View from the Couch

My thanks to my friend Raina Imig for sending me this. I hope it lifts you and gives you hope. HEALING OR STEALING? “You are brilliant, and the earth is hiring…” The Commencement Address to the Class of 2009, University of Portland , May 3 rd, 2009 By Paul Hawken When I was invited to give this speech, I was asked if I could give a simple short talk that was “direct, naked, taut, honest, passionate, lean, shivering, startling, and graceful.” Boy, no pressure there. But let’s begin with the startling part. Hey, Class of 2009: you are going to have to figure out what it means to be a human being on earth at a time when every living system is declining, and the rate of decline is accelerating. Kind of a mind-boggling situation – but not one peer-reviewed paper published in the last thirty years can refute that statement. Basically, the earth needs a new operating system, you are the programmers, and we need it within a few decades. This planet came with a set of op...