Paul Stamets: Solutions from the Underground

The renowned “anthropologist under Amazonian influence” and indigenous rights activist Jeremy Narby, author of such classics as "The Cosmic Serpent" and "Intelligence in Nature," considers the intelligence of living beings and wrestles with his own culture’s anthropocentric concepts. In his view, constantly affirming the centrality of humans gets in the way of respectful living in the biosphere.

Before the election, workers were already rising up all over the country and have continued to do so even more now, joining the campaign for “One Fair Wage,” demanding higher wages and the elimination of lower wages for tipped workers. The movement helped torpedo Trump’s first Secretary of Labor nominee and is ramping up the fight for a $15/hour national minimum wage. Innovative, award-winning labor leader Saru Jayaraman says that, if we join together, we can end economic inequality in America.

According to journalist, blogger, “creative commons” advocate, Electronic Frontier Foundation Fellow, and award-winning science fiction author Cory Doctorow, the fight for a free, fair and open Internet isn’t the most important fight on the planet, but you can t win any of the other major battles without it.

Kandi Mossett (Mandan/Hidatsa/Arikara), Native Energy and Climate Campaign Organizer for the Indigenous Environmental Network (IEN), has emerged as a leading voice in the fight against environmental racism at Standing Rock and beyond. Kandi will share the powerful story of how her community drew on its cultural resilience to resist fracking in North Dakota, and how the re-assertion of tribal sovereignty, revitalization of language and restoration of traditional foodways can point the way to a just transition to a clean energy future for all of us.

Racialized violence injures all of us — not just those who are being “othered” but also those who perpetuate that “othering.” These painful injuries happen on many levels, including on the individual, structural, and societal spheres, so healing must also happen on many levels, but we can’t truly heal these deep wounds while the injuries are still being perpetuated. Professor John A.

Gar Alperovitz, co-founder of The Democracy Collaborative and co-chair of its The Next System Project, shows how we can begin to build together for the systemic change we need to save both democracy and the planet.