Pittsburgh Post-gazette on Dolly Parton:
If you have recently gone off the grid you may have missed the great singer and country icon Dolly Parton’s latest acts of generosity and humility.
Some folks in the Tennessee legislature wanted to erect a statue of her. She said, “No thanks.”
Maybe one day, she said, after I am dead, “if you still think I deser ve it.”
This is not a time for putting people on pedestals, she said.
Meanwhile, she said she would continue to tr y to do good work and make her state proud.
One blogger remarked, “good Lord, like we needed another reason to love this woman.”
Most everybody loves Dolly Parton because she is fun, genuine and greatly talented.
But she is a proper object of universal admiration, too.
Because she is a selfless and truly humble citizen.
She created a foundation that helps teach kids to read — the Imagination Librar y sends free books to youngsters.
She has created good-paying jobs at Dollywood.
A few years ago, she donated $1 million to a Tennessee children’s hospital.
This year she gave Vanderbilt University Medical Center another cool million for coronavirus research.
And, all along the way, she has helped fund a wide range of good causes — senior centers, bald eagle habitats, animal rights groups and HIV/AIDS charities. And that’s not an exhaustive list. She doesn’t just write checks, either. She follows up on her causes and charities and involves herself in how they can grow.
People don’t know the full extent of her charitable work because she doesn’t want them to.
Awards and recognition are nice, she says, but not why she does anything she does.
Recently Parton delayed her coronavirus vaccine shot, though she is eligible at 75. She said she’ll get it in due course. But others need it more and she did not want to be seen as “jumping the line” because she is an important person.
She is also reluctant to accept the Presidential Medal of Freedom. She harbors doubts that she really deser ves it and does not want to be seen as playing politics by accepting it from President Joe Biden when she was unable to do so twice from President Donald Trump (first because of a family illness, then because of coronavirus concerns).
Her sincerity and humility are as clear and mighty as her voice.
Bloomberg Opinion on how the U.S. can help save the Amazon:
In his push to combat climate change, President Joe Biden has vowed to take action to protect the Amazon rainforest. That means getting Brazil’s populist government to cooperate. A combination of incentives and creative diplomacy offers the best chance of success.
Over the last half-centur y, development in the Amazon basin, a region that spans eight countries, has shrunk the rainforest by 17%. In Brazil, which accounts for more than half of the basin, deforestation caused by logging, mining, cattle ranching and farming has increased by 47% since the election of President Jair Bolsonaro in 2018. Last year’s clear-cutting was the highest in a decade. Scientists fear that the ecosystem is approaching a tipping point and will no longer be able to replenish itself. Further depletion of the world’s largest carbon sink would put the Paris Agreement’s global warming goals in jeopardy.
Bolsonaro has cut funding for the agencies that publish data on deforestation and enforce land management rules. He’s excoriated foreign leaders for complaining about unlawful development, turning sovereignty over the rainforest into a rallying cr y for his nationalist base. In a meeting with Latin American leaders last year, Bolsonaro said there hasn’t been “one bit of deforestation” and called reports of the Amazon’s plunder “a lie.”
As a close ally of Donald Trump, Bolsonaro encountered little pushback from the U.S. During last year’s election campaign, Biden promised action: He said he’d push for $20 billion in assistance to governments in the region to stop deforestation and vowed “significant economic consequences” if they refused.
Recognizing the global importance of the Amazon is long overdue, but the threat of sanctions isn’t the best way to change Brazil’s behavior. The U.S. should offer incentives that help Bolsonaro sell conservation to his supporters. Given Bolsonaro’s affinity for the armed forces, the U.S. might consider extending limited technical assistance to Brazil’s militar y to support some of its actions against illegal deforestation. Active U.S. backing for Brazilian membership in the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development — a priority for business elites concerned about Bolsonaro’s handling of the economy — should be in part tied to environmental improvements.