Transition Times is written and produced by Jennifer Browdy, Ph.D.
I am a writer, teacher, organizer and public speaker with a passion for social and environmental justice.
In 2011, when I woke up to the devastating impact of global warming, the relentless pace of environmental degradation and the Sixth Great Extinction of species, I knew that these issues dwarfed the struggles for social justice that I had devoted myself to for much of my adult life. If we can’t turn the juggernaut of climate change around, I realized, every other issue will become moot, swept away by the tsunami of severe environmental and social disruption that global warming will bring.
Deeply saddened and frightened by the possibility that my children and grandchildren might have to face a nightmarish future, right out of the worst imaginings of dystopian science fiction, I asked myself what I could do to actively shift the story in a different, more positive direction. What could I offer to the growing movement for social and environmental responsibility?
As a writer, teacher, media producer and community organizer, what I have to give to the struggle for a better world is my voice, written and spoken; my knowledge base, built up over years of studying the politics, rhetoric and aesthetics of women’s resistance writing from all over the world; and my ethical passion for environmental justice for every living being in our precious biosphere.
In Transition Times, I write to right the world, and to share and amplify the voices of others working in the same trenches. I write to offer an alternative to the dominant narrative of Western society that tells us to be docile, passive consumers of mainstream media; to look the other way when we see injustice; to trust our politicians and business leaders to look out for our interests; to focus on our own individual lives rather than think more broadly about the good of all.
I have been delighted and heartened to find, through the magic of social media, many kindred spirits out in the world who are also fighting this good fight. The truth is that every revolutionary change has come from the grassroots, from the hearts and minds of many individuals guided by their sense of justice and compassion, willing to take a stand against the dominant social forces of their time.
In the 21st century, we face the biggest challenge the human species has confronted, at least since the last Ice Age 20,000 years ago. We know, thanks to our scientific and technological prowess, that if we continue to poison our air, oceans, fresh water and agricultural land at the current rate, we will destabilize our planetary home to such an extent that we, along with many millions of other species of plants and animals, insects and birds, will face population collapse.
I write Transition Times out of this urgent awareness, but also with an abiding sense of hope. I believe there is still time to avert disaster, if enough of us can wake up to the reality of our situation and begin to take action. As Kaethe Weingarten says, hope is a verb. Let’s do hope together, and change the world.
Find out more about my work as a writer, teacher, public speaker, editor and author coach at my website, JenniferBrowdy.com.
And feel free to get in touch with me: Jennifer@jenniferbrowdy.com.
The views expressed on this blog are the author’s alone and do not represent her employer or any other third party.
Transition Times 
mary glenney
/ October 31, 2011Hello Jennifer, I read your response today to the NY Times and I found it very interesting. I have been covering OWS since the beginning and since I do the women ‘s show on WMNF 88.5 in Tampa, I was not suprised to see your involvement with gender studies. I think women have more familiarity with closed doors and the feelings of being ignored. With such a new beginning thatI think that OWS is representing-sometimes the most important and necessary event is showing up-perhaps first to yourselff. Could you be avaialble for an interview for my show? The show airs every Thursday from 3-4 pm on WMNF 88.5 n Tampa, Fl. Thanks
Sharon Coleman, Ph.D.
/ November 15, 2011Dear Jenny:
I am so glad you are doing this blog. I appreciate the way you articulate the issues concerning us. In today’s blog, the following thought is so well-stated by you and surely expresses my ardent desire:
“We want a new system, with a radical reorganization of priorities. Let our foreign policy be run by diplomats, not by bombers and drones. Let an age of international cooperation in the service of urgent global needs begin”.
Keep on inspiring with your words!
Callie Jordan
/ December 3, 2011I’m so glad I found your blog — I’m subscribing so I get the daily post, and I’m slowly working my way through the archives. I don’t know how you manage to write about exactly the topics I’ve been concerned with!
And now that I’ve butchered the grammar in that sentence (shock! ending a sentence with a preposition!), I want to quibble with your use of the word “reigning” as in “reigning in the cost of tuition”. Reigning is for things that rule, reining is for steering a horse. There are any number of common metaphors that come from horse and wagon days: kick over the traces, take the bit between one’s teeth, put the cart before the horse, hold your horses, and others.
I identified with this latest post both as a horse person and as adjunct faculty.
Jennifer Browdy de Hernandez
/ January 28, 2012Thanks for the correction Callie! I’ll go back and change it–good catch!
REV VINCE
/ January 28, 2012Dear Dr. Hernandez,
Your commentary wrapped around “Kristallnacht” is chilling. I have been writing essays for many years, most of which do not get published. A colleague told me not long ago, “They don’t publish you because you are brutally honest.” Some of my work has been compared as being “between Clemens and Shelley”. Your words sent shock waves through me because you echo many of my concerns. The flip side of the Republican onslaught is the nearly feeble rebuttal from Democrats. I recently wrote to President Obama, suggesting he read Sun Tzu’s “The Art of War” and learn the art of pugilism. When fighting thugs, one must learn to fight like a thug! I have added you to my email address, having just “discovered” you. I am eager to read more of your thoughts. America may be “down”, but we are not “out” yet. God forbid that we reach the bottom and then join current day bottom feeders!
Chris Darling
/ March 24, 2012I read your post on Common Dreams, Silent Spring Dawns Hot, Dry and Merciless. Ever since I found out about global warming in detail in 1990 when I read Bill McKibben’s The End of Nature, I have been wondering whether humanity would make the changes needed to stop further changes in climate. So far, as a species, we have failed. And as you must know, even if greenhouse gas emissions stopped miraculously today, warming would continue for a long time.
I have concluded that the dystopian world of too much heat, drought, floods, tornados, hurricanes, famine, and most likely disease will arrive in full force. Too many of our animal and plant companions on this Earth will disappear as will the overwhelming majority of the current human population of 7+ billion. Fortunately, I am old enough that the worst will most likely happen after I am long dead. The sort of musing about humanity’s downfall that you wrote in this post is not often spelled out so directly. Thank you for doing so.
REV M VINCENT TURNER
/ March 26, 2012Humans have been destroying Mother Earth for generations, because most humans believe this our earth to spoil and abuse. We have not honored the custodial responsibility that was instructed to humankind, starting with the Book of Genesis. There is a segment within Christian culture that believes God has given earth to us to use / abuse in any way possible. That idea is outrageous, ludicrous and dangerous. Humankind’s assault on Mother Earth has been and continues to be an abomination. So long as people are allowed to profit from earth’s destruction, no real crusade to save the earth will take hold. Ther merchants of doom and destruction will continue to have their say, and their way.
Barbara Todish
/ April 26, 2012What is to prevent internet blogs, world wide web, etc., from becoming just as exclusionary as MSM? I have been excluded from countless independent as well as msm sites, because someone, perhaps many? may have labelled me a provocateur, troll whatever! I ma unsur and am unable to find out for sure. All I know is that my older brother told me that I have enemies, but he refuses o tell mewho my enemies are. Maybe he is my (only?) enemy?
Barbara Todish
/ April 26, 2012Wanted to edit my mistakes, but zero editing option! Next time I will self edit prior to posting!
My latest article @ Marx’s BEING instead of, or in addition, to HAVING:
http://readersupportednews.org/pm-section/28-28/11117-bub4ur
Bob Owen
/ May 28, 2012I read with utter dismay, your piece on taking Memorial Day and bastardizing it. I can only imagine how you must feel about our beloved military members. Shame on you! Shame on you!
Ethan
/ January 19, 2013Dr. Hernandez, I just read Seeking solidarity in the environmental justice movement. Great article. Thank you! My only wish is that you post large sized pictures so viewers can be more deeply impacted by the environmental degradation which is happening around the world.
Thank you very much for writing about our natural environment!
Paul Handover
/ June 24, 2013Dear Jennifer, I am the founder and author of the blog Learning from Dogs. I would love your permission to republish a post of yours shown last year – this one https://bethechange2012.wordpress.com/2012/02/06/dare-to-love/
If that would be permissable, could you drop me a quick ‘yes’ to paulhandover (at) gmail (dot) com
Big thanks,
Paul
Inez Aponte
/ December 10, 2014Hi Jennifer, So delighted to have come across your blog. I love what you write about. I love how you are thinking and feeling about stuff. So excited to meet so many great strong loving women since I started writing my blog. Blessings to you!
Jennifer Browdy de Hernandez
/ December 10, 2014Likewise, Inez! I love how the blogging allows us to find kindred spirits all over the world. Blessings to you in your work, and let’s see if we can find ways to collaborate!
Ngobesing Romanus
/ May 23, 2015Hello Jennifer! I have been on your blog for a while before coming to this page. I think you are doing great. You are right to make your voice heard on the key issues you address; and I think yours is a powerful voice. You articulate superbly what you talk about. Of course, not everyone can go with you. I encourage you to hold fast. Listen to other voices but go with those who go with you. No one can have everyone behind them. Bravo to you! I’ll mention you on my blog. It may be a pleasant surprise.
Jennifer Browdy, Ph.D.
/ May 24, 2015Thank you, sir! I appreciate your encouragement and help in spreading the word of a transformational shift in consciousness that will help stabilize the social and environmental landscapes of our planet. Let it be so!
Ngobesing Romanus
/ May 24, 2015Thank you very much.
Nina Simons
/ January 19, 2017This is a terrific blog, Jennifer, thank you for writing it! I will share it as widely as I can, and am thankful for your expressing so much of what is in my heart. As to the last part, re: the sacred, isn’t this where learning from and with Indigenous peoples is essential for shifting our culture and course? Thankfully yours, Nina
Jennifer Browdy, Ph.D.
/ January 19, 2017Absolutely, Nina, we have so much to learn from the Indigenous peoples, not only Native Americans but all over the world. I have been writing about that in Transition Times for years, and it also comes up in my new environmental memoir, What I Forgot…And Why I Remembered. Also wrote this short piece for YES! Magazine about the indigenous grandmothers, led by Mary Lyons: http://www.yesmagazine.org/issues/together-with-earth/when-the-grandmothers-awoke
Of course, every human was indigenous to some place at some time, so part of what we far-flung, nomadic folk need to do is to reconnect ourselves and learn to become truly indigenous, in the sacred spirit, to the places we are.
That was where I was going with a couple of recent posts about the water protectors of Standing Rock:
https://bethechange2012.wordpress.com/2016/11/21/honoring-the-water-protectors-of-standing-rock-on-thanksgiving/
https://bethechange2012.wordpress.com/2016/12/02/prayers-for-standing-rock-holding-the-light/
I so honor the direction you’ve taken with the Women’s Leadership Circles and the Bioneers conference, welcoming the indigenous teachers we so deeply need now. On the eve of the 2017 US presidential inauguration, let’s recommit to stand together for loving, peaceful “right relations” with the Earth, all her creatures, and with each other. Namaste.