Thank you, Richard, for your illuminating (and thoroughly depressing) analysis of our dysfunctional culture of defiant ignorance, of which Trump is the avatar—the embodiment of our collective pathology. I’ve often said that the five enemies of Gaia—that is, the enemies of a healthy living planet—are greed, ignorance, hatred, denial, and despair. The first four of these constitute the current Republican platform.

The fifth is the enemy within. While it’s hard to resist despair on a dying planet, we must all cultivate the resilience and determination to fight back, to speak truth to power, and to decouple ourselves as much as possible from the Cancer of the Earth (the global market economy) by growing gardens, growing community, and growing awareness. The Cancer of the Earth may well be terminal, but we can each resolve to become agents of spontaneous remission, starting in our own backyards, and adhering to the core values of Permaculture: Earth Care, People Care, and Fair Share. If this is “woke,” it’s still a lot better than staying asleep!