We are the "Architects of the Future"

Buckminster Fuller (1895-1983) was an architect, writer, systems theorist, designer, inventor and futurist. He once said, “We are called to be architects of the future, not its victims.”

People, at least in my circles, seem to be finally talking about the climate crisis. But there still aren't many who are actually taking some action — action that will create the future. 

So, in the interests of the new year, and new year's resolutions, here is a short list of actions that you can take to do your part in 2019 to help safeguard the future.

1. Create Political Will

• write a letter 
• sign a petition
• send an email or a fax
• make a phone call
• visit your elected officials, at all levels, and ask them what they're doing about climate change
• vote in the candidates who understand climate change and who include viable climate change solutions in their campaign
• talk to others about how they can create political will

2.  Make the Following Demands of Your Elected Officials

• declare the climate change emergency (if London, England can do it, then your municipality can, too)
• end fossil fuel subsidies

3. Meet with Like-Minded and Like-Hearted Members of Your Community

• it's important (for our mental health) that we learn to mourn and lament all the sadness and "climate grief" surrounding this greatest crime ever against humanity
• cry, laugh, and come up with solutions for local resilience together over tea
• support a local coffee shop or library as a meeting place

4.  Set an Example for Others

• choose a plant-based (lower greenhouse gas-emitting) diet; go vegan (and share vegan foods with your friends and family)
• grow some of your own food using no-till, no synthetic chemical methods
• be an early adopter of new (lower/zero carbon) technologies, if possible (and if not, learn about them so you can promote them in your community)
• be seen with your low/zero-carbon technologies (renewable energy, transportation ... like walking!)

5. Seek Out Courageous and Compassionate Ways to Make the Conversion to Zero Carbon

• there are so many possible (viable) solutions to the climate crisis — and we need them all ("clean coal" is not viable)
• spend some time to do some research; become passionate about some of the solutions
• do this for all the children, of all species
• ignore the deniers — or, if you've done enough research, stand up to them (but, be forewarned, it's time-consuming)

After all, as Peter Drucker says, "The best way to predict the future is to create it." And it's our future to create.

 Plant something in 2019!

A One-Handed Post About All Hands on Deck

Have you ever heard that expression, "Be careful what you wish for, for you might get it"? Well, I got what I made the mistake of "wishing for" ... I said too often that I was busier than a one-armed paper hanger (an old saying of my dad's), and that I needed a break from all the busyness.

I fell this past Thursday morning and broke my wrist — on my non dominant side, luckily. So today's post is being brought to you (slowly) by my right hand, while the left one looks on forlornly from its cast.

Two hands are definitely better than one, especially as holiday preparations approach (I've bowed out of Christmas festivities for this year) and as a huge writing deadline looms (hunt and peck typing is so slow). It's incredible how helpful that second hand is!

But it's got me thinking of what we could accomplish on the climate front if we put our 15 billion hands together.

Actor and humanitarian Audrey Hepburn once said, 

"As you grow older you will discover that you have two hands, one for helping yourself, the other for helping others." 

So that still leaves us with billions of hands that could and should be helping to safeguard the future for those who aren't "old hands" yet.

Which reminds me of another important quote when it comes to climate change leadership. 

"It is hard to imagine a more stupid or more dangerous way of making decisions than by putting those decisions in the hands of people who pay no price for being wrong." — Thomas Sowell (an economist whose views I don't appreciate)

Anyway, my holiday wish for you this year is that you have / find /take a few moments to truly appreciate the strength and the power of your two hands ... to wrap around loved ones, to help others in need, to write letters and create protest signs, to grow food and prepare it and share it, to create the future and hold the fate of all the children, of all species.

May your hands be your gift to the world.

When You're Depleted and Defeated, Turn to Leonard Cohen and "Ring the Bells that Still Can Ring"

The climate talks (COP24) in Katowice, Poland have wrapped up with as little accomplished and as much left undone as expected ... but we always hope for better, don't we? I find myself doing a lot of finger crossing (for good luck) these days, but without holding my breath (expectations can be demons). 

The devastation of the biosphere can only get worse now, and faster and faster. We're likely in "only a miracle can save us now" territory already. 

My hubby is just back from the International Criminal Court in The Hague. He and others (including Polly Higgins) spoke about getting massive environmental damage due to climate change recognized internationally as a crime against humanity. But the wheels of justice turn very slowly (unless, of course, you're an African-American accused of a misdemeanor crime in the United States), so that can only be one piece of the strategy. 

But things have been heating up (pun intended, I guess) since the publication of the IPCC's Special Report on 1.5ºC, and the Fourth National Climate Assessment in the United States. Here's how I know. Amongst articles such as The 15 Most Stylish Topcoats to Wear All Winter and Damnit, Ted Cruz's Beard Looks Tolerable, Esquire Magazine offered up 

by Charles P. Pierce. The subtitle of his article is: "The lastest U.S. government climate report is a pre-emptive coroner's report, and our politics aren't equipped to deal with it." I don't think I have to say any more.

Maclean's Magazine, in Canada, is into the fray. David Moscrop wrote:

"We can’t address an existential threat with our fellow citizens standing in our path. They rob us of the hope we need to save ourselves" is the subtitle. Now, you know what I think of hope (it's a developed world luxury that we don't deserve — unless we're taking action), but I'll let him have this one because he's a newbie who has just woken up to the climate crisis and is going from zero to "climate grief" quite rapidly. (Whoever could have imagined that one of our greatest obstacles to climate change mitigation would be people who think that hope and feeling good are more important than action?!)

Anyway, my point is this. Sometimes, this calling hurts. It's hard. We can feel defeated and depleted. And when that happens, we have to have our touchstones. The people we can reach out to, the uplifting books or movies we can read or watch, and music — songs we can listen to over and over again that speak to our souls and know exactly what to tell us.

So whether you've been doing this for decades (like my husband and me) or you're just discovering how desperately bad the climate change crisis is now, Anthem by Leonard Cohen is an excellent invitation to take stock and then to keep at it ... imperfectly, if necessary.

ANTHEM, by Leonard Cohen

The birds, they sang 
At the break of day 
Start again, I heard them say 
Don't dwell on what has passed away 
Or what is yet to be. 

Yeah, the wars 
They will be fought again 
The holy dove 
She will be caught again 
Bought and sold and bought again 
The dove is never free. 

Ring the bells that still can ring 
Forget your perfect offering 
There is a crack, a crack in everything 
That's how the light gets in. 

We asked for signs 
The signs were sent: 
The birth betrayed 
The marriage spent 
Yeah, the widowhood of every government 
Signs for all to see. 

I can't run no more 
With that lawless crowd 
While the killers in high places say their prayers out loud 
But they've summoned, they've summoned up a thundercloud 
They're gonna hear from me. 

Ring the bells that still can ring
Forget your perfect offering 
There is a crack, a crack in everything 
That's how the light gets in.
You can add up the parts 
You won't have the sum 
You can strike up the march 
There is no drum 
Every heart, every heart 
To love, will come 
But like a refugee. 

Ring the bells that still can ring 
Forget your perfect offering 
There is a crack, a crack in everything 
That's how the light gets in 

Ring the bells that still can ring 
Forget your perfect offering 
There is a crack, a crack in everything
That's how the light gets in 
That's how the light gets in 
That's how the light gets in 

The No-Post Post (Living for Each Other)

Life is busy. Saving the world is hard — and never-ending — work, it seems, especially if one wants to also have a semblance of "normal" in one's life. In the interests of getting everything done that needs doing, I'm going to leave you this week with ... nothing. I'm depleted and yet still giving. 

So, with apologies, I'm going to get back to work now. I'll be here again next week, deadlines met (I hope!), dishes done, garden finally put to bed (talk about procrastinating) and friends lunched and tea'd and dinnered with. 

May something good come out of Katowice in Poland at COP24 this week. We have GOT to get moving on getting to zero carbon. (The biggest "enemy" in the world is chasing us, and it feels like we keep tripping each other up instead of helping each other run faster.)

p.s. Wait, here's something wonderful for us to meditate on. It reminds me of why I do the climate change work I do. It's not for me!

In the Interest of Keeping Some Friends ... The Five Stages of Optimism

Am I a climate change crank? Possibly. I put my climate change work ahead of everything except my marriage (and my dog ;-). I put off friends if I've got a writing project on the go. I can't bring myself to attend social events that are going to be all happy happy. My house is a mess. 

I don't believe that "hope" is more important than action (but that action is our only hope). I rarely see my family "back home" because I don't want to fly. My social media posts are almost always about environmental issues (although I'm not averse to a joke or inspirational story now and then). And I can't remember the last time I got to go on a "real" vacation that wasn't a climate change conference (and the attendant stresses).

Yeah, maybe I am a climate change crank. But it's how I can live with myself. It's how I know I'm doing (almost) everything I can.

However, as more and more people discover how bad things are, they are talking more and more about their despair ... the despair I've been feeling for years and years, and crying about every. single. day. So in the interest of keeping some friends in my life, I'm not going to say, "What took you so long?" or anything snarky like that. However much I believe that truly feeling the pain of what we're losing and then lamenting it is vital, I'm going in a different direction today.

I'm going to share what Al Gore (my mentor in the Climate Reality Leadership Corps program) and other leaders presented recently on The Five Stages of Climate Optimism. (I suppose Mr. Gore wouldn't have anyone signing up for his trainings if he didn't present some sort of optimism.) 

BTW, please consult a qualified professional if you believe you may be suffering from anxiety or depression, or experiencing other forms of mental health distress. Or find a climate change buddy you can share this burden with. (Now that's a good friend!)

The Five Stages of Climate Optimism

In a TV interview earlier this week, Climate Reality Founder and Chairman Al Gore said this about the recent flurry of scientific reports about climate change:

“It is hard at times to hear all that and feel the tragedy of it and maintain your hope and optimism that we’re gonna solve this problem. I continue to believe that we will, because we have faced almost insurmountable obstacles in the past…and we have rallied, as human beings, to do what’s right.”

Even when scientists uncover new information about the impacts that will result from climate change, even when the research tells us that we have only a few years to make global changes if we’re to avoid the worst, here at Climate Reality we remain optimistic.

We each, as individuals, keep our hope tanks filled in different ways, but here are five things we’ve found to be particularly good for refilling our optimism.

1. Acceptance

As a climate advocate, you’re likely tuned in to the latest research and policy progress regarding climate change…and so it’s not news to you that the headlines aren’t always sunny.

Many people who contemplate climate issues find that they wrestle with a whole spectrum of emotions – including, for some, grief. And it’s no wonder.

But the five stages of grief end with acceptance, and there are many wonderful activists, researchers, and medical professionals working today to help people who are working through environmental grief to reach the acceptance stage and stay motivated. 

There is great power in acknowledging and talking about the feelings we have about the climate crisis – and accepting our own feelings is important if we’re to turn acceptance into powerful action.

2. Community

“Grace happens when we act with others on behalf of our world.”
― Joanna Macy

The best antidote to despair is a community of people you can talk with, learn with, and work alongside to make a difference.

When we meet directly with the people who make up the Climate Reality Leadership Corps – parents, teachers, doctors, scientists, innovators, entrepreneurs, community organizers, faith leaders, and so much more – we find at every turn that there are new reasons to be optimistic.

Did you know that just last week members of a US Climate Reality Chapter in Santa Barbara worked together with the students in a Campus Corps Chapter to get their local transit district to commit to using all-electric buses?

This community of passionate activists met together, campaigned together, and ultimately won together.

And this singular accomplishment doesn’t exist on its own – take it from those of us who see your Acts of Leadership come in every day. Thanks to people coming together to support and inspire each other, change like this is happening right now in places all over the world.

And that gives us hope.

3. Inspiration

"In the struggle between hope and despair, I always come out on the side of hope." 
― Vice President Al Gore

It’s not too hard to find inspiration in the work of Climate Reality Leaders, but where else can you go for a quick dose of hope?

The bad news often grabs the big headlines, but it continues to be true that in spite of attention-getting policy setbacks at the national and international level, the economy continues to turn in favor of clean, renewable energy. For instance, we just learned that in some parts of the US now, wind and solar are cheaper than coal and natural gas, and the We Mean Business Coalition now boasts 830 companies committed to significant climate action.

Companies, as well as local governments, continue to prove they can make big changes. Cities, which are responsible for approximately 70 percent of global carbon dioxide emissions and a place where policies like building codes and renewable energy standards can make a real difference, are stepping up in a big way – in fact, 27 major cities (including London, New York City, and Melbourne) have succeeded in reducing their emissions by 10 percent over a five-year period.

Back in 2016, Vice President Al Gore explained some of the many inspirations for his optimism in a popular TED talk, most of which still apply today.

The truth is that the news isn’t all bad, even if it may seem that way sometimes – and we’re consistently inspired by the real world progress that we see beyond the doom-and-gloom headlines.

4. Action

“The care of the Earth is our most ancient and most worthy, and after all our most pleasing responsibility. To cherish what remains of it and to foster its renewal is our only hope.” 
― Wendell Berry

Knowing the reality of the climate crisis is important – and we must see it for what it is before we can hope to fight it. But without hope and inspiration, it’s hard to maintain the will to act [this is where I disagree; I think that if we act, it maintains our hope and inspiration; otherwise, it's a cop out, but then I did say that I'm a crank! but just because I'm a crank doesn't mean I'm wrong] – which is one reason why Climate Reality continually looks to highlight and support the solutions that are already underway to fight the climate crisis.

If you want to be inspired by how people all over the world are taking action, make sure you tune in to this week’s broadcast of 24 Hours of Reality: Protect Our Planet, Protect Ourselves. We’ll highlight stories from around the globe not just about the impacts of climate change, but about the solutions that are already gaining ground. We’ll also share a unique way you can take action by contacting world leaders.

Watch 24 Hours of Reality live at 24hoursofreality.org on December 3-4.

5. Self Care

“Take breaks when you need them. Rest, take care of yourself, and return to the work. I promise it’ll still be there when you’re recharged.” 
― LaUra Schmidt

When confronting the existential crisis presented by climate change, we can’t always jump to our feet – sometimes the sheer scope and size of it all, and the weight of our emotions, means we must take time to sit with our feelings and take care of ourselves. [Now we're talking! This is what I mean by lament, and being willing to feel bad for the sake of the future.]

One way we like to recharge ourselves is to get out in a natural place – get close to the very environment we’re all working so hard to protect. Whether you head to the beach, forest, mountains, or local park, the simple act of being outside has numerous physical and mental health benefits.

Consider, as well, taking a break from the news and the science for a time. Consider disconnecting from social media or any other distraction that doesn’t directly contribute to your happiness and wellbeing. Whatever it is you do to care for yourself, make sure you make time for it. Often, taking a break from the action to pause and appreciate the life we have on this planet is just the thing needed to allow us to come back refreshed and ready to make change.

This fight won’t be over soon, and it won’t be easy – but if we look out for ourselves and each other, if we focus on sources of inspiration and opportunities to act, we can make a positive difference in the future that the next generation will inherit.                                  
******* 

That is my gift of compassion to you this week! May you find a place in your heart where you can hold the pain so that young children don't have to.

A Message to All the Men Attending the Climate Talks (COP24) in Poland

Last week, I implored all the women who will be attending the climate talks in Katowice, Poland to be the embodiment of Mother Earth, to represent and speak for all the children, of all species — and to wear bright colours while doing it.

But I don't want to leave out all the men who attend COP24. The climate crisis is now so urgent that we can't do this without you. So here are my thoughts for you — the world's grandfathers, fathers, sons, brothers, uncles, nephews, godfathers, comrades and best buddies. 

~~~~~~~

Show off your ecological smarts. During the negotiations, remember that we are facing (some sooner than others) a threat to our very existence. Our lives and livelihoods, our food security and water sources, our homes and (for some) entire homelands are threatened by this climate change emergency — this enemy of our own making, this foe with no face. 

So share your ecological literacy, your understanding of the importance of biodiversity. Call others on their eco-illiteracy and their lunacy or lack of logic. Admit what you don't understand. Don't be afraid to pose questions (especially "stupid" questions ... many of us are thankful for those!). 

We can't eat coal. We can't drink oil. We can't breathe natural gas. It is neither money nor the burning of fossil fuels that gives us life. They merely give us ease. Speak up for the true necessities of life.

In his "solider uniform"

Don't be a "soldier" for your country, be a warrior for your children ... for all the children. Arrive with compassion in your heart, courage in your pocket, and creative solutions in your briefcase. SPEAK UP and STAND UP! Then man up (a term I've never understood until now). Your job, since time began for our species, has been to protect those more vulnerable — especially the children. In Katowice at COP24, your vital role is to protect the right of all children to a viable biosphere, to a stable climate ... and to a future.

You can wear bright colours, too! Those suits you wear seem so drab and boring. You're not soldiers — you don't have to wear a uniform. Cut yourselves free this year. Undo your ties! Wear pink shirts or yellow shirts. Wear bright blue or green shirts. Be a feast to your own eyes. ;-)

Anote Tong, climate change activist and former Kiribati president

Let what you wear be a symbol of what you care about and what you will stand up for. Dress like the day, not the night — like a meadow of wildflowers in bloom, not the blackened walls of buildings during the Industrial Revolution. 

Be inspired by what men in the least developed (and therefore least polluting) regions and countries of the world wear. (How did business suits come to be synonymous with pollution and, well, death?) Wouldn't it be fun to be more colourful and more comfortable this year? And how will you come up with the creative solutions we need in order to address the climate crisis if you're dressed in your dreary, anemic, lackluster, cheerless, monotonous, and decidedly unimaginative suits? (Can you tell I'm not a fan of "the suit"?)

Mithika Mwenda, secretary general of the Pan-African Climate Justice Alliance (PACJA)

It's time to grow up. Life is not a game. Men need to take it seriously, too. Life (both your own and on this planet) is a precious and sacred gift, and it comes with responsibilities once we become adults. Why continue to play these games well into adulthood? 

Most certainly, life is not a zero-sum game. There are no winners when even one of us is losing. And right now, we're all losing — even those of you who feel like winners. (If one doesn't understand how we're all losing, one could do more research before heading to Poland.) Perhaps you can have some fun turning this into a win-win-win sort of game.

~~~~~~~

Please, if the globe is going to be on fire, let it be with the passion and fervor of those of you meeting in Katowice to help save the world!

 

A Message to All the Women Attending the Climate Talks (COP24) in Poland

This year's international climate change Conference of the Parties (COP24) will be held December 2-14 in Katowice, Poland, capital of the Silesia region. Katowice (pronounced kattoh-VEETzeh) has a population of over 300,000 in the city proper, with an additional 2.1 million in the surrounding metropolitan area. 

Historically, Katowice was Poland's main industrial hub, with its economy in the recent past focused primarily on coal (oh, the irony), energy, metallurgy, and chemicals. It's been said that Katowice was once "a crushingly gray industrial city," but that contemporary Katowice is now a vibrant cultural and business centre.  

******* 

It was nine years ago that I sent out this heartfelt request to all the women who are going to attend the Copenhagen climate talks. Today, I send it again, to all the women, grandmothers, mothers, daughters, sisters, aunties, nieces and godmothers who are attending the climate talks in Katowice. And to all the grandmothers, mothers, daughters, sisters, aunts, nieces and godmothers of all the men who will be attending the Katowice climate talks, please speak to them! Speak up for the sake of all the children ... of all species.  

A request to all the women attending the climate change talks! 

PLEASE WEAR BRIGHT COLOURS! Please inject some life into the talks — wear the colours of flowers and forests and sunsets and fresh fruit and children's smiles.

BE A MOTHER OR A GRANDMOTHER FIRST. Believe in your power! The "powers that be" need to hear that all the mothers of the world want what's best for the children of all species. Please represent all the mothers and grandmothers around the globe. Even if you don't have your own biological or adopted children, you are still a mother of all the children, everywhere. Speak up for them. 

REMEMBER THAT CLIMATE CHANGE KNOWS NO BORDERS. Try to forget that you're in Katowice, Poland representing your own country. Think of the planet as one nation, one biosphere, one shared home within one shared atmosphere that knows no boundaries. Speak for all human beings, as well as the rest of Nature, which has no seat and no voice at the talks — unless you represent her there. 

LET COMPASSION BE YOUR COMPASS. Remember that prosperity and a thriving economy are impossible if the natural environment is ailing. We must get our priorities right! If a decision doesn't have the Earth and the children's future at heart, then that decision is not a compassionate one and not a viable one. 

CALL FOR ZERO CARBON ALONG WITH SOME URGENCY IN ACHIEVING IT. Try to rev up the imaginations of world leaders and negotiators of all ilks (even the heartless, uncreative ones). Help them envision the Golden Age of Renewable Energy that we must quickly achieve.

LET COURAGE GUIDE YOU. Women are courageous in so many — often unsung — ways. Courage in Katowice, though it won't be easy, will be simple. What a privileged position you are in! Please take advantage of it and be brave enough to speak up for all those who have so little — now and in the future. Be the peaceful warriors who safeguard the children. Be willing to stand up, join arms, and say no (or yes!). 

REMEMBER THE GREAT WOMEN WHO HAVE ALREADY DEMONSTRATED THEIR COURAGE, women like Rachel Carson, Jane Goodall, Dian Fossey, Biruté Galdikas, Patricia Wright, Donella Meadows, Hazel Henderson, Sylvia Earle, Erin Brokovich, Sister Dorothy Stang, Severn Cullis-Suzuki, Lois Gibbs, the women of the Chipko Movement, Beatrix Potter, Wangari Maathai, Julia Butterfly Hill, Betty Krawczyk, Vandana Shiva, Starhawk, Sheila Watt-Cloutier, Hildegard of Bingen, Harriet Nahanee. Stand on their shoulders — and be climate heroes in Katowice!

p.s. Whose name is missing? Send me the name of your female eco-hero (and a bit about her) in the comments section.
 

STANDING ON THE SHOULDERS
(click here to listen to this song)
by Joyce Johnson Rouse
(aka Earth Mama)

I am standing on the shoulders

of the ones who came before me
I am stronger for their courage, I am wiser for their words
I am lifted by their longing for a fair and brighter future
I am grateful for their vision, for their toiling on this Earth

We are standing on the shoulders 
of the ones who came before us
They are saints and they are humans, they are angels,
they are friends
We can see beyond the struggles and the troubles 
and the challenge
When we know that by our efforts things will be
better in the end

They lift me higher than I could ever fly
Carrying my burdens away
I imagine our world if they hadn't tried
We wouldn't be here celebrating today

I am standing on the shoulders of the ones 
who came before me
I am honored by their passion for our liberty
I will stand a little taller, I will work a little longer
And my shoulders will be there to hold 
the ones who follow me 

They lift me higher than I could ever fly
Carrying my burdens away
I imagine our world if they hadn't tried
We wouldn't be so very blessed today

I am standing on the shoulders of the ones 
who came before me
I am honored by their passion for our liberty
I will stand a little taller, I will work a little longer
And my shoulders will be there to hold 
the ones who follow me 
My shoulders will be there to hold  
the ones who follow me

 

Birds of a Feather Don't Necessarily Flock Together ... A Lesson for Us Humans

Am I the only person who's ever gone birdwatching without binoculars? I managed to pull that stunt this past week when I joined a small group of bird lovers from my community as we went on a field trip to a nearby area famous for its huge flocks of birds at migration time.

We met up with an equal number of host field naturalists and set out on foot to our first birding stop of the day. There, on the ocean in a bay not far from the shore, were hundreds of ducks and gulls paddling about. From a distance, they were all just ducks and gulls to me. But when I got the opportunity to look through someone's scope, I could see that there were several different species!

The best identifier among us spotted huge flocks of American wigeon, northern pintail and some northern shoveler and mallard. The gulls included glaucous-winged, Icelandic (aka Thayer’s), mew and a California. In the distance were many bufflehead, greater scaup, a dozen or more western grebes and horned grebes, along with the usual cormorants, common loon, and great blue herons.

All. swimming. together. 

Are you seeing where I'm going with this? 

As social discourse grows more and more brutish south of the border, I find myself panicking at the thought of how we're all going to "be" with each other as the climate change $#@! hits the fan more often and more extremely. (My heart goes out to all those who have lost loved ones and beloved homes in the northern California fires this week.) 

A 2015 book by Wen Stephenson showed up in our home this week. It's called What We're Fighting for Now is Each Other. What an evocative title! But it's true ... or at least we ought to be fighting for each other's survival now — and certainly the children's.

Barack Obama said recently, "The character of our [i.e., his] country is on the ballot." On the ballot, and in presidential tweets, and on Fox News, and spattered all over the walls of the scene of another mass shooting in the "Greatest Nation on Earth." (My heart is also going out to all those who lost loved ones to the latest the-NRA-doesn't-believe-in-background-checks-for-people-with-mental-illness-and-a-history-of-violence gun incident, this time in a California bar.)

Folks, if we don't learn FAST how to live together in peace (or at least disinterest, like the ducks), how to support others when they're down so they'll support us when we're down, how to live by the Golden Rule when the world is falling apart around us, well, we can kiss resilience goodbye. 

We need to flock together, whatever the colour of our feathers. Hey, if several species of waterfowl can do it, then why can't we?

With thanks to Collective Wisdom

 

Declaring—and Advertising—the Climate Change Emergency Closer to Home

Did that get our attention? Back in 2014, for a Climate Emergency Countdown, I wrote:

DEMAND THAT GOVERNMENTS DECLARE THE CLIMATE CHANGE EMERGENCY

... And in every way we can think of, let's urge all government representatives and negotiators at UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon's Climate Summit 2014: Catalyzing Action to declare the emergency.

Once governments declare that we are "beyond dangerous anthropogenic interference with the climate system" (UN Framework Convention on Climate Change), things will start to happen. This declaration would be an automatic trigger for the bureaucrats who work underneath politicians and within governments to start working on climate change solutions. Scientists say that determining whether climate change is an emergency is a value judgement that society must make. So let's make it! We're society. Let's get the CLIMATE EMERGENCY DECLARED!

Have we? No. Every time I (metaphorically) come running from my burning house, stumbling through the smoke and blaze with my beloveds (and my laptop, if I'm lucky), I find a ring of firefighters sitting on the front lawn in lawn chairs, discussing the need for more study of fire safety rules. Although I remember that they did publish another report on more serious fire safety rules just a few weeks ago, so things are looking up (or down?).

 

And among the lookie-loos on the street are those who say, "Fire? There's no fire at my house, so I don't believe in housefires." The more erudite and learned among the deniers will point to my house and say, "Sure, your livingroom's got some smoke and flames coming out of it, but look at your kitchen windows. Nothing. You're cherrypicking the data and exaggerating the risk." Ah heck, they're probably afraid the burnt-out shell of my house will lower their property values. Or they just can't face the possibility that a house fire can happen to anyone with a house.

 

Well, there's a sort of solution to the lack of global and national urgency on the climate crisis front. Municipalities are declaring the climate change emergency and doing what they can locally. Let's hear it for:

• Oakland​, USA
• Berkeley, USA ​
• Byron Shire Council, Australia 
• Darebin, Australia
• Colorado Democrats
• Richmond, USA​
• Montgomery County, USA

We'll see if Tuesday's election in the United States brings more attention and voice to the issue, state-wide and federally. 

Near my home in Canada, we're working to have two local cities declare the climate change emergency. The Climate Mobilization offers a city-by-city campaign toolkit. We all live somewhere with some sort of local governing body, so this is something we can all do!

Here in BC, one of the province's best-known and loved environmentalists, Guy Dauncey, has launched The November Offensive in which he asks British Columbians to write to the province's governing (NDP and Green Party) MLAs (Members of the Legislative Assembly) to ask that 12 policy requests (inspired by the urgency of the IPCC's special 1.5ºC report) be included in BC's upcoming new climate action plan.

"The second goal is that people will step forward to seek a meeting with their MLA, to impress the same urgency and solutions in person. The concise, specific, actionable request is that the MLA you meet with will convey your concerns, hopes and recommended 12 Actions in person to the Minister of Environment and Climate Change Strategy and to the Premier of BC."

"Actionable." If people want action on the climate change emergency, they have to TAKE ACTION. Which leads me to ....

 

Finally, I'm just reading The Climate Truth, an essay by Climate Reality presenter and psychologist, Dr. Joe Silverman. In it, he almost agrees with my take on cognitive dissonance:

"In some ways, action on climate change seems caught in a Catch-22. Politicians don't act because the voting public does not demand it. And much of the public is not fully engaged on the issue because their individual actions are a drop in the bucket that will do little to solve the problem."

(To me, the problem is that politicians are waiting for the public to demand climate action, but the public is waiting for politicians to take the lead and tell them it's urgent.) 

 

Dr. Silverman suggests that what's been missing in climate change problem-solving is "the need for engaging and motivating the public on this issue using a multi-dimensional [and, I would add, multi-media] publicity campaign." 

 

He's calling for a Climate Truth Campaign. "Despite all the efforts to communicate the urgency of global warming, this approach [a publicity campaign on the climate crisis] has never been tried" [his emphasis].

 "Advertising routinely sells the public on a number of unhealthy products (e.g., drinking soda, eating junk food), so perhaps it's not unreasonable to think that an advertising model could 'sell' a message about a healthy environment and sustainable future."

 

Give his essay a read. His idea is something that we can all contribute to and get going on, whether on/in local media or further from home.

We can't wait any longer for our elected officials to declare the climate change emergency. Many of them have only one aim, and that's to get re-elected. 

So let's declare the climate change emergency ourselves, in every possible media available to us. Let's do a GoFundMe®, a Kickstarter, an Indiegogo campaign, or just pass the hat at local events to raise funds.

 

And then, let's advertise it! 

 

Let's tell the world in, as Joe Silverman recommends, short, vivid, eye-catching, visual ways (even on radio!) that we're in a climate change emergency, and we all have to wake up, get out of the burning house, and start hosing it down together!