Thank you for inviting me here today.
As I step forward and prepare to give the graduation speech to the class of 2050, I think back to all the steps taken that led to this one. At 75, I have seen things change in an instant, like the 9/11 attacks and the election of the first Indigenous woman elected President of the United States, Winona LaDuke, in 2024 as the leader of the Restored Green Party. I recall the many dear friends that made a powerful contribution to the advancement of an enlightened planetary civilization, and those who gave their all, like Jim Thorpe and Mary Peltola, that made it possible for us all to be here today. Hearing my name called interrupts my thoughts and I step up to the microphone.
As I look out into the crowd, my heart swells with pride and hope for a brighter future for Earth, our collective home. As we begin the journey into the great void of space, we must take a moment to recognize those people who got us here. Not just the “famous” people who refused to accept ‘good enough’ was worth settling for, but those heroes in your life who believed in you when you lost faith. Those friends who became family when they lifted you up so you could walk this stage today. Now it is your turn, through your work and ambitions, to lift the next generation up and to be for them the guiding light that someone is for you today. To teach important lessons like fear is nature’s proving ground. Always asking the same question; “Are you ready for what comes next”?
There are two basic responses. In some instances, ‘Forget Everything And Run’ is the only option. As hard as it is to leave everything you have worked so hard for, it is, in the end, only things, and things can be rebuilt. In this instance, choosing to live is passing the test and the resiliency to endure is what makes us and those who come after stronger and wiser from the lived experience.
The other response, the other choice, is to ‘Face Everything And Rise’. Stories of POW’s who with nothing but sheer will and faith endure some of the most horrific atrocities one person can do to another. They understand to die for what you believe in only happens once. To live for what you believe in requires the constant vigilance to principles and purpose that enables you to endure the ridicule, contempt, rage, isolation, and deception of those who only wish they had your integrity or are threatened by your heart. To show compassion to those who have harmed you is the only way to heal from the trauma and help others heal. All these instances are proof of the endurance of the human spirit and our capacity to make the choice every day to rise.
I believe we are spiritual beings having a physical experience and that our purpose here is to learn, love, and leave an enduring legacy. I believe we were created to evolve, that life is an adventure, and the tests we face are the Universe asking with hope “are you ready for what comes next”? I believe Star Trek is the theme of a brighter tomorrow that’s worth pursuing and that the actions we take today are how we can be authors of the script with best hope for the future. Today that hope is you.
The most precious assets we learned to nurture was in ourselves and each other are innovation, compassion, and connection. These tools, when sharpened, shape us each to lead ourselves and inspire each other. That is what we needed to do; choose to rise today and everyday going forward to the challenge of being the next version of our best selves and to inspire those around us to do the same. We endured the storms of the early 21st century because as the climate changed, so did we. As the planet shifted so did our economy, our culture, and civilization. Alaska leaping forward became the template that allowed the US, as leaders of the fossil free world, to inspire the whole world to rise.
Even today, what surprises me the most is how uncommon, ‘common sense’ really is. A regional perspective is initially inaccessible to a new arrival but often the new way of thinking can be a huge gain for the community, when the insight is welcome. Innovation occurs everyday when the two ‘worlds’ of regional (common) perspective (sense) collide. Often, people simply cannot perceive something until someone new shows them the way. Not an insult to intellect or capacity, but a testament to the grace and beauty that the immigration of new perspective serves to widen, deepen, and enrich the learned lessons of the host.
I’ve had the fortune of meeting a variety of people from one end of the country to the other. Made possible largely by a grandfather who drove semi-trucks and divorced parents who lived a nation apart I was blessed to experience America from the perspective of the workers. I never met anyone of royal blood, social elites, or Hollywood celebrities but I did meet people richer than money could ever buy. I was sheltered and guided by community leaders who held no title or position beyond healer, teacher, and coach. I also was blessed to cross the reservations and on one rare occasion became emersed in indigenous culture as I was, at 10 years old, given a headdress and paraded across the stage at a pow wow with other visitors. From these adventures I learned universal truths that I carry to this day. Money does not give people power. Position does not make one person better than another. Change is made everyday when a single individual shares their heart and mind to light up the world with new ideas.
Growing up on Star Trek, touring blue-collar America, and experiencing widely different cultures gives me appreciation that perspective, that diversity, is what makes this world beautiful and this nation great. Far from perfect, we are called “the great experiment” because we learn from our mistakes and apply those lessons to doing better next time. We see the past as part of who we are but not the defining characteristic of what we can become. We also have the intellect and experience to know that facing our fears (individually and collectively) is how we grow stronger and rise together.
My professional journey started nearly fifty years ago, earning a degree in natural resource management and a decade in the emerging renewable energy industry in Portland, Oregon. For the last thirty years I’ve served the Terran people as a certified sustainable building advisor and founder of an educational organization instrumental in mainstreaming the regenerative economy by 2030. Under President LaDuke, permaculture was recognized as a design science that involves our behavior in relation to how we interact with our home and each other. This Rosetta Stone of indigenous wisdom is popular in agriculture as it’s an industry of connection. The way we grow our food is just as important as the way we build our homes, towns, and cities.
The climate crisis was a direct result of the long-term impacts of short-sighted thinking. The way we have built our cities, our cultures, our global system of commerce had started a war between the economy and the environment with people caught in the middle. This divide was the root cause of many of the other conflicts we experienced and the endgame for many of them was to build new cities.
These actions became manifest in the investment of self-determining spaces where local living regenerative economics provide for the essential elements of life equally. Communities where art, language, and culture are nurtured and shared as the generational wealth of nations.
From the ashes of the old, we built a brighter world for us all where intellect and imagination fuel a clean economy of reliable innovation. Where cultural traumas were healed, and the economy of the environment provide relative peace, progress, and prosperity to a people who grew beyond “glorious leaders”. A future where we lead ourselves and inspire each other to explore strange new worlds and seek new limits of the human experience. The rise of a new day where investing in the planet is good for the people and nurturing healthy citizens the most profitable investment.
Many believe the most precious resources the world possesses, is locked in the ground. I would argue without the knowledge, imagination, and motivation of educated people it would still be there. Recognizing that in the advancement of “civilization” we desecrated the culture that was already here, we can use those same pioneering skills to heal old wounds and grow stronger from the sharing. Unlike most of the continental US, Alaska has so many unique characteristics that it can sometimes feel like living on a whole different planet. It is our environment that makes us unique and our people that make us special. Geotourism, aerospace, and data management are just a few of the innovative industries that permitted the people to prosper and Nature to thrive.
We created policies that nurtured the economic environment which propelled our values and principles into the future. We felt “representative governance” was holding us back, so we used the new tools of Magnova to engage directly in the market and set the pace to make the best of what came next. We moved forward by focusing not on what divides us but on what connects us and a trident strategy addressing policy, economics, and social programs provided the perspective to propel innovation past ignorance and the fear of loosing position, power, and profit.
For our part, in 2022 ARK began a metamorphosis of letting go of who we are so that we may become who we were meant to be. This meant a transition from education and advocacy to workforce development and driving investment into local projects that build capacity for resilience. We expanded our corporate board, and established state and regional chapters. To give a big view on our small steps we adopted a global advisory board, the Global Rainbow Congress. We also supported emerging entrepreneurs and inspiring social leaders to earn a living wage by training the next generation of permaculture professionals which led to the mainstream global adoption of the regenerative economy in 2030-ending the global crisis.
As the late Michael Jackson once wrote, “I’m starting with the man in the mirror. I’m asking him to change his ways”. ARK launched the Butterfly Renaissance as a social program that acknowledges we can’t build an intelligent civilization without providing the education that nurtures critical thinkers. We didn’t need to teach kids ‘what’ to think, but ‘how’ to think because truth is universal and we needed to give them the skills and tools to tackle new and exciting challenges, like interplanetary colonization, by breaking the old cycles of consumption, exploitation, and conflict. It built on the decades of work of groups like the Global Ecovillage Network, the Venus Project, and Moneyless Society to focus on ways to provide support for people in transition, to help them locate, or build their own communities. From these healing places the power of the people grew, first in the garden (eradicated hunger), then in the neighborhoods (eradicated homelessness), and then ultimately in the markets to influence policy.
We began by bringing professionals from around the globe and getting their input on the Good Jobs for a Green World framework which became our core business model. Because we believe, in a green world all jobs are good. The premise of the program was we used to spend roughly fifty thousand dollars a year to keep a person in jail or to deal with them being on the street for a year. We asked, why not take that money, and invest it on the front end? Engage individuals when they are re-entering society and invest a year and the same amount in their individual health as an indicator of our cultural wealth. Aerospace, geotourism, green building, electric vehicles, drones, health care, and agronomics were all on the list of viable careers that paid a base living wage of $50K or more.
Hemp, hydrogen, and healthcare. Those were the policy research components of the Restored Green Movement. With over one hundred and fifty environmental organizations working over the last sixty years, one might wonder why it took so long to face the global climate crisis. It would seem a matter of common sense that the environmental movement and the groups promoting environmental policies would be working together. Under president LaDuke we recognized that in examining all the political party’s bylaws environmental stewardship is a key principle that rarely became a platform. The Libertarians don’t have specific language but “being responsible with your liberties” is a great statement of stewardship and the planet is solid common ground to stand together on.
The other programs we promoted were all solutions to smaller pieces of the bigger picture that spelled out how we moved from global consumption to local production. How we ended the stigma that kept Nature illegal while promoting a culture of addiction. Most importantly we sought options that provided educational opportunities to pioneering spirits that empowered individuals and enriched the communities where they live. We came here because the kindness of others who lifted us up and we are here to pay it forward. People helping people is how we make the world a better place and lifting each other up is how we all rise together. One people, one planet, one purpose: to thrive in perpetuity became the dream of a new America, leaders of the fossil-free world.
Comprehensive Economic Development Strategy or CEDS is the term used to describe city planning. EcoDistricts was the development protocol, adopted worldwide, that holds the space for people around a project or place and guides them through the process of creating together the metrics to measure which lower the costs of living and equitably improves the quality of life for all. For two decades, ARK helped organized two annual events that engaged people where they are at and used innovation to inspire folks to learn how to use the tools to be the change they want to see in the world. With help from the Climate Reality Project and Earthday the events went national. That brought the focus of local investing into the scope of leading the world forward.
The first means we cultivated to bring about change was through the Regenerative Planet Summit. In 2012 we held our first event focusing on vertical farming, permaculture from the first nations experience, and economic solutions to environmental challenges. In 2021 we rolled with the times and held a virtual three-day event, covering community organizing in the big cities, the small rural villages, and in space. We even had former Minnesota Governor, Jesse Ventura as the keynote. This space was reserved for the celebration of community and the human element of making change. Anchored around Earth Day we ended up spending a whole week sharing all the good things happening in the world with workshops to replicate locally.
The second is what came to be known as the Tour of Future Cities. The American Solar Energy Society and their national event had been an anchor for our existence in the community and a focus of much of our activism. Showcasing homes and businesses that have adopted clean technologies and green building practices these self-guided tours were a big kid’s field trip.
Seeking inspiration from the Future City and Arctic Innovation competitions, Ecodistricts, Earthday, the Climate Reality Project, and the Space Foundation put energy into the focus of strategic planning and drawing connections between a residential and utility scaled system. Kick-off events coordinated globally provided the world community a chance to gather and hear from local leadership on how together we move forward and rise to the challenges of the day. Because of this, today Earth Day is more popular than the Superbowl.
We introduced the Future City Alaska competition and encouraged the next generation of permaculture professionals to step forward. Even today from grade school through college youth leaders are building on a writing assignment, a diorama, and a presentation to engage in cross generational modeling where pretty pictures become projects that get pitched to investors as places people someday will live work and play. This event in the first weekend of October became a regular demonstration of technology and energy solutions that enables the human element to free their minds for higher pursuits.
When we run from fear we are swept along in the current of inevitable change. However, when we rise to face it, we choose to navigate the options to grow. Growth is the purpose of life and while the result will not be anything like what we picture it, but efforts to look up, to see a brighter day before the dawn is how personal leadership inspires a people to rise. Today is the greatest opportunity you will ever have to become the next version of your best selves, and as you pioneer a new direction for all of humanity, you will be giving hope to all who come after.
To the 2050 graduating class of Starfleet Academy, here in the newly completed Luna City at the south pole of the Moon, the real question is, are YOU ready for what comes next?
I leave you today with a simple poem that always inspires me to see fear as the chance to face everything and rise.
Rise
By Robert Shields
When you can’t back down, and you can’t bow out,
All you can do is rise!
When you can’t step away, and you can’t stand down,
All you can do is rise!
When you can’t let go, that you know what you know,
All you can do is rise!