Go green

 LISTEN. WATCH. I've long been captivated by Jay Gatsby's green light, "the orgastic future that year by year recedes before us... tomorrow we will run faster, stretch out our arms farther... So we beat on, boats against the current, borne back ceaselessly into the past.” Is it a symbol of hope, futility, perseverance, Sisyphean absurdity, foolish optimism, melioristic pragmatism, all or none of the above? 

The thing about symbols is that they're outer projections of our inner lives and our inchoate aspirations, which are variable and changing. So I'll opt for all, though not all at once. 

In Environmental Ethics yesterday we were discussing the symbolic importance of American participation in, and withdrawal from, international climate protocols like Kyoto and the Paris Accords. Trump announcing that we would not abide by such toothless statements, says Hope Jahren, was like her declaring that she'd not rule Britannia after QE2. It was never going to happen, so what difference does it make? (continues)