I have just ordered a copy of The Overstory, by Richard Powers, which I found reviewed on your website.  Since my own idea is that the destruction of the Trees is the greatest mistake the human race has made in its long journey up from the sea, I look forward to reading this book.  If there is to be any hope at all for the survival of the human race, we must replant the Forest immediately, following in the footsteps of Richard St. Barbe Baker, who, with a little help from his friends, planted over 26 trillion trees over the course of his life.  

     Replanting the forest is necessary, but it is not sufficient.  The cascading problems threatening the survival of life on earth are accelerating the descent into darkness and chaos ~ the final Blackness at the end of the trail.  With every day’s news we read about ever greater calamities raining down on us, and we usually find that any problem under discussion is six times worse than we used to think, and is happening sex times faster than previously estimated.

     But, as I read with concern about all the devastating catastrophes threatening the earth, I see practically nothing about any plan to reverse this slide unto death.  Hundreds of scary articles tell us, with increasing alarm, about how bad everything is, but I look in vain for any direction proposed that might bring about some urgently needed change.  The tantrums of Donald Trump are just the last nail in the coffin.  Trump himself is not the problem ~ the problem is the deteriorating levels of consciousness worldwide that are making obnoxious and toxic eruptions such as the Donald more and more common.  

     For many years I have been working up a vision of how the world might be transformed into something with some chance of survival for us poor creatures crawling under what’s left of the forest canopy (vide: One Planet Makeover).  But the problem, as with most utopian visions, is how to get from here to there.  Working backwards and upwards to Prior Problems, we are faced with a planet beset by wars and rumors of war on all sides, a declining environmental ecosystem (climate change, ocean necrosis, tropical storms, forest fires, etc.) , and crazy right-wing off the hook demagogues and tyrants (need I mention any names ?  There is quite a list).  The fundamental problem for all of this is that this planet of ours, the only one we have, is controlled by the forces of Money and Power, not any kind of rational oversight.  It is like a Garden in which the Gardener has died, Gone Fishing, or is Out to Lunch, leaving the weeds to take over and choke out anything of greater interest or value.  

     Many people, seeing our world dominated by greedy robber barons, whose only interest is in feathering their own nests, seem to think that the only way forward is for the poor and downtrodden 99 % to rise up in revolt like some new French Revolution.  But that presents a very dreary and hopeless spectacle.  Not only is the chance of overthrowing the kings of the earth miniscule (they have the guns, along with the money and the power), but, even if it were somehow possible to pull down the Bastilles of the world, send all the robber barons to the guillotine, and take over the levers of power, the task of re-creating a new world from scratch is beyond daunting.  The problem is that any real solution must have a world-wide scope, as any local revolution would face overwhelming obstacles, and would be quickly crushed by the weight of all the other monkeys vying to become King of the Hill.  

     So I have never looked to any rising up of the downtrodden millions ~ I have considered that the only hope for significant radical change lies with those among the wealthy and powerful who have a sufficiently elevated consciousness and enough vision to exert some serious direction.  And that is why I write to you, Bill Gates, rather than any of the other tech moguls or other billionaires, most of whom are excessively self-interested, with no thought for the dying earth other than how they can loot more than their fellows as the world burns.  I have always recognized you as a man of intelligence, talent, and vision.  

     My plans are totally radical, sure enough, involving a Seminary of young candidates taken from all over the world to form an International School of International Studies, with a mandate to identify the most serious problems facing the earth, along with proposed solutions.  The vision continues to have the Seminary elect one of their number to represent them and form the final authority for an international government.  The vision also includes a radical new idea for a new Currency and an International Bank under the direction of the Steward elected by the Seminary.  This is important because it is not only abuse of political power that is destroying our world, but it is also the international financial structure (the financial version of the Law of the Jungle) that is wreaking so much havoc on our little wandering planet.  It all has to change, yesterday.  

     The whole plan calls for an entire makeover of the whole planet, as suggested by the title of my collection of essays, which may seem like an unimaginably intangible goal, and yet it all begins with the School itself, which only needs endowment funding to get started.  Whether or not any of the lofty goals of the project ever come to fruition, it seems to me that a fully endowed international school composed of some of the most promising young people from all over the world, would be a most valuable contribution to the institutions of the earth, no matter what its future may hold.  I want to start this school and turn it loose, and we will see what may become of it.  

     We need to establish a Gardener, who will restore the Garden and lead us to a new Golden Age.  It is a matter of Life and Death.  Therefore, let us choose Life.  The theological references are intentional.