Samhain Waxing Thanksgiving Moon
“To think is easy. To act is difficult. To act as one thinks is the most difficult.” – Johann Wolfgang Von Goethe
Goethe captures the crux of a dis-ease I felt at the dam conference, a dis-ease that probably explains more of why I didn’t end up in academia than other explanations I often give myself. In short there was more talking than acting and even the references to acting were talking and more it was talking about talking to partners and allies in their language.
Thinking of the caliber in this dam conference is, however, not easy; in fact, it is hard and many of the people who spoke were clever, insightful, giving a new spin to old ideas, my favorite example the delta subsidence problem. People who can take a long held belief and shake it inside out until it reveals it’s underpinnings have my utmost respect. I hope sometimes I can reach that level in my own thinking; it’s the way change can get started, the reframing of the old in terms of something new.
Who would think, for instance, that sea level rise inundation of coastal delta areas might be alleviated by removing dams upstream? So, first you have to have the new idea, the problem and its source carefully linked before action can target a plausible solution.
Still, I find myself impatient with just this kind of thinking, that is, root and branch thinking that stops without corollary action. In the end I’m more of an action guy, much as I love the abstract, the analytical, the historical, the exegetical and the hermeneutical. I want to change the way dams impact rivers and streams, whether it be by better design or by removal or by prevention. I want to leverage the way dams have become visible issues into victories for the planet, victories that turn us toward a benign human presence on the face of the earth.
In the end I would have been unhappy as an academic, I see that now. I would have strained against the confines of the classroom and publish or perish. As it happens, I’ve been able to continue my learning on my own while engaging pretty consistently as a change agent. Probably led the life I was meant to lead after all. Good to know.
