Progress on the Path

Acknowledging our developmental steps.

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Resonant World#84

Sometimes, it’s good to take a moment to acknowledge our progress.

In the past week, I’ve noticed I’ve made a few more turns of the spiral, both professionally, and personally. (Resonant World#71: It Goes in a Spiral).

On the professional front, we published a story at DeSmog on the role Reuters and the Financial Times, both former employers of mine, play in producing paid propaganda casting giant oil companies as gatekeepers to climate solutions. (Resonant World#55:Processing My Reuters Climate Karma).

The media receives limited scrutiny through a climate accountability lens for obvious reasons: If you ever want to get hired as a journalist, then it’s probably not a wise idea to be writing stories documenting your would-be employer’s multi-million-dollar deals to produce puff pieces for the likes of Saudi Aramco, BP and Shell. (Resonant World#58: 50 Reasons Why Reuters Should Stop Working for the Fossil Fuel Industry).

That’s why nonprofit media such as DeSmog and our friends at Drilled, with whom we partnered on an initial investigation into this topic in December, provide such a vital service. We can write what many of the journalists and editors at these organisations are thinking — but wouldn’t dare say. (Resonant World#80: Big Oil and the Media (Podcast)).

In my dream scenario, hundreds of journalists and editors from major news organisations would come together for a days-long, facilitated process to explore the collective shadows operating in our profession, and imagine how we could re-envision our role in this age of polycrisis. I’d hope some of the participants might support the Resonant World mission to build a new media system to heal our collective trauma. (Resonant World #8: Building the Quantum Newsroom) (Resonant World #73: Building a Media System to Heal Collective Trauma. Who’s in?)

I wrote a LinkedIn post yesterday setting out a proposal for this kind of dialogue to Reuters editor-in-chief Alessandra Galloni, who has presided over a big increase in fossil fuel partnerships during her tenure, and her ultimate boss, Thomson Reuters CEO Steve Hasker. It was encouraging to see how much traction the post got, including a share from Katharine Hayhoe, one of the world’s best-known climate scientists, to her 195,000 followers.

No reply from Reuters as yet, but I suspect that there will come a time when even the most committed defenders of business as usual will realise it’s time for something new.

Old Trigger, New Response

On the personal front, I felt an old trigger surfacing, and managed to work with my wife Genevieve to handle it far more skilfully than I could have done in the past.

I share what happened here because it felt to me like a clear-cut example of how the immersive training I’ve been pursuing in integrating individual, inter-generational and collective trauma with Thomas Hübl and team is supporting me in my daily life.

Since this is rather vulnerable material, I’ll feel I can speak more freely by sharing it before the Resonance Council (of paid subscribers). (Resonant World#77: Welcome to the Resonance Council).