Philip Loring
@philiploring.com
Human ecologist and storyteller. Regeneration and Social Justice. Global Director @nature_org. Author: FINDING OUR NICHE. Stubbornly optimistic that radical change is closer than we think. Opinions mine (but science-based). 🏳️🌈
The opposite of vandalism is beautification conservechange.medium.com/the-opposite...
The opposite of vandalism is beautification
Trump and his allies are tearing everything down. The economy. Leading institutions of education and research, systems for public health…
conservechange.medium.com
January 5, 2026 at 9:56 PM
The opposite of vandalism is beautification conservechange.medium.com/the-opposite...
*bombed, dammit! Where is the edit button!
January 3, 2026 at 9:15 AM
*bombed, dammit! Where is the edit button!
I know a lot of self styled centrists are going to have their inner Ayn Rand triggered by @zohrankmamdani.bsky.social’s invocation of “collectivism” in his excellent inaugural speech, but don’t be tricked: they’re responding to a caricature of what he is saying.
January 2, 2026 at 2:00 PM
But there is a big role for progressive politics to tear down and replace the extensive barriers our present form of capitalism erects to try to keep us pitted against each other.
January 2, 2026 at 1:58 PM
But there is a big role for progressive politics to tear down and replace the extensive barriers our present form of capitalism erects to try to keep us pitted against each other.
Collectivism is a choice: people can choose to work together, care for each other, and succeed together. And you know the good thing? We don’t actually need to ask permission to do so.
And i don’t think it’s incompatible with having a market economy. Just with the kind of economy we have today
And i don’t think it’s incompatible with having a market economy. Just with the kind of economy we have today
January 2, 2026 at 1:58 PM
Collectivism is a choice: people can choose to work together, care for each other, and succeed together. And you know the good thing? We don’t actually need to ask permission to do so.
And i don’t think it’s incompatible with having a market economy. Just with the kind of economy we have today
And i don’t think it’s incompatible with having a market economy. Just with the kind of economy we have today
Why? So a few can do amazing. That’s why progressives harp on billionaires: not because we hate success but because we recognize they only exist because at the expense of the rest of us.
“Collectivism” is a choice to say we don’t want to live in these hunger games any longer.
“Collectivism” is a choice to say we don’t want to live in these hunger games any longer.
January 2, 2026 at 1:58 PM
Why? So a few can do amazing. That’s why progressives harp on billionaires: not because we hate success but because we recognize they only exist because at the expense of the rest of us.
“Collectivism” is a choice to say we don’t want to live in these hunger games any longer.
“Collectivism” is a choice to say we don’t want to live in these hunger games any longer.
It also means recognizing that the present lack of these things isn’t “a level playing” field but a deliberately punitive one
People will say : “but I didn’t have these and I did ok” and think that means anyone can do ok
But the reverse is the true. The game is rigged to ensure most people don’t
People will say : “but I didn’t have these and I did ok” and think that means anyone can do ok
But the reverse is the true. The game is rigged to ensure most people don’t
January 2, 2026 at 1:58 PM
It also means recognizing that the present lack of these things isn’t “a level playing” field but a deliberately punitive one
People will say : “but I didn’t have these and I did ok” and think that means anyone can do ok
But the reverse is the true. The game is rigged to ensure most people don’t
People will say : “but I didn’t have these and I did ok” and think that means anyone can do ok
But the reverse is the true. The game is rigged to ensure most people don’t
It means working together for things, not getting things without working for them.
I means creating access to supports that we’ve lacked, like childcare. Like healthcare. Like student loan forgiveness and cheaper tuition.
I means creating access to supports that we’ve lacked, like childcare. Like healthcare. Like student loan forgiveness and cheaper tuition.
January 2, 2026 at 1:58 PM
It means working together for things, not getting things without working for them.
I means creating access to supports that we’ve lacked, like childcare. Like healthcare. Like student loan forgiveness and cheaper tuition.
I means creating access to supports that we’ve lacked, like childcare. Like healthcare. Like student loan forgiveness and cheaper tuition.
We can achieve much higher levels of collective good when we work together, take care of each other. It requires replacing the aspects of our existing economic and governance systems that force us to climb over each other on the ladder to get a piece of the reward being dangled over our heads
January 2, 2026 at 1:58 PM
We can achieve much higher levels of collective good when we work together, take care of each other. It requires replacing the aspects of our existing economic and governance systems that force us to climb over each other on the ladder to get a piece of the reward being dangled over our heads
Mamdani isn’t bemoaning the individual: he is saying American society is too fractured by an economic system that pits individuals against each other and valourizes success achieved at the expense of others.
We have been brainwashed into thinking this is the right way to live. But it’s a cage
We have been brainwashed into thinking this is the right way to live. But it’s a cage
January 2, 2026 at 1:58 PM
Mamdani isn’t bemoaning the individual: he is saying American society is too fractured by an economic system that pits individuals against each other and valourizes success achieved at the expense of others.
We have been brainwashed into thinking this is the right way to live. But it’s a cage
We have been brainwashed into thinking this is the right way to live. But it’s a cage
There is a point at which creators become abusive to their characters IMO. We saw that with Whedon in the Buffyverse (though it turns out he was just an abusive misogynist)
I hope we don’t see that here. I hope there is a real payoff for putting them through another ordeal.
I hope we don’t see that here. I hope there is a real payoff for putting them through another ordeal.
January 1, 2026 at 8:43 PM
There is a point at which creators become abusive to their characters IMO. We saw that with Whedon in the Buffyverse (though it turns out he was just an abusive misogynist)
I hope we don’t see that here. I hope there is a real payoff for putting them through another ordeal.
I hope we don’t see that here. I hope there is a real payoff for putting them through another ordeal.