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Walking North on a Southbound Train (2003)

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Hope is an Imperative
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Abstract

A great storyteller I know once told a story about a fox that appears at the edge of a clearing in which a dog is tethered to a pole. The fox begins to run in circles just outside the radius of the dog’s tether, followed by the frantically barking dog. After a few laps the fox has managed to tie the dog to the tether, at which point he struts in to devour the dog’s food while the helpless mutt looks on. Something like that has happened to all of us who believe climate stability and healthy ecosystems are worth preserving and that this is a matter of obligation, spirit, true economy, and common sense. But someone or something has run us in circles, tied us up, and is eating our lunch. It is time to ask who and why and how we might respond. Here is what we know:

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Notes

  1. 1.

    This article was originally published in 2003.

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Correspondence to David W. Orr .

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© 2011 David W. Orr

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Orr, D.W. (2011). Walking North on a Southbound Train (2003). In: Hope is an Imperative. Island Press, Washington, DC. https://doi.org/10.5822/978-1-61091-017-0_8

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