Climate Week NYC was a month or so ago, but its sliminess lingers. I’m writing this post not to complain, but to call attention for the need for leadership, integrity, and credibility. I saw none there, but huge demand for it. I haven’t engaged yet with the event planners so attended passively, therefore include myself in showing no leadership there. It’s further motivation to finish my next book, which will be my platform for taking responsibility and leading.

In the meantime, people act performatively—that is, as if they were helping, but doing nothing effective, or more often counterproductive. Take, for example, the first thing on display at one of the main events, a race car.

---

Is the idea that its being electric means it helps? Nothing about our culture that causes our environmental situation or the situation itself is helped by more race cars, whatever type of motor or engine. This thing pollutes and depletes, as does flying it around, to no benefit. If people want to race, run. If you want to go fast, run downhill.

People looked at the vehicle with admiration. Not one showed a hint of what I felt, which was the urge to vomit.

Everything about it promotes more of the culture driving our problems. The event was the equivalent of people smoking while telling people smoking is unhealthy and there should be laws to stop smoking. And not just cigarettes but giant cigars.

I heard someone say about 100,000 people attended. Nearly everyone I spoke to flew there, including many from other continents. None showed any sign of acknowledgement of their duplicity.

Many spoke with condemnation of polluting industries and governments opposed to sustainability as if they were talking about people other than themselves. They are talking about themselves! They are the industries and communities they are talking about and condemning. They are funding the problems they complain about.

They’d get a lot more done if they clarified that they are talking about themselves.

One day I was on a phone call when I arrived at the building in which the event was held, which led me to stand outside the building for fifteen minutes while talking. I saw one attendee get off a bus to enter. Otherwise, nearly everyone arrived in giant SUVs, one passenger per vehicle. Again, no sign of awareness of their lack of integrity.

I mentioned it to a guy I spoke to upstairs. He said, with a hint of pride, that he walked to the event from his hotel room, though he flew to New York City from Boston!

The people on stage acted like they were doing fireside chats, but it was clear had worked out the questions and answers, so it didn’t take long to sense that we weren’t going to see or hear anything authentic or meaningful, just scripted. Hence, the audience disengaged. At nearly every talk, the audiences looked like the pictures below. In other words, people flew to look at their phones while ignoring what they flew to claim to see. They could have just stayed home and ignored video of the talks at no loss.

I ate the lunch they provided, but probably shouldn’t have since they were so oily. I skipped the desserts which were just sugary. As usual, made palatable by too much salt, sugar, and fat. But maybe eating the lunches was appropriate since the whole event was made to seem superficially palatable, but was oily and slimy.

• ← When I mess up doing a sidcha: I get to practice integrity
• More drugs: a woman pooping in the park in broad daylight and more junkies shooting up in my neighborhood →