"Autobiographies of great nations are written in three manuscripts – a book of deeds, a book of words, and a book of art. Of the three, I would choose the latter as truest testimony." - Sir Kenneth Smith, Great Civilisations

"I must write each day without fail, not so much for the success of the work, as in order not to get out of my routine." - Leo Tolstoy

I have never believed that one should wait until one is inspired because I think the pleasures of not writing are so great that if you ever start indulging them you will never write again. - John Updike

"The life of every man is a diary in which he means to write one story, and writes another; and his humblest hour is when he compares the volume as it is with what he vowed to make it." - J.M. Barrie, Peter Pan

Poetry is the shadow cast by our streetlight imaginations." - Lawrence Ferlinghetti


[Note - If any article requires updating or correction please notate this in the comment section. Thank you. - res]


Friday, February 17, 2023

Four Processual Shorts on the Subject of ESG

 

[February 17, 2011] "Hanging out with the boys at the Bob." All were pro-amateur skateboarders. Over the past twelve years since this photo was taken, one became a loving and endearing missionary to the Thai people; one an accomplished artist in tiling, mosaics, painting, and leather work; and the last, my most special relationship, became my son-in-law and husband to my daughter, and father to my grandson. He took his passion for music and skateboarding and turned it into an industry for the Gen-YZ's of the world and then to everyone everywhere when building accessible, three-wheel recombinant trikes for recreational fun, the infirmed, the aged, and health. - res

Eco-Civ Short #1/4

Building ecological societies one ESG element at a time. Integrating nature, people, and ethical policies of sustainability, green and blue infrastructures, technologies, and global interaction together in improving streams of biotic value, functional generation and societal equality.

R.E Slater
February 17, 2023




Eco-Civ Short #2/4

I speak to building processual "ecological societies" all the time. ESG is an approximation of this idea at this time... it brings a mixture of community-first eco-business with a high degree of competition utilizing biotic sustainability modeling in its business ethics. Which is why I include the Forbes, Fortune, and WSJ articles to FB every now and then re ESG along with my own articles on building process-relational societies (as versus "biblical" kingdom communities of oppression and domination).

Businesses will not be moving backwards into past non-ESG paradigms because ESG is much more than sustainability models now including green and blue community-based infrastructures, tech business integration, and community standards of equality.

Those businesses which cannot change their commercial and industrial modelling plans re environmental, societal and local policy impact, make for poorer investment models for investors wishing improvement across a wide scale of relief.
Hence, when businesses are being overlooked in outside funding it is because their older business models are not implementing themselves as environmental caretakers, employer-employee caretakers, or local societal policies of community caretake.

Such business models are no longer competitive and will show a poorer return on funds compared to those business competitors which have worked ESG into their programs for the good of the environment, society, and dealings with one another.

R.E Slater
February 17, 2023





Eco-Civ Short #3/4

Purposely misunderstanding ESG is no defense for taking right actions towards the environment, people, and ethics in government.

  • EEEE - Refusing to stop polluting and toxifying biotic and human communities shows willful disregard to the welfare of a highly integrated community.
  • SSSS - Refusing to consider employment conditions and welfare of your workers again promotes money over value.
  • GGGG - And allowing corruption, lies, and false dealing between elected representatives and the public means removal from office (hopefully immediately re criminal prosecutiins). 

In sum, THIS IS WHAT ESG MEANS... my word for ESG remains the same, socially responsible "ecological societies, communities, and global civilizations".  We live in processual worlds where processual caretake must be a part of our investment into one another and the world at large.


EXCERPT from Wikipedia
  1. EEEEnvironmental aspect: Data is reported on climate change, greenhouse gas emissions, biodiversity loss, deforestation, pollution, energy efficiency and water management.
  2. SSSSocial aspect: Data is reported on employee safety and health, working conditions, diversity, equity, and inclusion, and conflicts and humanitarian crises, and is relevant in risk and return assessments directly through results in enhancing (or destroying) customer satisfaction and employee engagement.
  3. GGGGovernance aspect: Data is reported on corporate governance such as preventing bribery, corruption, Diversity of Board of Directors, executive compensation, cybersecurity and privacy practices, and management structure.
R.E Slater
February 17, 2023

Environmental, social, and corporate governance

Environmental, social, and corporate governance (ESG) is a framework designed to be embedded into an organization's strategy that considers the needs and ways in which to generate value for all of organizational stakeholders (such as employees, customers and suppliers and financiers).

ESG corporate reporting can be used by stakeholders to assess the material sustainability-related risks and opportunities relevant to an organization. Investors may also use ESG data beyond assessing material risks to the organization in their evaluation of enterprise value, specifically by designing models based on assumptions that the identification, assessment and management of sustainability-related risks and opportunities in respect to all organizational stakeholders leads to higher long-term risk-adjusted return.[1] Organizational stakeholders include but not limited to customers, suppliers, employees, leadership, and the environment.[2]

Since 2020, there has been accelerating pressure from the United Nations to overlay ESG data with the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), based on their work, which began in the 1980s.[3]

The term ESG was popularly used first in a 2004 report titled "Who Cares Wins", which was a joint initiative of financial institutions at the invitation of UN.[4] In less than 20 years, the ESG movement has grown from a corporate social responsibility initiative launched by the United Nations into a global phenomenon representing more than US$30 trillion in assets under management.[5] In the year 2019 alone, capital totaling US$17.67 billion flowed into ESG-linked products, an almost 525 percent increase from 2015, according to Morningstar, Inc.[6] Critics claim ESG linked-products have not had and are unlikely to have the intended impact of raising the cost of capital for polluting firms,[7] and have accused the movement of greenwashing.[8]

Dimensions

  1. Environmental aspect: Data is reported on climate changegreenhouse gas emissionsbiodiversity lossdeforestation, pollution, energy efficiency and water management.
  2. Social aspect: Data is reported on employee safety and health, working conditionsdiversity, equity, and inclusion, and conflicts and humanitarian crises,[9] and is relevant in risk and return assessments directly through results in enhancing (or destroying) customer satisfaction and employee engagement.
  3. Governance aspect: Data is reported on corporate governance such as preventing briberycorruption, Diversity of Board of Directors, executive compensationcybersecurity and privacy practices, and management structure.


* * * * * *



Eco-Civ Short #4/4

Ideological politics aside American business is committed to ESG as is global business. The wording, like CRT, is purposely misunderstood by MAGA-heads... but then again ideology serves no man or woman except those looking to gain power rather than doing right.

R.E Slater
February 17, 2023

EXCERPT

"Taking care of the communities you operate in helps ensure those communities will allow you to operate in the future. Recruiting and retaining a diverse workforce is essential to acquiring the best talent in a labor-constrained world. And focusing on how your company can meaningfully contribute to the climate transition is a way to create value in a business world that is clearly committed to that transition. In short, companies need to do a better job making it clear this is not about politics; it’s about good, long-term business."



Alan Murray, Editor of Fortune Magazine
Good morning.

Do deficits matter?

I have spent much of my career in the vicinity of that question, having covered U.S. fiscal policy as a cub reporter in the 1980s. That’s when supply-side Republicans dropped their concerns about deficits to push tax cuts as a counter to Democrats who had already abandoned deficit concerns to push spending increases. A stalwart but steadily shrinking group of people continued to beat the deficit drum, arguing deficit spending would “crowd out” private investment. But the new millennium obliterated that argument, too, by making capital plentiful and free. “Crowding out” went the way of the Walkman. 

Well, suddenly, they’re back. Deficits, that is. I’m not sure the last time a deficit story led the New York Times, but yesterday morning, it did. The story quoted new Congressional Budget Office projections showing a combination of pandemic-era spending, aging boomers and rising interest rates would add $19 trillion to the U.S. national debt over the next decade—$3 trillion more than previously forecast. Total debt outstanding will equal the total economic output of the U.S. economy next year and reach 118% of GDP in 2033.

Meanwhile, “crowding out” has taken on new meaning. It’s not that deficits might crowd out private investment—the case for that remains weak, given inflation-adjusted interest rates that are still close to zero. Rather, the new numbers show that as nominal rates rise, servicing the debt will rise faster than tax income, eating up more and more of the federal budget, and leaving less money to address real needs.  

So what’s to be done? With a vibrant economy and a functioning federal government, the problem is solvable. The Committee for Economic Development, which is part of The Conference Board, laid out a reasonable road map earlier this week, which you can explore here. (Full disclosure: My wife is president of CED.) But while the U.S. has a vibrant economy, it still lacks a functioning government. Deficit reduction involves shared sacrifice, and that has to be done on a bipartisan basis. Don’t hold your breath.

More news below. And don’t get too excited about the uptick in home prices at the start of this year. Fortune’s Lance Lambert says they are headed south again.

Alan Murray
alan.murray@fortune.com

Saturday, February 4, 2023

Artist Tracy Chapman and Select Recordings


Tracy Chapman performing at Wembley Stadium



Tracy Chapman - Fast Car [Wembley 1988]
Dec 3, 2012

Nelson Mandela's 70th Birtday / Wembley

LYRICS

You got a fast car
I want a ticket to anywhere
Maybe we make a deal
Maybe together we can get somewhere
Any place is better
Starting from zero got nothing to lose
Maybe we'll make something
Me, myself, I got nothing to prove

You got a fast car
I got a plan to get us outta here
I been working at the convenience store
Managed to save just a little bit of money
Won't have to drive too far
Just 'cross the border and into the city
You and I can both get jobs
And finally see what it means to be living

See, my old man's got a problem
He live with the bottle, that's the way it is
He says his body's too old for working
His body's too young to look like his
My mama went off and left him
She wanted more from life than he could give
I said somebody's got to take care of him
So I quit school and that's what I did

You got a fast car
Is it fast enough so we can fly away?
We gotta make a decision
Leave tonight or live and die this way

So I remember when we were driving, driving in your car
Speed so fast it felt like I was drunk
City lights lay out before us
And your arm felt nice wrapped 'round my shoulder
And I-I had a feeling that I belonged
I-I had a feeling I could be someone, be someone, be someone

You got a fast car
We go cruising, entertain ourselves
You still ain't got a job
And I work in the market as a checkout girl
I know things will get better
You'll find work and I'll get promoted
We'll move out of the shelter
Buy a bigger house and live in the suburbs

So I remember when we were driving, driving in your car
Speed so fast it felt like I was drunk
City lights lay out before us
And your arm felt nice wrapped 'round my shoulder
And I-I had a feeling that I belonged
I-I had a feeling I could be someone, be someone, be someone

You got a fast car
I got a job that pays all our bills
You stay out drinking late at the bar
See more of your friends than you do of your kids
I'd always hoped for better
Thought maybe together you and me'd find it
I got no plans, I ain't going nowhere
Take your fast car and keep on driving

So I remember when we were driving, driving in your car
Speed so fast it felt like I was drunk
City lights lay out before us
And your arm felt nice wrapped 'round my shoulder
And I-I had a feeling that I belonged
I-I had a feeling I could be someone, be someone, be someone

You got a fast car
Is it fast enough so you can fly away?
You gotta make a decision
Leave tonight or live and die this way


THE STORY BEHIND THIS PERFORMANCE

Stevie Wonder landed in England on the Saturday morning of the concert and went straight to Wembley Stadium, where a room was prepared for him and his band to warm up. He was to appear in the evening after UB40. His appearance had not been announced. UB40 were finishing their set on the main stage, and Wonder's equipment was set up, plugged in and ready to be rolled on after a 10-minute act on a side stage. He was about to walk up the ramp to the stage when it was discovered that the hard disc of his synclavier, carrying all 25 minutes of synthesised music for his act, was missing. He said he could not play without it, turned round, walked down the ramp crying, with his band and other members of his entourage following him, and out of the stadium.

There was an urgent need to fill the gap he had left and Tracy Chapman, who had already performed her act, agreed to appear again. The two appearances shot her to stardom, with two songs from her recently-released first album, "Fast Car" and "Talkin' 'Bout a Revolution". Before the concert, she had sold about 250,000 albums. In the following two weeks, she was said to have sold two million.

 

Comments

Just one woman. One guitar. One song. and 60,000 captivated people. What a talent.

I was there Crowd was restless to begin with She stunned every one into silence She was on a side stage Just a filler Incredible performance

I was a teenager attending this concert and remember when she hit the stage! Her voice was mesmerizing and seemed to calm the crowd! Now Im 50 listening to this classic and it never gets old....

My favorite part of this is that you can tell she's probably nervous, but by the last chorus you can see on her face and in her voice that she's just overcome with emotion for nailing this and mesmerizing the crowd. Like when she sings "I had a feeling that I could be someone", it's her seeing that come true right in front of her. Her voice trembles a bit and it makes it so powerful.

In my late 20’s I had an issue with alcohol. My fiancé stuck with me for a long time. As I sobered up I had a lot of depression and regret that came to the surface. One day I asked her to listen to this song with me because I thought the lyrics fit. From my point of view it was about someone with a drinking problem fixing their situation, fixing their relationship and later went on to live a happy life together lol. My ex began to cry and I was like oh what is it? It’s a hopeful song why does this make you cry? She never did explain it. Years later I listened to this song again and now I realize why she was upset. The song is about someone loving someone with a substance abuse issue. They want to love them but they see their life passing them by. They fantasize about leaving but don’t want to leave the person they love. Ultimately, they leave and a few years later my ex did in fact leave me. I suffered a lot of heart ache and guilt. I still do and I imagine I always will. But in an effort to get her back I sobered up completely and got my life back on track. So in a way her leaving saved us both. I still love and miss you E but I know why you left and I hope you’re happy.

For a 1980s piece, this song sounds way ahead of its time in terms of style. Even today it feels like a song that could've been released last year or yesterday.



Artist Tracy Chapman


Tracy Chapman - Talkin' About A Revolution (Official Music Video)
by Tracy Chapman, Nov 13, 2015, Wembley Stadium



TaIkin’ Bout a Revolution Lyrics

[Refrain]

Don't ya know
They're talking about a revolution?
It sounds like a whisper
Don't ya know
They're talking about a revolution?
It sounds like a whisper

[Verse]

While they're standing in the welfare lines
Crying at the doorsteps of those armies of salvation
Wasting time in the unemployment lines
Sittin' around waitin' for a promotion

[Refrain]

Don't ya know?
They're talking about a revolution
It sounds like a whisper
Poor people gonna rise up
And get their share
Poor people gonna rise up
And take what's theirs

[Bridge]

Don't ya know you better run, run, run, run, run, run, run, run, run, run, run, run
Oh, I said you better run, run, run, run, run, run, run, run, run, run, run, run, run


“Talkin' Bout a Revolution” is the second single from Tracy Chapman’s 1988 self-titled debut album.

Though it didn’t find the same success in the United States as Chapman’s previous single (“Fast Car”) it was a hit internationally, and the song has been a regular musical feature of protests, civil rallies, and sit-ins around the world since its release.

Notably, in 2011, it gained heavy radio play in Tunisia during the 28-day period of civil resistance known as the Tunisian Revolution. This led to a full democratisation of the country and sparked a wave of revolution throughout North Africa and the Middle East that came to be known as the Arab Spring.

Tracy Chapman performs as part of the the Bammies (Bay Area Music Awards)
in 1997 in San Francisco California. | Tim Mosenfelder/Getty Images


Tracy Chapman Was Discovered by
a Classmate at a Protest Rally

Published on January 30, 2023


Some people wonder what Tracy Chapman has been doing since she has not made music in a while. She became famous in the mid-1980s, and it took a while for her to get used to it. However, she was already getting involved in social work before her rise in popularity.

When Chapman was in college, she played songs at a protest rally. One of the people attending the gathering was a classmate. He enjoyed listening to her sing....

Tracy Chapman’s rise to fame

Chapman has been interested in writing songs since she was a young kid. She also learned how to play guitar and would regularly use it during high school. According to her Biography page, she recorded music at the WMFO radio station before her big break in 1986.

That year, a friend’s father helped Chapman get in touch with Elektra Records. The rising musician produced her first album a couple of years later. People quickly recognized her talent, especially once she released her hit single “Fast Car.”

Chapman followed up her success several years later with another album she titled New Beginning. The album also became a major hit, and she enjoyed increased fame well into the 1990s.

Chapman is still well-known for the music she has written over the years. However, she has gained plenty of attention for her political and social activism.

Another student saw Tracy Chapman at a rally

After graduating from high school, Chapman attended Tufts University. She focused on anthropology and African studies while there and continued playing music. According to The Age of Ideas, she gained a following of local fans. One of them was a classmate named Brian Koppelman.

Koppelman is a well-known writer and podcaster. In 1987, he assisted in putting together a protest against apartheid. The boycott was at the school, and he spotted a familiar singer at a coffeehouse.

“Someone told me there was this great protest singer I should get to play at the rally,” Koppelman stated. “Tracy walked onstage, and it was like an epiphany. Her presence, her voice, her songs, her sincerity — it all came across. It was immediately clear to me that she was among the most gifted people walking the earth.”

After the rally, Koppelman spoke with Chapman about her musical talent and had his dad get a record company to sign Chapman. She has had a successful career since then.

Tracy Chapman’s career and social activism
Chapman has created hit songs like “Give Me One Reason” and “Talkin’ bout a Revolution.” The last album she produced was in 2008 called Our Bright Future. She also had a debut single that went platinum and earned multiple award nominations.

Chapman has won four Grammy awards, and her fourth one was in 1997 for Best Rock Song. While she has not written anything else since 2008, she has accumulated a net worth of $8 million. She also is a social activist and has done plenty of work to promote change.

Some people have seen Chapman sing for charities like the San Francisco AIDS Foundation. In 2003, she performed a duet with Bonnie Raitt for the now-inactive Circle of Life. Organizations have recognized her dedication to social causes.

Chapman’s last public appearance for political activism was on TV. She encouraged viewers to vote in the 2020 election. She prefers to stay out of the spotlight and is not active online.


Tracy Chapman Refuses to Join Social Media
Associated Press | Dec 1, 2015





R.E. Slater - Of God and Religion



Of God and Religion

by R.E. Slater
February 4, 2023

We, and creation itself, actualize the possibilities of the God who sustains the world, towards becoming in the world in a fuller, more deeper way. - R.E. Slater

There is urgency in coming to see the world as a web of interrelated processes of which we are integral parts, so that all of our choices and actions have [consequential effects upon] the world around us. - Process Metaphysician Alfred North Whitehead

Kurt Gödel's Incompleteness Theorem says (i) all closed systems are unprovable within themselves and, that (ii) all open systems are rightly understood as incomplete. - R.E. Slater

The most true thing about you is what God has said to you in Christ, "You are My Beloved." - Tripp Fuller

The God among us is the God who refuses to be God without us, so great is God's Love. - Tripp Fuller

According to some Christian outlooks we were made for another world. Perhaps, rather, we were made for this world to recreate, reclaim, redeem, and renew unto God's future aspiration by the power of His Spirit. - R.E. Slater

Our eschatological ethos is to love. To stand with those who are oppressed. To stand against those who are oppressing. It is that simple. Love is our only calling and Christian Hope. - R.E. Slater

Secularization theory has been massively falsified. We don't live in an age of secularity. We live in an age of explosive, pervasive religiosity... an age of religious pluralism. - Peter L. Berger

Exploring the edge of life and faith in a post-everything world. - Todd Littleton

I don't need another reason to believe, your love is all around for me to see. – Anon

Thou art our need; and in giving us more of thyself thou givest us all. - Khalil Gibran, Prayer XXIII

Be careful what you pretend to be. You become what you pretend to be. - Kurt Vonnegut

Religious beliefs, far from being primary, are often shaped and adjusted by our social goals. - Jim Forest

People, even more than things, need to be restored, renewed, revived, reclaimed, and redeemed; never throw out anyone. – Anon

Certainly, God's love has made fools of us all. - R.E. Slater

An apocalyptic Christian faith doesn't wait for Jesus to come, but for Jesus to become in our midst. - R.E. Slater

Christian belief in God begins with the cross and resurrection of Jesus, not with rational apologetics. - Eberhard Jüngel, Jürgen Moltmann

Our knowledge of God is through the 'I-Thou' encounter, not in finding God at the end of a syllogism or argument. There is a grave danger in any Christian treatment of God as an object. The God of Jesus Christ and Scripture is irreducibly subject and never made as an object, a force, a power, or a principle that can be manipulated. - Emil Brunner

“Ehyeh Asher Ehyeh” means "I will be that who I have yet to become." - God (Ex 3.14) or, conversely, “I AM who I AM Becoming.”

Our job is to love others without stopping to inquire whether or not they are worthy. - Thomas Merton

The church is God's world-changing social experiment of bringing unlikes and differents to the Eucharist/Communion table to share life with one another as a new kind of family. When this happens, we show to the world what love, justice, peace, reconciliation, and life together is designed by God to be. The church is God's show-and-tell for the world to see how God wants us to live as a blended, global, polypluralistic family united with one will, by one Lord, and baptized by one Spirit. – Anon

The cross that is planted at the heart of the history of the world cannot be uprooted. - Jacques Ellul

The Unity in whose loving presence the universe unfolds is inside each person as a call to welcome the stranger, protect animals and the earth, respect the dignity of each person, think new thoughts, and help bring about ecological civilizations. - John Cobb & Farhan A. Shah

If you board the wrong train it is of no use running along the corridors of the train in the other direction. - Dietrich Bonhoeffer

God's justice is restorative rather than punitive; His discipline is merciful rather than punishing; His power is made perfect in weakness; and His grace is sufficient for all. – Anon

Our little [biblical] systems have their day; they have their day and cease to be. They are but broken lights of Thee, and Thou, O God art more than they. - Alfred Lord Tennyson

We can’t control God; God is uncontrollable. God can’t control us; God’s love is uncontrolling! - Thomas Jay Oord

Life in perspective but always in process... as we are relational beings in process to one another, so life events are in process in relation to each event... as God is to Self, is to world, is to us... like Father, like sons and daughters, like events... life in process yet always in perspective. - R.E. Slater

To promote societal transition to sustainable ways of living and a global society founded on a shared ethical framework which includes respect and care for the community of life, ecological integrity, universal human rights, respect for diversity, economic justice, democracy, and a culture of peace. - The Earth Charter Mission Statement

Christian humanism is the belief that human freedom, individual conscience, and unencumbered rational inquiry are compatible with the practice of Christianity or even intrinsic in its doctrine. It represents a philosophical union of Christian faith and classical humanist principles. - Scott Postma

It is never wise to have a self-appointed religious institution determine a nation's moral code. The opportunities for moral compromise and failure are high; the moral codes and creeds assuredly racist, discriminatory, or subjectively and religiously defined; and the pronouncement of inhumanitarian political objectives quite predictable. - R.E. Slater

God's love must both center and define the Christian faith and all religious or human faiths seeking human and ecological balance in worlds of subtraction, harm, tragedy, and evil. - R.E. Slater

In Whitehead’s process ontology, we can think of the experiential ground of reality as an eternal pulse whereby what is objectively public in one moment becomes subjectively prehended in the next, and whereby the subject that emerges from its feelings then perishes into public expression as an object (or “superject”) aiming for novelty. There is a rhythm of Being between object and subject, not an ontological division. This rhythm powers the creative growth of the universe from one occasion of experience to the next. This is the Whiteheadian mantra: “The many become one and are increased by one.” - Matthew Segall