Category Archives: DL Opinion columns

Newspaper columns by Deborah Levine for The Chattanooga Times Free Press

DL Opinion columns

Instruct and inspire with our stories – by Deborah Levine

originally published in The Chattanooga Times Free Press

Are you thriving? Do you even know what that means? When I ponder the word “Thrive”, my brain immediately goes to Thrive #1: flourish and prosper as a successful entrepreneur. And then I go deeper and imagine Thrive #2: live a life of abundance, courage, and purpose. How to choose which Thrive during these difficult times when both versions are hard to come by? I couldn’t decide, so I was excited to see that Thrive 2025 was coming to Chattanooga. Both Thrives would be combined, something we all need. Continue reading Instruct and inspire with our stories – by Deborah Levine →

DL Opinion columns

Douse Fireworks; Embrace Laser Light Shows – by Deborah Levine

Originally published by the Chattanooga Times Free Press

The July 4th fireworks wonderful! We drove around the neighborhood to check out what’s happening. Folks down the street have been doing a family light-up every night over the weekend. And then was there’s Camp Winnie, one of my all-time favorites. Best of all, was watching the sky explode over the Tennessee River. Of course, we’re sad for everyone living near Canada where smoke from across the border forced some cities to cancel July 4 fireworks. I was grateful not to have their pollution levels – until I coughed and wheezed driving by a house surrounding us all in smoke from fireworks lit up in the driveway. Mother Earth whispered that our gratitude should come with a grain of salt, or saltpeter.

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DL Opinion columns

Libraries are treasures, don’t put them at risk – by Deborah Levine

(originally published in The Chattanooga times Free Press)

Public libraries are huge community assets. They not only house books, but provide educational programs, arts classes, computer access, archives, and more. Even in my childhood in Bermuda in the 1960s, the library was growing into an island asset. No wonder my grandmother donated her Encyclopedia Britannica to it, ensuring the education of future generations. But now, the federal government proposes defunding libraries, including a potential $435,000 to our Chattanooga library.  

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AI, DL Opinion columns

Take the ‘Age of AI’ seriously – by Deborah Levine

originally published in The Chattanooga Times Free Press

I didn’t take it seriously when a friend in the internet security business told me that AI is reshaping the world and our future. Surely that was an exaggeration. Or so I thought until I was recruited to speak about intercultural leadership in the ‘Age of AI’ during a 3-day virtual symposium for SIETAR (Society for Intercultural Education, Training and Research). It was an honor, but also a vital opportunity to learn about AI from researchers and educators around the globe. 

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DL Opinion columns

Harvard and the Future of Universities – by Deborah Levine

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originally published in The Chattanooga Times Free Press

Reading the emails from Harvard president Alan Garber that accompanied my various 55th reunion invitations was enlightening. It looks like there’s a movement to take Harvard back to its origins in 1636 when Harvard catered to wealthy, White Christians. DEI didn’t exist then, or in the 1900s when Harvard’s president tried to suppress the number of Jewish immigrants like my dad. Fortunately, diversity became an asset with Harvard’s merged with the women’s Radcliffe College in 1967. The bans on Cliffies from campus areas like Lamont Library were lifted. Exciting! But an equitable presence wasn’t easy given the signs defacing library walls: “Cliffies Go Home!”

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DL Opinion columns

Don’t let history repeat itself – by Deborah Levine

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Originally published in The Chattanooga Times Free Press

I’ve rarely given in-person presentations since the pandemic. Taking a deep breath, I did speak to Civitan International’s Chattanooga chapter about my documentary: Untold, Stories of a World War Liberator. With Yom HaShoah (Holocaust Remembrance Day) on April 23, it was relevant timing for a topic that’s very personal for me. My dad was a U.S military intelligence office during the war assigned to interrogate Nazi POWs. My documentary is based on his wartime letters. 

I’m honored to carry on his legacy, especially for our youth, which is why pre-pandemic, I spoke at a local high school’s Holocaust education elective class. I began by asking the students why they’d chosen this Holocaust elective. One student said, “I wanted to hear both sides of the story,” and added that she’d read online that the Holocaust is just propaganda and didn’t really happen. 

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DL Opinion columns

No, Climate Change is Not a Hoax – by Deborah Levine

Originally published in The Chattanooga Times Free Press

I don’t often use AI, but I made an exception over the weekend when severe storms were expected and schools announced closings for Monday. The report echoed the storms of a few weekends ago when 60 tornadoes and 40 deaths came close to us. Was this the new norm?  I couldn’t resist going to my computer and asking AI if this weather was unusual. Here’s the AI response: “Yes, Chattanooga’s weather has a high risk of severe storms, including damaging winds, tornadoes, and large hail…” Unnerved, I asked a native Chattanoogan friend her thoughts on this unusual weather. “There was nothing like this growing up. These severe storms and tornadoes are relatively recent. Same for Alabama, Kentucky, Louisiana and Mississippi.” When I whispered “Climate Change is real”, we both nodded in agreement.

Agreement that climate change is real science is growing. Earlier this year, the Yale Program on Climate Change Communication published the results of a survey on global warming. The national average of believers in global warming is 72%. And 71% of those surveyed worry about the effects on future generations. Some may doubt that the global warming is caused by human action, but even before these storms, 75% of respondents supported funding research into renewable energy.

Unfortunately, the current administrations  Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) announced that it’s starting the process of undoing 31 environmental regulations. Check out these media blasts: “Trump administration aims to eliminate EPA’s scientific research arm”,“E.P.A. cancels climate grants, intensifying battle over $20 billion”, “Climate group (Breakthrough Energy) funded by Bill Gates slashes staff in major retreat”, and “Trump has fired the scientists who monitor the ocean”.

Does the EPA have regrets over these changes that put our planet at risk? Hardly! This is what EPA administrator Lee Zeldin wrote in the Wall Street Journal: “By overhauling massive rules on the endangerment finding, the social cost of carbon and similar issues, we are driving a dagger through the heart of climate-change religion.”  Supposedly, this “kill” will usher in a new Golden Age.

That “climate-change religion” phrase is intended to demean and is part of the new goal to dismiss the many religious leaders emphasizing our responsibility to take care of the planet. Don’t let that happen! One of my favorite climate-change religious leaders is The Rev. Dr. John Pawlikowski who reported how The Chicago Council of Global Affairs in 2019 brought together 51 mayors & staff to develop a flexible mayoral covenant on climate change. 

Four years later, Pawlikowski wrote about the 28th United Nations Climate Change Conference (COP28) where governments discussed how to prepare for future climate change, including transitioning away from fossil fuels. But given the complex politics over the COP28 which was controversially held in oil-rich Dubai, it’s obvious that our planet’s stability is in the hands of a small group of rich entrepreneurs and their political supporters. Follow the money! 

The EPA now wants to reject saving the planet and humanity in favor of cheaper cars and unregulated industries. But the EPA’s own 2009 endangerment findings block that move.  The findings concluded that human-produced greenhouse gases did threaten public health and welfare and must be regulated. So now what? The EPA will no doubt discredit its own endangerment policies and denigrate its supporters. Are you ready for a vicious storm of attacks on climate change believers and environmental projects?

We must remain strong and persevere. Religious leaders and community organizations must come together regardless of one’s political party affiliation. Reject the “hoax” conspiracies and embrace our responsibility to protect the future of this planet and ourselves. If not us, then who?

DL Opinion columns, Religious Diversity Kit

Enjoy sacred times with respect and joy – by Deborah Levine

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Originally published in The Chattanooga Times Free Press

As we approach this year’s holy days, we know that faith can be a source of great inspiration. We also know that religions can also generate the most divisive forces on the face of the planet. There are wars fought in the name of religion, as the Middle East demonstrates and many people prefer to be in the unaffiliated or atheist categories rather than be associated with organized religion. But diverse religions are part of the world reality and regardless of your faith or non-faith, ignorance of religions and religious traditions doesn’t help anything. Religious literacy is a must-have when you encounter and/or work with diverse religions whether they are fellow employees, friends, markets, or communities. Yes, it’s a bumpy road, but well worth traveling.

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DL Opinion columns

Stop ignoring sexual misconduct – by Deborah Levine

Originally published in The Chattanooga Times Free Press

I was amazed when Biden, just before his end as president, declared the Equal Rights Amendment (ERA) as the 28th Amendment to the Constitution. About time! Did you know that 85% of UN Member States already protect against sex and/or gender-based discrimination in their constitutions.  And recently, the UN Special Rapporteur on Violence Against Women asked Biden to ensure the ERA’s role. So exciting! But I have no doubt that there will be push back and legal challenges echoing our century-long fight for gender equality. 

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DL Opinion columns, Holocaust

Remembering the Holocaust and learning from it – by Deborah Levine 

Originally published in The Chattanooga Times Free Press

I was honored to be interviewed by a university’s Holocaust and Genocide Education Center for International Holocaust Remembrance Day. I’ve worked in Holocaust education for more than 40 years, starting before I learned that my dad was a US military intelligence officer assigned to interrogate Nazi POWs. I did know that he’d been a soldier in World War II because as a kid, I found an old photo of him in uniform. Always a curious little critter, I asked, “Daddy, did you kill anyone in the war?” He answered, “No, but I slapped somebody once…the Nazi said that Hitler was great, but should have killed more Jews.”

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