Happy Holidays!
It’s been a while since my last newsletter. Hope you’re doing well. It’s starting to get cold out here; lots of fog in California’s Great Central Valley.
Today I have a variety pack of interesting tidbits.
A Global Green New Deal can help us address the climate crisis AND help with economic inequality. I just finished reading Climate Crisis and the Global Green New Deal by Noam Chomsky and Robert Pollin. The authors estimate that we can transition completely away from fossil fuels AND help improve the lives of the poor and working class by investing about 2.5% of Gross Domestic Product (GDP) to it (this equates to about $2.6 trillion per year). Just transition programs will help workers who are affected by the phase out of fossil fuels find new jobs and improve living standards for many. The world’s richest countries owe it to the rest of the planet to help not only at home, but abroad as well. The richest 1% of people emit 175 times more greenhouse gases than the poorest 10% of people. I think this book does a great job arguing for a Global Green New Deal as a way to improve our future and save our planet and I definitely recommend reading it.
An open mind can help us more easily predict the future. I listened to a fascinating conversation on the Ezra Klein Show between Julia Galef, author of the recent book The Scout Mindset, and Philip Tetlock, a professor of psychology and author of the book Superforecasting: The Art and Science of Prediction. In this conversation, the concept of hedgehogs and foxes is brought up as a way to think about open-mindedness. “Hedgehogs are the type of people who see the world through one big idea, one ideology” whereas foxes “aren’t attached to one particular ideology. They really try to incorporate a wide range of worldviews into their thinking. They tend to be more intellectually flexible.” The hedgehogs tend to stick to their guns and the foxes tend to be more flexible. Ultimately, this open-mindedness helped a team of forecasters that Tetlock put together win a government-sponsored forecasting tournament, outscoring professionals and experts. It’s a strong argument for remaining open and flexible in your thinking.
Sometimes just showing up can create opportunities you may have never had otherwise. I recently volunteered for two knowledge teams with the American Public Works Association (a national organization of public works personnel, consultants, and suppliers). I was selected to join the Leadership and Management knowledge team to support the Committee of the same name. By showing up, I was offered the opportunity to write an article for the AWPA’s national magazine, The Reporter. So, I wrote an article about my approach to continuous improvement for the December 2021 issue. This was a great opportunity for me, and many of my coworkers even read it and commended me for writing it. Hopefully everyone can find something useful in it.
And with that, I’ll be back in the new year with some more ideas and thoughts. Whatever you may celebrate, I wish you very Happy Holidays!
I’d love to hear your thoughts about the newsletter.