Dr. Elizabeth Sawin
@bethsawin.bsky.social
Director Multisolving Institute. She/her. Systems thinking, climate justice, and multisolving, with a sprinkle of gardens and the odd puns. @bethsawin on X
Reposted by Dr. Elizabeth Sawin
as clergy pray arrests begin.
just let that sentence ring out, ring it loud
just let that sentence ring out, ring it loud
As clergy pray, arrests begin
January 23, 2026 at 5:09 PM
as clergy pray arrests begin.
just let that sentence ring out, ring it loud
just let that sentence ring out, ring it loud
Reposted by Dr. Elizabeth Sawin
definitely not sobbing as i sit here and watch this
Singing
January 23, 2026 at 5:01 PM
definitely not sobbing as i sit here and watch this
Empires, elites and the economies that prop them up are brittle and brittle isn't favorable heading deeper into climate chaos. I don't think this stage is permanent, much as those benefiting from it all might want to replicate it in space.
January 23, 2026 at 2:06 PM
Empires, elites and the economies that prop them up are brittle and brittle isn't favorable heading deeper into climate chaos. I don't think this stage is permanent, much as those benefiting from it all might want to replicate it in space.
Reposted by Dr. Elizabeth Sawin
I want to format these all into beautiful things to be shared across the internet, but until I have the time for it, if you are from Minnesota and need to know that people love you and have your back, that you are inspiring people all over the world, here are some notes.
Love Notes
docs.google.com
January 22, 2026 at 10:52 PM
I want to format these all into beautiful things to be shared across the internet, but until I have the time for it, if you are from Minnesota and need to know that people love you and have your back, that you are inspiring people all over the world, here are some notes.
I'm trying a new "rule" lately - I have to take some action for the world I want (a call, a donation, help a neighbor) before I allow myself to settle in to scroll bad news.
I joined the Green Party and I got involved. And being in places where there are other people who want change - and doing stuff together.
That community will ground you and make you feel seen and saner.
That community will ground you and make you feel seen and saner.
January 22, 2026 at 8:50 PM
I'm trying a new "rule" lately - I have to take some action for the world I want (a call, a donation, help a neighbor) before I allow myself to settle in to scroll bad news.
Reposted by Dr. Elizabeth Sawin
Went for a walk to the wetland today, and saw that the beavers have been busy. Beavers who, through slow and steady and consistent work over weeks and months a year, can change the paths of rivers; can alter entire ecosystems. The work never stops.
January 22, 2026 at 7:41 PM
Reposted by Dr. Elizabeth Sawin
Why are Republicans on the Supreme Court poised to treat firing Fed Commissioners different from Trump firing everybody else? Because Republicans on the Supreme Court like money.
Don’t overthink it. Occam’s Razor has you covered.
My latest in @thenation.com
Don’t overthink it. Occam’s Razor has you covered.
My latest in @thenation.com
The Supreme Court Shows It’s Willing to Thwart Trump—When Money Is on the Line
The court’s conservatives appear likely to block trump from firing Lisa Cook—not because they care about principle but because they care about the Fed.
www.thenation.com
January 22, 2026 at 5:52 PM
Why are Republicans on the Supreme Court poised to treat firing Fed Commissioners different from Trump firing everybody else? Because Republicans on the Supreme Court like money.
Don’t overthink it. Occam’s Razor has you covered.
My latest in @thenation.com
Don’t overthink it. Occam’s Razor has you covered.
My latest in @thenation.com
I remember this helping when it came out last year. Going to re-read it now.
When I wrote this a year ago I had no idea how bad things would get. Today, eight years after she left us, I'm trying to follow Ursula's advice: write and worry. Write and act. Worry and keep writing.
lithub.com/the-way-of-w...
lithub.com/the-way-of-w...
The Way of Water: On the Quiet Power of Ursula K. Le Guin’s Activism
In the past two months, I’ve found myself thinking back to an essay Ursula K. Le Guin posted on her blog in November 2016. It was one of her last long essays, and she wrote it at a time when she—li…
lithub.com
January 22, 2026 at 5:53 PM
I remember this helping when it came out last year. Going to re-read it now.
Reposted by Dr. Elizabeth Sawin
When I wrote this a year ago I had no idea how bad things would get. Today, eight years after she left us, I'm trying to follow Ursula's advice: write and worry. Write and act. Worry and keep writing.
lithub.com/the-way-of-w...
lithub.com/the-way-of-w...
The Way of Water: On the Quiet Power of Ursula K. Le Guin’s Activism
In the past two months, I’ve found myself thinking back to an essay Ursula K. Le Guin posted on her blog in November 2016. It was one of her last long essays, and she wrote it at a time when she—li…
lithub.com
January 22, 2026 at 5:48 PM
When I wrote this a year ago I had no idea how bad things would get. Today, eight years after she left us, I'm trying to follow Ursula's advice: write and worry. Write and act. Worry and keep writing.
lithub.com/the-way-of-w...
lithub.com/the-way-of-w...
One thing we are focusing on @multisolving.bsky.social these days are Seeds for the Future, examples of people/ communities meeting destabilization by building life sustaining futures. More soon about the project, but for now, this strikes me as an example. 19thnews.org/2026/01/eato...
She lost her school to a wildfire. What she saved was more important.
When the Eaton Fire destroyed Pasadena Rosebud Academy, its executive director focused on keeping her students engaged and her community intact, even without a campus.
19thnews.org
January 22, 2026 at 4:12 PM
One thing we are focusing on @multisolving.bsky.social these days are Seeds for the Future, examples of people/ communities meeting destabilization by building life sustaining futures. More soon about the project, but for now, this strikes me as an example. 19thnews.org/2026/01/eato...
Reposted by Dr. Elizabeth Sawin
I think of a poets’ category too: Joy Harjo, Naomi Shihab Nye, Nikita Gill, Wendell Berry, Jaiya John are my current lanterns in the window.
January 21, 2026 at 3:16 AM
I think of a poets’ category too: Joy Harjo, Naomi Shihab Nye, Nikita Gill, Wendell Berry, Jaiya John are my current lanterns in the window.
Reposted by Dr. Elizabeth Sawin
Meditating on the wise ones who are North Stars with their deep seeing.
Thanks for this great question @bethsawin.bsky.social ✨🌠
Thanks for this great question @bethsawin.bsky.social ✨🌠
For me, Prentis Hemphill, Alexis Pauline Gumbs, Rowen White, Mariame Kaba, Kelly Hayes, Pat McCabe, Leah and Naima Penniman, Dr Brittney Cooper and Tressie McMillan Cottom ❤️🔥. Every time I feel lost, I read several from this list and get into a whole deeper Root system.
January 21, 2026 at 3:18 AM
Meditating on the wise ones who are North Stars with their deep seeing.
Thanks for this great question @bethsawin.bsky.social ✨🌠
Thanks for this great question @bethsawin.bsky.social ✨🌠
Reposted by Dr. Elizabeth Sawin
Dr. Gladys West, the pioneering mathematician whose work laid the foundation for modern GPS technology, has died. She was 95.
Dr. Gladys West, Mathematician Whose Work Made GPS Possible, Dies at 95
ALEXANDRIA, VA — Dr. Gladys West, the pioneering mathematician whose work laid the foundation for modern GPS technology, has died. She passed away
thezebra.org
January 19, 2026 at 6:00 PM
Dr. Gladys West, the pioneering mathematician whose work laid the foundation for modern GPS technology, has died. She was 95.
I ran one of my old routes today for the first time since breaking my ankle 13 months ago! #SmallJoys
January 19, 2026 at 5:19 PM
I ran one of my old routes today for the first time since breaking my ankle 13 months ago! #SmallJoys
Reposted by Dr. Elizabeth Sawin
If you are caring for and cherishing and protecting someone that capitalism sees as disposable
You are on the front lines already.
You are on the front lines already.
January 18, 2026 at 5:36 PM
If you are caring for and cherishing and protecting someone that capitalism sees as disposable
You are on the front lines already.
You are on the front lines already.
No matter what happens next we are gonna need seeds.
January 18, 2026 at 9:56 PM
No matter what happens next we are gonna need seeds.
It's the season for the seed inventory
January 18, 2026 at 9:53 PM
It's the season for the seed inventory
Reposted by Dr. Elizabeth Sawin
You know, many of us said the post 9/11 War on Terror measures were Orwellian bullshit at the time, from DHS to ICE. The Patriot Act was chilling as well.
Some of us objected vociferously. Perhaps we didn't have the mics or the power, but we remember 2001-2005 as a terrible time in this country.
Some of us objected vociferously. Perhaps we didn't have the mics or the power, but we remember 2001-2005 as a terrible time in this country.
January 18, 2026 at 5:31 PM
You know, many of us said the post 9/11 War on Terror measures were Orwellian bullshit at the time, from DHS to ICE. The Patriot Act was chilling as well.
Some of us objected vociferously. Perhaps we didn't have the mics or the power, but we remember 2001-2005 as a terrible time in this country.
Some of us objected vociferously. Perhaps we didn't have the mics or the power, but we remember 2001-2005 as a terrible time in this country.
Reposted by Dr. Elizabeth Sawin
I wrote this poem as an homage to Baldwin and to hear it being sung across the world or read in protests has been my own guiding light of hope.
January 18, 2026 at 8:45 PM
I wrote this poem as an homage to Baldwin and to hear it being sung across the world or read in protests has been my own guiding light of hope.
Reposted by Dr. Elizabeth Sawin
I have learned *so much* from @nolore.bsky.social and @sandela.bsky.social. Like SO MUCH. I started listening to their podcast shortly before the start of the pandemic and they've played a huge role in my political re-education over the past six years.
January 16, 2026 at 10:07 PM
I have learned *so much* from @nolore.bsky.social and @sandela.bsky.social. Like SO MUCH. I started listening to their podcast shortly before the start of the pandemic and they've played a huge role in my political re-education over the past six years.
Who is someone who has been saying/teaching what we need to understand in this moment for YEARS that you'd like appreciate? Extra points if you didn't "get" them for a while but now you do. Maybe we can get a little thread of thanks and appreciation going. Because those folks must be tired.
January 16, 2026 at 8:27 PM
Who is someone who has been saying/teaching what we need to understand in this moment for YEARS that you'd like appreciate? Extra points if you didn't "get" them for a while but now you do. Maybe we can get a little thread of thanks and appreciation going. Because those folks must be tired.
Reposted by Dr. Elizabeth Sawin
We saw it early in the pandemic, in every climate shock & now in Minneapolis. The impulse of most people in a crisis is to share, connect & protect, often at risk to the self. Capitalism and existing power structures have trouble comprehending it and then often try to undermine it
January 16, 2026 at 3:14 PM
We saw it early in the pandemic, in every climate shock & now in Minneapolis. The impulse of most people in a crisis is to share, connect & protect, often at risk to the self. Capitalism and existing power structures have trouble comprehending it and then often try to undermine it
Reposted by Dr. Elizabeth Sawin
I think it's probably all of these, and more.
I don't know if Arundhati Roy anticipated this - I certainly didn't - but the new world is palpably breathing and flourishing amidst, despite, and in response to the tightening death throes of the old world... and may do for quite some time.
I don't know if Arundhati Roy anticipated this - I certainly didn't - but the new world is palpably breathing and flourishing amidst, despite, and in response to the tightening death throes of the old world... and may do for quite some time.
January 16, 2026 at 6:56 PM
I think it's probably all of these, and more.
I don't know if Arundhati Roy anticipated this - I certainly didn't - but the new world is palpably breathing and flourishing amidst, despite, and in response to the tightening death throes of the old world... and may do for quite some time.
I don't know if Arundhati Roy anticipated this - I certainly didn't - but the new world is palpably breathing and flourishing amidst, despite, and in response to the tightening death throes of the old world... and may do for quite some time.
I used to think that the new world Arhundhati Roy told us we could hear breathing would slide in gently and maybe joyously.
January 16, 2026 at 6:47 PM
I used to think that the new world Arhundhati Roy told us we could hear breathing would slide in gently and maybe joyously.
Reposted by Dr. Elizabeth Sawin
I recently saw it framed as the flocking response, as opposed to fleeing, fawning, or fighting
January 16, 2026 at 6:00 PM
I recently saw it framed as the flocking response, as opposed to fleeing, fawning, or fighting