106 Days - Two Years for Life on Earth

Two Years for Life on Earth was the working name that my husband and I gave our campaign to save the world, based on this quote from Rajendra Pachauri, Chair of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, in November 2007: "If there's no action before 2012, that's too late. What we do in the next two to three years will determine our future. This is the defining moment."

Had a yummy and thought-provoking brunch amongst like-minded and like-hearted people a while back. Thought I'd share with you this eclectic list of thoughts on and solutions to the climate change emergency.

• Wayne: "I don't have time to save the world" is a common lament. How do we get people to see that there's really no time (left) for anything BUT saving the world? (How about "30 fewer minutes a day of watching TV to save the world?")

  Peter: "The answer is spiritual. The power that's needed to change things is spiritual." Others felt that the word "spiritual" puts many people off (funny what we get used to, eh?). Amanda uses "heart" to signify this realm.

  The Greenland shaman, Angaangaq believes "We must melt the ice in the heart of man." JJ: "Will it take global warming to melt the ice in the heart of man?" (Not aimed directly at males, of course!)

  Wayne: "We need a unified purpose with foreseeable, integrated solutions" (cultural, technological/engineering, economic, psychosocial, "spiritual")

  Actions - scale / incremental / small steps (JJ: do we have time for small steps, which should have been happening 20 years ago?)

  Amanda: short-term changes versus long-term changes.

  The Pope is calling for personal ecological conversion.

  Krishnamurti said:
  You have to change.
  You have to change completely.
  And you have to change now.

  JJ & Amanda: Venn diagram (Science + Spirit) became a triple Venn diagram: the overlapping circles are Heart/Spirit, Thought/Understanding, and Action.

  • 1. HEART/SPIRIT
    • denial/fear --> courage, sacrifice out of love, creativity, hope springing from action

    2. THOUGHT/UNDERSTANDING

    • learn the carbon cycle, learn about energy and combustion, learn about global warming and climate change
    • become ecologically literate
    • search for engineering "systems" that work

    3. ACTION - (see tomorrow's post)

  In the centre of our triple Venn diagram is TRANSFORMATION.