2/24/2021
My Dear Friend & POTUS, JRB,
I want to introduce you to my neighbor, Kim Stanley Robinson (KSR). He writes Cli-Fi. That’s short for climate change fiction. I just heard him talk about his latest book, Ministry for the Future. The guy is a fount of information about the implications & remedies for our global warming crisis. He has an in-depth understanding of the interplay between politics & climate change. He introduced me to the idea of “wet bulb temperature” which is a metric that combines humidity & temperature to provide a measure for moments when humans will “poach.” Believe it or not, he is a utopian & tries to imagine his way to a transformed future where we learn to live differently to survive. KSR could help John Kerry & Gina McCarthy develop their narratives so they are not all doom & gloom.
Speaking of narratives, I appreciate that your team is devoting attention to the discourse they use. According to the NYT, you, all, have replaced the term “illegal alien” with “non-citizen” & prefer “Tribal People” to “Native American.” My colleagues & I are launching a similar campaign when it comes to fractions. Rather than calling “¾,” “three out of four,” we prefer a “4 pieces in the whole of which we have 3.” It’s a mouthful, but some Asian languages name the denominator first when talking about fractions & their kids do better on tests. So, we share your conviction that words matter & are going to try changing up the way we talk about fractions. I’ll keep you posted on this endeavor.
Did your daily brief include anything about Myanmar? Apparently, the situation there is presenting China with a “serious geopolitical headache,” & some speculate that China is the “biggest loser in the coup,” because they invested a great deal of time & energy into developing a working relationship with the NLD. It’s too bad that we can’t team up with China to ameliorate the situation & help the generals imagine their way out of the mess they’ve gotten themselves into.
BYBS,
