Not giving up

In April, I ended a piece of writing asking myself and others what we would be willing to give up in order to get to a more just society, and I promised I'd write more about it soon. Well, it's turning out to be a harder question than I expected.

There's a lot I don't want to give up. I like living in New York, spending time outdoors upstate and traveling internationally. It can get expensive. I constantly struggle with how much of this lifestyle I should sacrifice to invest more in charitable causes in the hopes of making life better for those less privileged.

But the more I thought about this, the more I realized that framing this question as how much to "give up" might be missing something. When I give time or money to a cause I believe in, I don't feel like I've lost anything - I'm glad and proud. And even when I spend money on "myself", I can still feel this joy and pride if I believe in the person or company I'm doing business with. I sometimes feel awkward about the fact that I "indulge" in paying a personal trainer to work out with twice a week. But it's good for me, and I have deep respect and appreciation for the trainer I work with.

Going one step further, when I find common ground with someone I often disagree with, I feel that I have both grown and succeeded, not that I have lost core principles by making a deal. So really, what I might be asking at the core is how to act more in alignment with our values, rather than trying to figure out what part of ourselves to trim down.

So in this spirit, I want to highlight a few examples of organizations that I believe are finding a way to act in accordance with their values, including the importance of finding common ground, some of which in extremely difficult circumstances.

One is the group of nonprofits that is fighting to get its funding back to support communities in the energy transition, like Climate United and the Coalition for Green Capital. These organizations are in court just trying to get back the funding awarded to them so they can invest it in places that need it most. And at the same time, these organizations remain devoted to investing in both "red" and "blue" states and towns, from "solar farms in rural communities in Arkansas to energy efficiency retrofits for affordable housing in Oregon to electric heavy-duty trucks for small fleet operators at ports across the country."

Another is the educational and research institutions that are fighting to protect their students and the medical and scientific causes that their federal funding supports. For example, I think it's important to notice that Harvard - even while defending their legal rights - continues to reform its rules and practices to focus on true educational issues and combatting both anti-Semitism and anti-Muslim bias on campus. Trying to respond productively to criticism with real reform efforts has not stopped Harvard from simultaneously standing up to bullying.

At the risk of sounding self-serving, I also must mention New York State, which recently led a group of 18 states to legally challenge the federal government's pause on permitting wind projects. In parallel, Gov. Hochul engaged directly with the federal administration to convince them to allow construction work to continue on a major wind project. These efforts, which show that litigation and political diplomacy can coexist, inspired me and made be proud to be a New Yorker working in State Government on these issues.

On the other hand, law firms who entered into ill-defined deals to spare themselves from the federal government's wrath seem to be finding themselves pressured to act in ways that go against their stated principles while those who stood up for their legal rights are succeeding in court and picking up new clients and recruits!

We don't yet know how these stories will end, but the experience so far shows how important it is to be careful about just how much to agree to, even when the pressure to give in feels insurmountable.

So, whatever organization you are are a part of, I hope you will fight for your principles against anyone trying to take advantage of you, while also remaining willing to engage and find common ground.

Making deals doesn't have to mean giving up your values. Let's keep finding ways to stay true to our principles while working with the world we have.