Excellent piece, Jessica. TBH, I just skimmed it to see what the seven things are, to see if you're on the same page as I am and yeah, you nailed it.

I also appreciate the comment about Gates. It helps me defuse some of my (justified, I believe) contempt for the man. I'm a lover, so don't want to pump up your (or anyone's contempt) for him, but the only thing I'd add to maybe give the Gates comment a bit more of a realistic, well-rounded perspective is that he really is one of the people who is behind some of the dystopian future we may be facing. Read (or listen to) the work of Vandana Shiva, author of "Oneness vs. the One Percent," probably our most cogent, left-leaning critic of Gates and the awful things he's done to India. He's got a bad case of Savior complex yet, like many who suffer that "disease," he's blind to so much of his shadow. Hubris may be our downfall as a civilization.

All that said, I don't wanna end on a down note so you'll note I wrote downfall "as a civilization" not as a "species." Because humans are a resilient bunch. And we've been through a lot already. And bringing this back to your piece, if enough of us do even half the things on your list and commit to it, we'll survive. But hey, even if we modern, "educated" folks don't, there's plenty of people living off the land in the global South who will carry on our species. This Graham Hancock/After Skool video is a great one for thinking about these important, Big Picture ideas. (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zw-w30pOkzY)

Anyway, thanks for your work. Keep it up!