The Holy Qur'an says of the followers of the Israelite prophets and of Christ: "Say, 'We believe in God and what has been sent down to us and what was sent down to Abraham, Ishmael and Isaac and Jacob and the tribes, and what Moses and Jesus and all the prophets were given by their Lord. We do not differentiate between any of them. We are Muslims submitted to Him.' (Qur'an, 3:84)

Tonight, five of us whipped through grammar basics in the first session — two classes per week on the UMN East Bank campus, extending through early July. The point of the class is to learn how to read French in the arts and sciences. My particular interests are both literary and academic: in literature, I would like to know what Tolstoy's and Dostoyevsky's characters are saying, and perhaps to read Camus in the original; in academics, I am particularly interested in religious studies / sociology, which is a fertile and often un-translated field of study in the French language.

Well, Shakesville's Feminism 101: "Sexism is a matter of opinion" does an excellent job in pointing out the flaws in this naïve analysis, including the use of an excellent Matrix-metaphor. The whole thing is worth reading, but one particular paragraph stuck with me, partially because it applies equally well with the issue of racism:

Let me quickly stipulate and clarify that one can unintentionally express sexism. That innocent intent, or ignorance of the history of how women have been marginalized, does not, however, in any way change the quality of what was being expressed. Something can still be expressed sexism even if the speaker's intent was not to oppress women. And particularly if it does fit neatly into a historical pattern, it necessarily conjures that pattern of sexism, intentionally or not.

My first reaction was — I've read this before. But then I realized that there were some new combinations in ideas, some new permutations, and new personal reflection resulted. So, fine, no worries if Steffen has written about the same concepts several times. They need to be re-iterated again and again. From them, I noticed two things: I need to find my next steps to move past a green-substitution lifestyle into something more sustainable, and though coming from a humanist perspective, Alex is converging on some of the same ideas that underpin Bahá'í notions of the social changes required to move society from our present unstable course into a higher, sustainable one.

This post will address the first of these two items — incrementalism. I'll return soon to the second theme.

I've been feeling the need to plant some trees to offset my recent trip to Austin and to make up for an upcoming trip to my parents' place. And the Nature Conservancy just happens to have sent me an e-mail today about a new Plant a Billion Trees campaign for re-foresting the Atlantic forest of Brazil. Based on the various carbon offset programs — though this isn't marketed as a carbon offset, it essentially serves that purpose — $25 seemed like an appropriate amount for these two trips.

Which reminds, I need to go assuage my conscience with some extra carbon credits. TerraPass says that I need to offset 938 lbs of CO₂. But I prefer going through a non-profit, so I'll probably support the Nature Conservancy's new Tensas River Basin Project.