers for young adults rather than them using dating apps; it seems quaint. Ultimately, civilizational sadness can be addressed by another baby boom because “babies are good.” He was at Chautauqua with his wife and most or all of their six kids.
His Catholic faith meant that he opposed IVF. I’ll admit to being annoyed; both my wife and I felt that he was blaming women for infertility problems because they waited too long. He wasn’t particularly supportive of adoption or surrogacy.
Ending violence
Friday, July 25: Chico Tillmon, the executive director of the University of Chicago Crime Lab’s Community Violence Intervention Leadership Academy, will speak to share stories of success and lessons learned from his work with the CVI Leadership Academy and throughout his career to effect positive change at a systemic level.”
Dr. Tillmon spent a LOT of time providing bleak statistics about the number of people, especially black people, shot every day. He asked, “Where do you feel least safe?” The school was relatively safe in his Chicago neighborhood of Austin, but the walk home could be perilous.
Moreover, he pointed out the disparate response from the country. After the Parkland High School shooting, there was so much support that it was overwhelming. Meanwhile, Chicago on the 4th of July weekend, with a like number of fatalities, and it’s business as usual.
However, a cookie-cutter approach will not usually work. It should be targeted to that particular area, its people, and its needs. He was proud that President Biden recognized him in a Rose Garden event.
I believe he ran out of time to get to more concrete solutions.
It was an interesting summer for our daughter. For one thing, she got her driver’s permit and decided to learn how to operate a car. She enlisted her mother in the teaching experience. I don’t think this was something that my wife was particularly looking forward to doing, but our daughter has skills in this area.
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GQ