Rebecca Solnit

An American writer and activist who writes on a wide range of subjects, including feminism, the environment, and social change.

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Rebecca Solnit1d

Who got there first?

Rebecca Solnit1d

Make your supporters go brokest.

Rebecca Solnit1d

Make America go broke again.

Rebecca Solnit1d

I've reported one doctor and one nurse for unethical and misleading behavior. In

I've reported one doctor and one nurse for unethical and misleading behavior. In the hopes that it wouldn't happen to anyone else.

Rebecca Solnit2d

"Anything not declared in the post is something O.P. does not care about/is comp

"Anything not declared in the post is something O.P. does not care about/is complicit with. Every expression of concern is in fact an expression of unconcern about something else; each of them merits a rebuke and you have been appointed (by yourself, but nevermind) to deliver it."

Rebecca Solnit2d

If only the guy was also supporting bike lanes.... Oh wait: this is one of many

If only the guy was also supporting bike lanes.... Oh wait: this is one of many stories in which he's reinstating, creating, and supporting bike lanes. p.s. I wear a helmet.

Rebecca Solnit2d

Yep. Thich Nhat Hanh: the next Buddha will be the sangha. Bad Bunny, Miss Rach

Yep. Thich Nhat Hanh: the next Buddha will be the sangha. Bad Bunny, Miss Rachel, maybe Nick Cave, who knows. I'm going for Mahayana Tzadikim Nistarim.

Rebecca Solnit2d

They have similar joy factors.

Rebecca Solnit2d

Exactly: rewrote the ending of my essay about her so it says this:

Rebecca Solnit2d

Mamdani managed to charm Trump out of sending ICE to NYC. That made millions of

Mamdani managed to charm Trump out of sending ICE to NYC. That made millions of lives more livable, so I wouldn't call it a photo op.

Rebecca Solnit2d

You are so right! Thanks for the suggestion and I'm sharing it right away with s

You are so right! Thanks for the suggestion and I'm sharing it right away with someone who'll love it.

Rebecca Solnit2d

Thanks for reminding me!

Rebecca Solnit2d

I mean Young Cardamom did not go quite as high on the charts, but then Dolly Par

I mean Young Cardamom did not go quite as high on the charts, but then Dolly Parton never became mayor of the biggest city in the USA. Bodhisattvas are everywhere.

Rebecca Solnit2d

I am so sorry. And I'm with the please-report-him people. I've reported unprofes

I am so sorry. And I'm with the please-report-him people. I've reported unprofessional conduct and it's good for everyone, including future patients. You so deserved better, more aware, kinder, more humane everything.

Rebecca Solnit2d

What if Mamdani is the next Dolly Parton? Checklist: cute, charismatic, funny (o

What if Mamdani is the next Dolly Parton? Checklist: cute, charismatic, funny (often at his own expense), kind, preaching the politics of everyone matters. I mean like reincarnated lamas, the next Dolly could take many forms. Why not a handsome young Muslim from Uganda who's big on childcare?

Rebecca Solnit2d

"I think everybody should be treated with respect," Parton says in a video poste

"I think everybody should be treated with respect," Parton says in a video posted late last week. "I don’t judge people and I try not to get too caught up in the controversy of things. I hope that everybody gets a chance to be who and what they are," she added.

Rebecca Solnit2d

Dolly don't stop....

Rebecca Solnit2d

p.s. Also this!!!!!

Rebecca Solnit2d

He had a similar idea:

Rebecca Solnit2d

(Obviously that required both Pence and Trump to be out of circulation.)

Rebecca Solnit2d

I used to dream of President Pelosi during the first term (obviously not my firs

I used to dream of President Pelosi during the first term (obviously not my first choice in makeawish fantasy land, but she was third in line all that time, and the sheer # of men who'd have aneurysms would have been amazing).

Rebecca Solnit2d

Also I added a new last paragraph (also readable at the link: www.meditationsina

Also I added a new last paragraph (also readable at the link: www.meditationsinanemergency.com/in-praise-of...)

Rebecca Solnit2d

Somehow her being gone made her more present than ever in one way. In another, w

Somehow her being gone made her more present than ever in one way. In another, with her gone, it's up to us to be what she was to the best of our ability....

Rebecca Solnit2d

New final paragraph: In a grim summer when the violent weather of the climate c

New final paragraph: In a grim summer when the violent weather of the climate crisis and the destructiveness of the greedy, cruel, selfish Epstein class in government and tech weighed down on us all, she lifted us up as she left us by making us turn toward who and what she was....

Rebecca Solnit6d

How'd I get there from potatoes? Hope people enjoyed the scenic detour.

Rebecca Solnit6d

During the 2020 covid-19 pandemic, Irish citizens in memory of this gave more th

During the 2020 covid-19 pandemic, Irish citizens in memory of this gave more than $800k to the Navajo and Hopi nations who were hit particularly hard by the disease.

Rebecca Solnit6d

Leading to this recent monument and an ongoing relationship between the Republic

Leading to this recent monument and an ongoing relationship between the Republic of Ireland and the Choctaw Nation.

Rebecca Solnit6d

And the Catholic peasantry had been forced onto the poorest, least productive la

And the Catholic peasantry had been forced onto the poorest, least productive land, where little but potatoes would thrive, making them dependent on the one crop. We were just talking last night about how the Choctaw Nation sent famine relief to Ireland in 1847, despite their own travails.

Rebecca Solnit6d

Behind so many funerals are petroleum products, from cancers to house fires to a

Behind so many funerals are petroleum products, from cancers to house fires to a burning planet. Thanks, OPEC. AQI in Santa Fe from a wildfire ten days ago:

Rebecca Solnit6d

This made me return to the extraordinary video comparing burn speeds in a room w

This made me return to the extraordinary video comparing burn speeds in a room with all natural-materials furnishings versus a petroleum-products room. The petro-room practically explodes in a few minutes, while the natural room slowly slowly burns w/out the black smoke. Thanks, OPEC.

Rebecca Solnit6d

New from Eric Klinenberg: "policymakers in Europe didn’t come to grips with it u

New from Eric Klinenberg: "policymakers in Europe didn’t come to grips with it until August, 2003, when a heat wave killed more than seventy thousand people. What those officials still failed to plan for was that Europe would warm at a rate more than twice the global average."

Rebecca Solnit6d

[immigrants/refugees from the aftermath of the potato famine, which was about th

[immigrants/refugees from the aftermath of the potato famine, which was about the susceptibility of one kind of potato and the monstrosity of British colonialism]

Rebecca Solnit6d

Mystery meat indeed.

Rebecca Solnit6d

I am the great-granddaughter of Irish Catholic immigrants and I resided the yea

I am the great-granddaughter of Irish Catholic immigrants and I resided the year I was two in Peru with visits to the Andes, whence cometh the potato; I have read this book; the right of the people peaceably to assemble and eat this noble tuber shall not be abridged.

Rebecca Solnit6d

I am sorry but I would have to organize to overthrow the fascist dictator who im

I am sorry but I would have to organize to overthrow the fascist dictator who imposed such a scheme and then celebrate with the people and with latkes, vichyssoise, potatoes anna, truffled fries, papas bravas, and the rest. In the morning our potato vodka hangover would be assuaged with hash browns.

Rebecca Solnit7d

17 years ago.....

Rebecca Solnit7d

Correction: 56% OF THE TOTAL IS DRUNK UP BY COWS (55% indirectly as irrigated li

Correction: 56% OF THE TOTAL IS DRUNK UP BY COWS (55% indirectly as irrigated livestock feed 1% as water for the beasts).

Rebecca Solnit7d

It's 55% of the total, to be exact; I misread. Cows drinking up a river (in the

It's 55% of the total, to be exact; I misread. Cows drinking up a river (in the form of irrigated alfalfa, etc.)

Rebecca Solnit7d

Maybe check? It's 2%.

Rebecca Solnit7d

Yikes! Misread, thanks, and wish we could revise posts here.

Rebecca Solnit7d

One amazing thing: we watched the river reemerge from the upper end of the reser

One amazing thing: we watched the river reemerge from the upper end of the reservoir over the years, carving back a riverbed from the huge accumulations of silt. A new bed, not returning to the old one.... Got a fantastic cartographer on it too:

Rebecca Solnit7d

You're welcome. If our book is hard to come by, here's an early draft of my essa

You're welcome. If our book is hard to come by, here's an early draft of my essay with some of Mark Klett and Byron Wolfe's pictures.

Rebecca Solnit7d

Also this is the best map I've seen of where the water goes. 79% to ag, 56% of

Also this is the best map I've seen of where the water goes. 79% to ag, 56% of that 79% to livestock.

Rebecca Solnit7d

The book Dead Pool predicting the collapse of Lake Powell came out in 2009! I dr

The book Dead Pool predicting the collapse of Lake Powell came out in 2009! I drew from it for our 2018 photographs-and-essay book Drowned River, and we've been watching the day approach when the reservoir, hydro, and water deal fail....

Rebecca Solnit7d

Goes great with:

Rebecca Solnit7d

Stranger in a Strange Land felt like the Playboy Philosophy plus spiritualized p

Stranger in a Strange Land felt like the Playboy Philosophy plus spiritualized psychic powers.

Rebecca Solnit7d

Well he is an expert on pork.

Rebecca Solnit7d

Right, where did all the art, china, furnishings, etc. go? Weird how little curi

Right, where did all the art, china, furnishings, etc. go? Weird how little curiosity there seemed to be about that.

Rebecca Solnit7d

I'd blame the manipulative powers of the Internet giants for a lot of it; online

I'd blame the manipulative powers of the Internet giants for a lot of it; online propaganda is like a new disease a lot of people have no antibodies for. From Brexit to Belfast and beyond.

Rebecca Solnit7d

There are so many other reasons to give up Amazon as much as possible. Lots of o

There are so many other reasons to give up Amazon as much as possible. Lots of other vendors of goods ship.

Rebecca Solnit7d

What the bad sci-fi I picked up as a kid taught me is a variation on "it is easi

What the bad sci-fi I picked up as a kid taught me is a variation on "it is easier to imagine the end of the world than the end of capitalism": it is easier to imagine colonies on Mars than the end of white heteropatriarchy. Unless you're Ursula K. LeGuin, but she was good sci-fi.

Rebecca Solnit7d

His ideological premise is inscribed upon many consumer products. Or was a while

His ideological premise is inscribed upon many consumer products. Or was a while back.

Rebecca Solnit7d

Oooh, that is a great movie premise: Revenge of the Wandering Wombs. It Came Fro

Oooh, that is a great movie premise: Revenge of the Wandering Wombs. It Came From Inner Space.

Rebecca Solnit8d

Famous story in which a brain surgeon tells Isabel Allende he thinks he'll be a

Famous story in which a brain surgeon tells Isabel Allende he thinks he'll be a writer when he retires and she replies that she thinks she'll be a brain surgeon when SHE retires.

Rebecca Solnit8d

A book festival featuring a singer, a director, and an astronaut? Some years ago

A book festival featuring a singer, a director, and an astronaut? Some years ago my editor at Viking said to me mournfully, "I like books by...writers."

Rebecca Solnit9d

"How dare you...."

Rebecca Solnit9d

"How dare you attack a professional woman" cont'd:

Rebecca Solnit9d

Re the right-wing uproar about Senator Ossoff's "travel with Natalie" and their.

Re the right-wing uproar about Senator Ossoff's "travel with Natalie" and their....

Rebecca Solnit9d

"How dare you attack a professional woman":

Rebecca Solnit9d

This is nice. Thanks, David.

Rebecca Solnit9d

One fun thing is that the petro-fanatics in Iran and the USA have accidentally c

One fun thing is that the petro-fanatics in Iran and the USA have accidentally conspired to demonstrate how perilous it is to rely on fossil fuel, speeding the electrification/renewable transition around the world.

Rebecca Solnit9d

More Thank You Feminism.

Rebecca Solnit9d

So many fossil fuel treaties, so little time, thank you! But also apologies to g

So many fossil fuel treaties, so little time, thank you! But also apologies to ghosts of good grammar past for that subject/verb nonalignment up above.

Rebecca Solnit9d

My friend @tzeporah.bsky.social leads the @fossilfueltreaty.bsky.social, which h

My friend @tzeporah.bsky.social leads the @fossilfueltreaty.bsky.social, which has gotten several countries on board as a strategy to get there. The majority of people on earth want it, but we're up against a powerful minority of profiteers....

Rebecca Solnit9d

That's what the oil companies hope, even as the cleaner, better, cheaper ways of

That's what the oil companies hope, even as the cleaner, better, cheaper ways of making power to run things on advances. I'm with @oilchange.org, which is one of myriad climate grounds around the world working to speed the transition away from fossil fuels.

Rebecca Solnit9d

I've indexed all but one of my own books, including for UC Press, and I think I

I've indexed all but one of my own books, including for UC Press, and I think I did it pretty well. I had to check the professionally indexed one and m make a bunch of corrections and additions.

Rebecca Solnit9d

An academic-press editor complained about all the wives doing all the indexes (d

An academic-press editor complained about all the wives doing all the indexes (devotedly but maybe not expertly).

Rebecca Solnit9d

My book does. I can't recall if Rowan's book does (he's from the UK).

Rebecca Solnit9d

ON the other hand, "affirmative action for white men" has been a dominating forc

ON the other hand, "affirmative action for white men" has been a dominating force in this country since (before) its founding, and that phrase makes sense to me.

Rebecca Solnit9d

Maybe stop corporate export ag. in the desert? And/or grow food for people and n

Maybe stop corporate export ag. in the desert? And/or grow food for people and not for cows? A huge proportion of Colorado River water goes to livestock feed-- 55% of the 79% humans take out that goes to ag. Also hello from a former beanfield near Santa Fe.

Rebecca Solnit9d

It also doesn't make sense because white mediocrity is the opposite of diversity

It also doesn't make sense because white mediocrity is the opposite of diversity and inclusion and equity. But there could be homogeneity, exclusion, and inequality, or HEI, and there is.

Rebecca Solnit9d

Pairs well with Zoe Schlanger's The Light Eaters, Rob Macfarlane's Is a River Al

Pairs well with Zoe Schlanger's The Light Eaters, Rob Macfarlane's Is a River Alive and, well, my The Beginning Comes After the End, which is very much about both revolutions. Congratulations, @rowhoop.bsky.social!

Rebecca Solnit9d

Not sure Jane Austen would agree, but I had fun with it and thank you!

Rebecca Solnit9d

This is just out and it's great (I got to read the UK edition, which came out ea

This is just out and it's great (I got to read the UK edition, which came out earlier). The revolution of our time in biology is the recognition of interconnection, symbiosis, and arguably there's a social and imaginative revolution along the same lines....