How Do We Cultivate the Courage We Need to Do What's Needed?

A friend sent that quote to me this past week ... a week during which I've been struggling to remain brave in the face of frustrating and nearly overwhelming personal circumstances and still so much nasty gawddamn denial of the climate crisis. Who *are* these deniers? Why are they *so* afraid to be working for a better world rather than the status quo? Because, make no mistake, denial of the climate change emergency is born out of cowardice ... and a shrivelled heart incapable of compassion.

Conformity to "everyone else" is killing us! Conforming to denialist beliefs. Jetting off to lie on some distant beach. Buy, buy, buying to fill some void. Building with steel and concrete rather than wood. Eating industrially raised meat and dairy. Using chemicals on their gardens.

Conformity is killing us.

Globally, crop yields have, on average, started declining. My worst fear (that food security would disappear while people are still arguing that "CO2 is good for plants") is coming true. I need to screw up my courage to a new level. Feel the fear and do it anyway.

"Expose yourself to your deepest fear; after that, fear has no power, and the fear of freedom shrinks and vanishes. You are free."
― Jim Morrison

It's time for material and energy austerity, folks. All the bad things I've been talking about here for TEN YEARS (!!!) are not only happening but increasing, and increasing at accelerating rates.

WE have to get our carbon emissions into decline NOW. WE have to do that. We can't wait for governments anymore.

What if the Green New Deal was designed to be a giant distraction? What can WE be doing? I mean besides the stuff we've been half-assedly doing for 20 years.

We need to be buying nothing but food. We need to work with our neighbours and in our communities to get growing as much food as possible, in as many local places as possible.

Governments need to get their fingers out of their noses and build public transit that works for real people of all ages and abilities. We need to be using energy-dense nuclear power to smelt the metals to build this public transit infrastructure, as well as the renewable energy infrastructure. 

We need to be staying cool using fans and breezes and shade. No air conditioning. 

We need to be doing as little travel as possible by fossil fuel. Staycations instead. Walking and biking instead. Carpooling and public transit at the very least. WE NEED TO START INCONVENIENCING OURSELVES for the sake of the future. And for some crazy reason, in this most-comfortable-ever era in Western human history, it's going to take courage to do that. 

So screw up your courage, do your best to make whatever changes you can make (cancel a vacation, plant some food, stay home more often or walk/ride a bike), but don't be afraid to screw up or be a hypocrite sometimes (the zero-carbon systems just aren't in place yet!).

We all need good luck now (to be honest, we probably need an all-out miracle) but by being as brave as we can be and making these changes, perhaps we can create our luck, and our own miracle. Oh, and don't be afraid to reach out to others for help. There's more courage to be found in numbers.

(With apologies for a rather disjointed post — but we can't let perfect get in the way of good enough anymore. We just have to get stuff done. For encouragement, see my other posts about courage.)

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!

"Navigare Necesse Est, Vivere Non Necesse"

We have to sail, we do not have to live,
Sailing is more important than living
— Ancient Latin Motto


To sail is necessary; to live is not. When I saw that saying yesterday, it resonated with me right away, before I even understood it. 

Plutarch attributed it to Pompey (Gnaeus Pompeius Magnus) who in 56 B.C., when he was ready to set out on his voyage home to Rome from Africa, faced a huge storm on the sea. The story goes: "The captains of the ships were reluctant to set sail. But he [Pompey] led the way himself and ordered them to weigh anchor, shouting out to them: 'We have to sail, we do not have to live.' So, with good fortune assisting his own daring and energy, he filled the sea with ships and the markets with grain. In fact, he provided so much of it that there was a surplus left over for the use of people outside Italy, the supply overflowing, as it were from a welling fountain, in all directions."

Are you seeing the parallels with the climate change emergency? 

We must set out into the huge storm of climate chaos if we want to find the solutions that will safeguard the future, but many of us aren't willing to feel bad about it let alone die trying to save the day.

Here's my version of Pompey's rallying cry:

To find solutions is necessary; 
To feel good is not.

Here's my poor attempt at a Latin translation:

Inuentionibus fiunt solutiones quaestionum
necesse est.
Sentire bonum non necesse.

In any case, let it sink in. If you've had your children, then biologically you're pretty much done — just one job left, and that's to help them survive so that they can reproduce. Avoiding helping to ensure their survival because thinking about the climate crisis makes your today feel a little less nice is the height of cowardice, no?

As this is the Thanksgiving holiday weekend in Canada, may I wish you a year of gratitude for whatever blessings have helped you avoid losing your own life or that of your loved ones, your livelihood, your food security or water sources, your home or entire homeland. 

And may we all spend some time feeling bad for our friends — of all species — in Indonesia and elsewhere who are struggling through so many crises, some of them climate change related or exacerbated, some not.

May our continued good fortune assist our own daring and energy as we push through the bad feelings to get to anger and then action and solutions!

Summoning the Courage to Speak Our Minds (and Hearts) on Climate Change

Hannah and Rachel from Birmingham
getting their brave on!

As part of my introduction at our Break Free from Fossil Fuels presentation in Victoria (British Columbia's capital city, not the state in Australia) this past week, I talked about how often I find myself lowering my voice when I'm talking about climate change in a public place such as a restaurant. As I do this self-censoring, I chastise myself for being a coward at the same time that I'm rationalizing that I don't want to upset others.

Well, as so often happens in this world, synchronicity kicked in and the very next morning, an article on self-silencing around climate change came across my desk. In it, Chris Mooney for the Washington Post outlines research done by Nathaniel Geiger and Janet Swim of Penn State University. It turns out that I'm not alone. A lot of people self-silence when they think others aren't as concerned about climate change as they are. The researchers found that:

"[P]eople are often afraid to talk about climate change with their peers [let alone near strangers in a restaurant!] because they wrongly think those peers are more doubtful about climate change than they actually are. This incorrect perception -- which the authors dub 'pluralistic ignorance' -- then makes people fear that others will think they're less competent [or unkind, in my case], and thus, view them with less respect, if they bring up the subject or talk about it."

Reading that reminded me of the year we discovered on Christmas Eve that we hadn't been invited to a traditional Christmas get-together the next day. I was able to laugh it off (made for a very relaxing holiday!), but my hubby was more bemused than amused when the only explanation we could think of was that we'd talked about climate change at the previous year's Christmas dinner. We're pretty sure other friends have shunned (well, dropped) us because we have a lot to say on the topic of the changing climate. 

Certainly I've had friends suggest that I not be so negative (hmm, well, um, the end of most life on the planet will certainly give jellyfish the chance to flourish ... how's that for positive?), or not be so emotional (we seem to have chosen a path to extinction, ho hum, pass the peas ... is that better?). Have you seen my article on this topic in Alternatives Journal? Love in the Time of Climate Change. (Not my title -- I wanted to call it Can Deep Green Climate Change Activists Have Friends and Find True Love?)

When I speak to educators and other audiences, I often underscore the necessity of summoning our courage and compassion to becoming heroes for today's children -- and all future generations -- of all species. I hadn't registered that the simple act of speaking about climate change to others and speaking up about it in front of others is actually an act of courage.

Since I read that article, I've got my brave on and have started fighting back against the deniers (who are still around in full force despite the sheer weight of the evidence of climate chaos from around the world) by calling them out in the comments sections of online articles about climate disruption. They're often so irrational, so lacking in compassion, or so just plain wrong that it's not at all hard to respond to them. 

In other words, one doesn't have to be a climate scientist to counter the deniers, one just has to be a person who understands, as Greenpeace Canada's Laura Yates does, that "climate change is the most urgent threat humanity has ever faced." She wants to "be part of the generation that listens to the science, moves away from fossil fuels and begins the clean energy revolution." I'm a lot older, but so do I!

Just remember to talk compassion for the children and the world's most vulnerable who are already losing their lives or their livelihoods, their food security and water sources, their homes and entire homelands. You can also mention the precautionary principle, thinking like an ancestor, and how you'd like to leave behind something other than progenycide as your legacy. Let's all start speaking up on climate change!

I'm Baaaack! (To Spread Courage and Compassion - Are You In?)

I think that's a famous quote from some horror flick. It's also how I'm feeling right now. I gave up writing this blog post-Lima climate change conference (COP20) when the result was so discouraging. (Why had I expected anything to come of it in the first place?) I couldn't even pretend anymore that I had the heart to carry on, especially when I knew Paris was going to be a sham as well.

It's been almost a year and a half since I last blogged. So why the change of heart? 

1. My husband sobbing inconsolably at the increasingly terrifying news on accelerating temperature and CO2 level increases -- and still working every day to try to wake people up.
2. My best friend telling me about the deer jumping in front of cars as they tried to flee the Fort McMurray wildfires (and realizing that millions more animals will have perished). 
3. The mom of one of my students discussing compassion with me on a beautifully warm evening in April. (We don't often have warm nights in the summer, let alone in April.)
4. Someone on Facebook saying that her daughter is already ho-hum about climate change. "Yeah, yeah, I know, apocalypse," she says.
5. Starting a letter to Canada's prime minister begging him to put life before corporate profit -- and not being able to finish it for the tears. (There's no ink on a blog for tears to ruin ... though I'd better not cry on my computer.)
6. This month, people around the world are participating in the Break Free from Fossil Fuels / Leave Coal, Oil and Gas in the Ground campaign.

7. And me realizing that I don't have the luxury to not try my very best to move people, governments and fossil fuel corporations to action. So I'm back at my weekly blogging habit. I'll be here every Sunday morning again.

Folks, I'm no scientist. But I know the science on climate change cuz I live, sleep and eat with it every day. If you want to learn the science (it's hard to stand up for the planet and the children's future if you feel "the other side" can win the argument with their sciency-sounding assertions), here are my hubby's websites:


Urgent Climate and Ocean Rapid Response
www.urgentclimateandoceanrapidresponse.org 

State of Our Climate 
www.stateofourclimate.com 

Only Zero Carbon 
www.onlyzerocarbon.org 

Climate Emergency Institute
www.climateemergencyinstitute.com

Climate Change and Food Security 
www.climatechange-foodsecurity.org 

Climate Change Emergency Medical Response

www.climate-change-emergency-medical-response.org 

Climate Crime 
www.climatecrime.org 

Next, this is a call to courage. Mine and yours. It's so scary to truly countenance what's coming if we don't turn this juggernaut around. Experts used to think all the climate chaos $#@! was going to happen at century's end -- and most people still believe that, not realizing that the timeline has sped up something fierce. Hell on Earth is what we're facing if we don't get to zero carbon at lightning speed. 

Let me say that again. This is your children's life we're talking about. Your life. My life. My mother's life, too, and she just turned 90 and is hale and healthy. If we don't make the rapidest possible switch to zero-carbon renewable energy technologies and a zero-carbon economy, we're going to fry. It's going to be very ugly much sooner that we thought.

So screw up your courage and turn on your compassion, folks. We've gotta get going on this, sadness be damned. 

Are you in?

Get Your Brave On

This song came my way last week, at a time when I needed to be courageous interpersonally. But it's also a reminder for us to speak up for the sake of the Earth, the future, and the children of all species.

Enjoy. And get your brave on!

Communicating Climate Change - Where's the (Com)Passion?

I have a folder in my email program called Communicating CC. I have this fantasy that one day I'll do my PhD on the best way to communicate the science and impacts of climate change to the public, and my research will save the world! (I thought my master's research on sustainable development learning was going to save the world, too, but alas, no one was interested in that topic either.)
Anyway, I save any message that is even remotely related to how to get people to understand climate change. And between one of those items and a conversation I had this week with someone who works in the fossil fuel industry, I think I've figured something out.
Greenpeace recently asked me (and a million others) to ask Shell not to drill for oil in the Arctic. It struck me that their rationale was orders of magnitude less urgent than the actual situation:

"Today, a Finnish icebreaker is heading to Alaska to help Shell drill for oil. Everyone has a limit - for me it's the Arctic. That's why I'm here in Helsinki to stop it before it gets there. And that's why I need your help. Take action now and stop Shell with me. The Arctic is one of the last untouched natural areas on the planet, home of polar bears, narwhals, and other unique wildlife. Due to climate change, the Arctic sea ice is melting at an accelerating rate, opening up the Arctic to companies in search of more oil. It is wrong in so many ways. What would happen when an oil spill happens, I’m afraid to even think of it."

What if this committed activist had said, "The Arctic is sitting on massive amounts of frozen methane, a greenhouse gas that is 100 times more potent that carbon dioxide. If we allow more drilling and burning of fossil fuels, the Arctic will warm even more, releasing the methane and causing catastrophic climate chaos — including agricultural disasters and loss of food security around the world — and we'll all be guilty of the worst crime ever against humanity and the rest of Nature for having allowed it to happen."
I don't know. Doesn't that come closer to telling the terrifying truth? And even if some people read that and throw the covers over their heads, many more will wake up and demand action ... "You mean it's not just about polar bears and a few little oil spills affecting narwhals up north?" At least, that's what I believe.
(By the way, the automated response I got from Greenpeace actually made me laugh: "You’re amazing. As Shell is trying to expand into the Arctic, you’ve let them know that’s unacceptable. It will make a difference for the polar bears, Arctic terns and other amazing animals that depend on the Arctic." Hey, Greenpeace! I'm doing this to save my own ass, okay? And my niece's and stepsons' asses, okay? If I save them, the Arctic terns will be saved too. Okay? Bless 'em, they're lovely birds. And it's really cool that theirs is the longest regular migration by any known animal. But I don't think that's why people are going to go up against Shell to fight Arctic drilling and global warming.)
Then I found myself talking with someone who works in Calgary, Canada's seat of the fossil fuel industry. He was all excited about efficiency standards in American cars, and how "Saudi America" will soon be energy independent because there's so much fuel here (in North America) that we haven't tapped yet. He was standing there with his wife and young daughter. How could I inform him (as if he doesn't know) that American fossil fuels are just as destructive to the climate system as those from the Middle East? How could I tell him that automotive fuel standards are too little, too late? How could I explain that fracking for "all sorts of natural gas" is going to be disastrous?
I came away both relieved that I hadn't started a fight, especially with his daughter standing there, and ashamed that I didn't have the guts to speak up.
It seems that the world will not be saved because too many of us (Greenpeace and I included) are too nice (aka, too wussie) to speak up and tell the truth in public to defend the children and their future from those who knowingly or unwittingly are putting profit before life.
Grandfather of biodiversity, Edward O. Wilson, recently told an interviewer:

"We have to do everything we possibly can. I like to tell this the way a former Southern Baptist would tell it, in the original accent. Then you’ll see what I’m trying to say when I say we have to use every weapon at our disposal, all the time, everything from science to activism to political influence, etc. So this is Billy Sunday, a pioneer in Southern evangelicalism and fundamentalism in the ’20s: 'I hate sin. I hate sin so much I’m going to fight it till my arms won’t move no more. When my arms don’t move no more, I’m gonna bite it. And when all my teeth are gone, I’m gonna gum it.' Now you get the picture. We all have to do that. When there’s nothing else at hand, gum it."

So let's not be afraid to wear down our climate activist teeth, my friends!!! If need be, we'll just gum the problem till we solve it! In the meantime, let's communicate the potential (and probable, if we don't change our track) impacts of the climate change emergency in ways that people will actually hear and take seriously. With all honour to the remarkable Arctic tern.

Cognitive Dissonance, Diffidence, and Dissidence

Last week on this blog, I called a local climate change denialist a selfish %$#@!. I think the "selfish" epithet is clear enough: an old geezer who refuses to make any dents in his greenhouse gas emissions to benefit the children and all future generations is just plain selfish.

But two friends thought that I was somehow being hypocritical by using the term "bastard." Now, I'd assumed that most of us know, understand and use the second (slang) definition of the word: a vicious, despicable, or thoroughly disliked person.

So I see no hypocrisy, nor any problem, in calling a spade a spade ... especially these days, when so much is riding (future of life on Earth, anyone?) on the compassion we must muster for those more vulnerable to the ravages of the climate change emergency. In my world, to flatly refuse to make even the slightest sacrifice for the sake of the children — and then to splatter that mean-spiritedness all over a newspaper page — makes you a %$#@!. And a selfish one.

*****

My friends' reactions got me thinking about cognitive dissonance: the state of conflict or anxiety that arises from inconsistency between one's beliefs/attitudes and actions, or from holding conflicting ideas at the same time.

For example, these friends know that the world is teetering on the edge of demise. Yet, they couldn't picture themselves calling a selfish %$#@! "a selfish %$#@!" on a blog. "What if a child reads it?" asked one. Um, that matters why? Changes things how? (Hey, if a child reads my blog, he or she is going to know that at least I stick up for the children and their right to a future!)

Anyway, that made me think of a new term. Cognitive diffidence: mental shyness or inability to trust; lack of intellectual self-confidence. Sure, if you hadn't spent a whole day researching and rebutting the denialist's published bullsh!t, you might not feel you have enough evidence to call someone a selfish %$#@!. But I did spend a whole day, so I do have enough evidence!

Then I remembered another friend's recent typo: cognitive dissidence. Pretty good one, eh? I'm coining that phrase as intellectual dissent, or mental protest against official policy. Yeah, that's what I'd like to see! A whole lot more people mentally protesting against national, international and multinational policies that are keeping us on the road to hell. And then, in order to get rid of their cognitive dissonance, people will have to DO SOMETHING about what's going on in the world. With courage instead of cognitive diffidence.

Think about it, 'kay? I might be onto something here!!

Here's to a Courageous and Compassionate New School Year

In my part of the world, students and teachers are heading back to school. Here's my wish for the new school year:

May all the educators — at all levels, everywhere — find the courage and compassion they need in order to teach what their students most need to learn, whether that is how to connect with the rest of Nature (for the young ones), how life works on this planet (ecological principles), what the state of their planet (and hence, their future) is, or how to move into the world of work and adulthood and citizenship as practitioners of sustainable (or better yet, survivable) development principles.

But we teachers also have to be brave enough to say NO! to irrelevant parts of the curriculum or syllabus and YES! to teaching what our students need for creating the best possible future for themselves: food growing skills, water collecting skills, energy generating skills. No matter what else you teach, you can teach with the Earth and the future and the children of all species in mind.

As I was writing an article for the 2009 issue of the Canadian Journal of Environmental Education (Transformative Environmental Education: Stepping Outside the Curriculum Box - pdf), I originally penned "Teachers are a timorous lot," timorous being the gentlest word I found amongst the 44 synonyms* for "wussy" I uncovered. (I was afraid "wussy" would be too offensive, thereby proving my own point.)

Teachers do not go into teaching to become heroes. We do not suffer from Fireman Syndrome. But heroes we must become! The lives of all our students are at risk, and we can and should and must be doing something about it. (I do a professional development workshop or webinar for teachers entitled Greening Education with Courage and Compassion.)

We in the education field consider our time very precious, but how precious is it compared to the lives, the future, of our students? (Not to mention the lives of tens of thousands of children lost to the famine in East Africa.) If we don't understand the climate change emergency, the crisis of biodiversity loss, the importance of protecting forests, the urgency of moving to a zero-carbon economy, then we must take the time to learn!

To my colleagues, a reminder that we teach best what we most need to learn. Please, consider how you can help safeguard the future for the children of all species through your teaching, and summon your courage and compassion to help you do the right thing. Visit GreenHeart Education for ideas and enCOURAGEment.

Have a wonderful new year at school ... but keep in mind and hold in your hearts all the kids who don't have (or won't have) enough to eat or drink due to droughts and floods and storms and heatwaves, let alone a school to go to.

************

p.s. Despite job action in my jurisdiction, I am organizing a Soup for Somalia school garden harvest luncheon for my school. Please try to find some way to help the youngsters in your school or community connect to and help out

their peers in the Horn of Africa.

* Actually, it was only 43 synonyms; turns out I had "namby pamby" twice! Here's the rest of the list of synonyms for "wussy," in case you're interested:

1. timorous
2. faint-hearted
3. fearful
4. doormat
5. weakling
6. insipid
7. softie
8. crybaby
9. irresolute
10. wishy washy
11. sissy
12. wimp
13. timid
14. afraid
15. unassertive
16. feeble
17. weak
18. ineffectual
19. cowardly
20. weak-willed
21. jejune (I'm pushing it with this one)
22. suck
23. banal
24. prosaic
25. tame
26. anemic
27. vapid
28. lacking zest
29. flavourless
30. dull
31. boring
32. bland
33. diffident
34. doubtful
35. insecure
36. reticent
37. trepid
38. nervous
39. tense
40. apprehensive
41. jittery
42. collywobbly

A Compassion (and Courage) Tune-Up - This Is It

Last night, I learned that my best friend's oldest sister has died of cancer. Linda and I were never close (because she was quite a bit older), but she was a fun part of my childhood. Her death has shaken me, and my heart goes out to Kathey and her family.

This morning, I met (for the first time) the 7-month-old son of a dear young friend of mine. Griffin's mom, Holly, is a wonderful woman who has always made me feel good about people. Griffin's dad, who I also just met, admitted that he is not optimistic about a solution to the climate crisis. His reminder saddened me, too.

Yet the circle of life keeps turning. That's why I can't wallow in pessimism or spend too much time immobilized by sadness. I've got something cooking and will be inviting you to participate as soon as I can get it organized. (Here's one hint: I'll be asking you to give one hour of your time each week for the children.)

In the meantime, This Is It, by Kenny Loggins and Michael McDonald, listened to with the climate change emergency in mind ("This is it... your back's to the corner"), reminds us to fight instead of waiting for some miracle ... that fighting will be our miracle! Enjoy this blast from the past, and I hope it makes you feel brave as well as compassionate. (Lyrics below.)

THIS IS IT

Michael McDonald and Kenny Loggins

There have been times in my life
I've been wondering why
Still somehow I believed
We'd always survive
Now I'm not so sure
You're waiting to hear
One good reason to try
But what more can I say
What's left to provide
You think that maybe it's over
Only if you want it to be
Are you gonna wait for your sign, your miracle?
Stand up and fight
This is it
Make no mistake where you are
This is it
Your back's to the corner
This is it
Don't be a fool anymore
This is it
The waiting is over
No room to run
No way to hide
No time for wondering why
It's here
The moment is now
About to decide
Let him [the denier] believe
Or leave him behind
But keep me near in your heart
And know, whatever you do
I'm here by your side
You said that maybe it's over
Not if you don't want it to be
For once in your life, here's your miracle
Stand up and fight
This is it
Make no mistake where you are
This is it
You're going no further
This is it
Until it's over and done
No one can tell you what you know
Who makes the choice of how it goes
It's not up to me this time
You know
There comes a day in every life
This is it
Make no mistake where you are
This is it
You're going no further
This is it
Until it's over and done
This is it
One way or another

This is it
No one can tell what the future holds
This is it
Your back's to the corner
This is it
You make the choice of how it goes
This is it
The waiting is over
This is it
No one can tell what the future holds
This is it
You're going no further
This is it...

What Would You Put in a a Psychosocial Toolkit for Advocates of Bold Climate Action?

The Post-Carbon Institute is looking into developing "a psychosocial toolkit" for supporting and sustaining environmental activists. (Check out their call for input here.) Sanjay Khanna and Asher Miller posted this:

This brief post is intended to stimulate a response among people who are bearing witness to, and tracking, the latest effects of climate change on people and the planet. It’s aimed at those who sense the consequences of large-scale inaction, and poses the question of what sorts of psychological and social resources may be needed to keep up spirits and address the potential impact of depression and

anxiety on those who are wrestling with, the climate issue.

[...]

Understandably, the American people are concerned about the state of the economy, their jobs, and their futures. For climate scientists and climate activists, however, every bit of news that confirms the hypotheses of accelerating warming -- and brings us closer by the day to catastrophic outcomes -- adds to the urgency and to the stressful nature of their work. After all, scientists and activists in their own unique ways are trying to attune policymakers and citizens, respectively, to the need for large-scale action -- action that does not seem at present to be forthcoming.

[...]

The question we’re posing is: Would a “psychosocial toolkit” help advocates of bold climate action to better cope with anger, sadness, or loss they may be feeling about accelerating changes to the climate system and the lack of mobilization among the general public and policy makers?

Here are the ideas I've sent in for what should be included. What's your reaction? Helpful? Not helpful? What would you add?

1. Reassurance that these feelings and emotions are perfectly appropriate in the face of the magnitude of the problem. (Perhaps it's not just stories from the frontlines that are important … I would add stories from people who sit at their computers all day, too.) Let's include some humour here, as well. If it ain't fun, it ain't sustainable. And we're still alive and well enough to be "activating." See, for example, Stephanie McMillan's excellent Code Green cartoons.

2. Please include some psychological definitions. For example, inaction on the climate change emergency is a classic case of cognitive dissonance -- which can drive people nuts (which isn't an official psycho-term, by the way). We (including the public) hear all the news about the climate change emergency -- but then we see zero urgent action. Our mind says, WTF?

3. Some ecopsychological prescriptions / exercises might be in order … computer-bound climate activists sometimes forget to go outside and breathe deeply, feel the breeze on their cheek, delight in the dappled light through the leaves, go for a walk around the block, stop to smell some flowers.

4. Suggestions for finding "buddies." Because of computer activism, many activists are alone doing this work. There's nothing worse than being in the depths of despair with no one "nearby" (really nearby or virtually nearby) who understands and can help us keep our head above water. Maybe it would just need to be a forum where people could go during their darkest hours to find someone to talk to (and who would suggest a walk in the fresh night air!).

5. Examples of activists in other fights who have dealt with the psychosocial aspects. For example, was it Gandhi who suggested that we should turn our depression into anger, and then our anger into action?

6. The Truth about

• The Science - A lot of the people pushing for bold action on climate change know that it's vital but don't understand the science deeply enough to feel expert enough to speak out boldly. Courage is definitely called for, but clarity adds to that courage.
• The Deniers - If activists really understand the motives and tactics behind the denial machine's campaign, they'll feel better about how their own attempts to push through the denial of the public feel so puny at times.
• The ENGOs - Helping people understand the inertia of the big green NGOs (and where much of their funding comes from) will help them with the cognitive dissonance of knowing the urgency and seeing only small personal actions (turn off your lights for one hour per year) suggested by these groups.
• The Scientists - Scientists are people, too -- and most of them are ordinary people educated in a reductionist system with little knowledge of ecological principles. Climate activists need to understand this so that they can understand why so few climate scientists are calling for urgent action.

Me Versus the Pontificators — Sticking Up for Al Gore

We were minding our own business in the back seat of a shuttle bus the other day, yet couldn't help but overhear the very loud and very "Oh, aren't I clever?" pontifications and holding forths of the gentlemen near the front of the vehicle.

It was another example of what's happening in this society, and why there's so little action on climate change. These guys were spouting Rush Limbaughesque sound bites about Al Gore — you know, fearmongering blah blah, what a load of BS blah blah, he's getting rich on the speakers circuit blah blah — though the funny part was, they couldn't even remember his name! I stayed silent until the shuttle driver said, "Yeah, and didn't he even say he invented the internet?" "No," I spoke up from the back of the bus, "that was a misquote."

Then it was a prattle on about how the media can't be trusted anymore. Blah blah.

Well, no, the media can't be trusted because they know that people like these folks don't care about the truth, that they only want to hear what they want to hear. It's insane! It's as though all of society (speaking for my neck of the woods here in North America) has turned into Republicans or Democrats. And I live in Canada — we don't even have Republicans and Democrats! When did we become so polarized? When did we stop putting our children and our community first, and start believing that our beliefs are the most important thing to defend?

Not only that, but people just don't seem to crave the truth or reason or logic anymore. They crave to be seen as clever, not as honest or well researched. They were criticizing Al Gore on climate change while talking about how warm it was in Manitoba (going up to 18ºC / 64ºF — in March). They were complaining that farmers say they don't have enough water in the summer but here's the Red River flooding again. "They can't have it both ways," one of them said.

Some days, I think a cave would suit me better.

Anyway, I am glad to report that as I was getting out of the shuttle bus, I told those gentlemen that if they have any beloved children in their lives, they'd better listen to what Al Gore has to say, cuz he knows what he's talking about.

(And later, I caught myself before I started spewing something clever and pontifical about those gentlemen. ;-)

45 Days - Become an Emmerdeur!

I was watching a video lecture by Gunter Pauli, Belgian designer and eco-entrepreneur, and he suggested that we should become "emmerdeurs." I spent a year studying in Belgium when I was 17, so I sat up when I heard him use this term.

I'd like to be able to say that it translates into "shit disturber" but it's more like "pain in the ass." (I remember that "tu m'emmerdes" was stronger than "you're bugging me.") Nevertheless, his encouragement got me thinking of ways that I could start being a pain in people's ....

I've gotta say, upfront, that this is difficult for me. I was always the good kid in class, teacher's pet, never got in trouble. So setting out to upset people, piss people off, become an emmerdeuse, bug people, question and guilt trip them, educate them in ways they don't want to be educated, well, this does not come naturally for me. I'm doing it for the children in Africa.

Remember we've been talking about going veg as a way to lower methane emissions as quickly as possible and buy us some time to get the other necessary solutions implemented? Well, here's tonight's idea.

I'm going to get some cards made that explain this situation, and I'm going to start handing them out in restaurants to people who order meat. Tonight we had delicious (vegetarian) pizza at our favourite place and we heard the waitress explain to the couple next to us what the two specials were: garden vegetable pot pie and a creamy Alfredo pasta. Both vegetarian! (We hadn't even bothered to ask cuz Wednesday is pizza night in our family.) But when I heard the woman order chicken strips with fries, I was ready to emmerde her! Sheesh.

Here's another example. I live in a community with a full, highly organized, very expensive Emergency Preparedness Plan. Many communities in Canada have similar plans. It's nice to know this plan is in place in case we ever have a tsunami or a big fire. I also discovered recently that our local school district has a Pandemic Plan, for the H1N1 virus.

Now, I can't just leave that alone. I wrote to the school district superintendant to wonder why we have an Emergency Preparedness Plan for an emergency that might never happen, and a Pandemic Plan for a pandemic that might not materialize — but we don't have a Climate Change Emergency Plan for the climate change emergency we're already in!!! (How's that for denial, eh?) I thought that was a good example of being a pain in the ....

So, let's just point out these stupid choices that people are making. In any way we can. Let's not be silent any longer! Let's become emmerdeurs extraordinaires.