On Buffalos and Cows
In an era of crisis, we need to turn to face the storm to prevail, yet many of our leaders have foolishly decided to run away and prolong the suffering for all of us.
When the storm comes, buffalos turn into the wind to face it. By standing tall, they reduce their exposure to the elements and shorten their time in the storm. When cows sense a storm coming, they try to run away, but in doing so they travel with the storm, increasing the time they spend in it.
The storm is here, and many are choosing to run away, thinking foolishly, like cows, that the strategy will work. Commitments to DEI and decarbonization are out; bending the knee to power is in. Even powerful institutions that have the money and ideals needed to face the storm like prestigious law firms and Universities (e.g. Columbia with its 15 billion dollar endowment) are cowering. Here’s what the Chairman of Paul, Weiss wrote to the firm:
We initially prepared to challenge the executive order in court, and a team of Paul, Weiss attorneys prepared a lawsuit in the finest traditions of the firm. But it became clear that, even if we were successful in initially enjoining the executive order in litigation, it would not solve the fundamental problem, which was that clients perceived our firm as being persona non grata with the Administration.
I’m sorry, but the fundamental problem is that you turned your back on “the finest traditions of the firm” because you were nervous about losing a few contracts, principles be damned.
Thankfully, there are a few buffalos among us. Rachel Cohen, a big law associate, understood the assignment. She tendered a conditional resignation and wrote on Linkedin:
I’ve spent thirty years working to get into these spaces. I do not give them up lightly, and I have made plenty of moral compromises before. But this moment is existential; whether we get better from an already unacceptable status quo or get worse hinges on how we handle it. If being on this career path demands I accept that my industry—because this is certainly not unique to Skadden—will allow an authoritarian government to ignore the courts, I refuse to take it any further. As I have said before, others stand to lose far, far more than a paycheck.
That x 1000. And one more thing: the buffalos among us are almost always women. From Rachel Cohen to the two who are speaking truth to the powers at Facebook/Meta—Sarah Wynn-Williams in her recently released Careless People and whistleblower Frances Haugen—and another two trying to hold GOP sexual predators to account (Christine Blasey Ford and E. Jean Carrol), women without institutional power keep asking us to stand up for our ideals as we act like cows.
That needs to change—fast. We are in a polycrisis, with many storms barreling towards us that can only be endured if we collectively turn to face them. For some of us, the storm is the rule of law, for others, it’s racism, or sexism, or inequality, or how we educate our kids, or the corrosive impacts of technology and social media on our society. The list goes on, and there’s no right answer. For me, it’s our connection to and preservation of a livable natural world, because everything else relies on that foundation.
Paying lip service to an ideal and making a commitment that you won’t honor is easy; having the backbone to actually stand for something is hard. What our current moment demonstrates is that if you (or an organization) doesn’t believe in a cause deep in your bones, you’ll wobble at the first sign of trouble.
So how do you feel something in your bones? Just like the crises we face, there is no one way to deepen your connection to a cause. What I have found in my own life and in observing those that I most admire is that deep connections come from a sense of love, purpose, and humility. The love of an ideal, person or place; a purpose that is connected to protecting it; and the humility to know that your contribution, no matter how big or small, makes a difference.
For me, time in nature is what connects me to a greater purpose. It’s something I can’t get from following the trend line of carbon in the atmosphere or reading about the latest environmental disaster or triumph.
I’m writing a book about the people and places that are rewilding because I see how the rewilding process is working for me. When I spend time with the people who are working everyday to restore nature, I see purpose and determination. I see a herd of buffaloes whose stories I want to tell. I see a herd that I want to join.