Is "Hope" Making a Comeback?

We are all connected. Each baby born carries a miracle inside. A unique purpose and that miracle is promised to one person and one person alone. We are voyagers set on a course towards destiny, to find the one person our miracle is meant for. But be warned: as we seek out the light, darkness gathers and the eternal contest between good and evil is not fought with great armies... but one life at a time. (from the movie Winter's Tale)

The one friend I have whom I can talk to about the bleakness of our climate-changed future is feeling so low, she told me yesterday, that she's in the bell jar. So she's feeling pretty fragile.

But I've realized that the tiny glimmer of hope that's been peeking into the dark tunnel ahead, well, maybe if we adjust our eyes, we can use that glimmer to light our path.

There's the news that the IPCC's scenario RCP ("Really Cool Plan"?) 2.6 (especially when combined with some excellent suggestions from Climate Action Network International's new position statement, so RCP2.6+) presents the possibility of keeping global average temperature increases within a survivable range. (The oft touted 2ºC limit would be catastrophic and deadly.)

There's also evidence that more and more people are "getting" it. At this weekend's convention of Canada's Green Party, it seemed the strongest, loudest and longest applause came when leader Elizabeth May spoke about the urgent need to deal with climate change.

Different types of people are entering the fray. "Masters of the Universe" (today's version of the captains of industry of yesteryear) are meeting to explain that climate change is Risky Business.

The entertainment industry is starting to take climate change seriously (if in funny ways; Jon Stewart and John Oliver, anyone?)

American President Obama is steppin' it up on climate change, in a dance with China that, if they don't step on each other's toes, could lead to major movement toward decreasing emissions. Okay, so they still don't get the "zero carbon" part of the dance ("This week, the United States and China took important steps to advance their cooperation to combat global climate change and work towards the common goal of low carbon economic growth."), but at least they're twirling on the dance floor together. (See Key Achievements of U.S.-China Climate Change Cooperation Under the Strategic and Economic Dialogue.) (Seriously, can't these leaders see that keeping economic growth as their main goal is, um, see Risky Business above.) 

Parents in the US are starting to demand scientific teaching of climate science in schools. (What a concept! Apparently one that Wyoming cannot grasp.) Check out the Climate Science Students' Bill of Rights. 

And the Climate Psychologist (Margaret Klein) has developed a mobilization campaign, to get people motivated by joining a movement (think WWII). Read the full strategy document here.

Plus, the deniers are just getting sillier and sillier! To wit:

There is no global warming. There is climate change. This melting is caused by the underground volcano's..We are starting a mini ice age due to the suns inactivity..This is all a money thing for the bigwigs..Pollution is poison, we are killing our planet. This is not made by us. This is a nature process..We cant stop it. We can stop Fukushima. sharon b, ky,usa   18/07/2014 06:55

So folks, maybe, just maybe, it's starting to happen. Can we create a crescendo of public outcry that convinces negotiators at the December 2014 UN climate conference in Lima, Peru to adopt the RCP2.6+ for the text of the all-important agreement that will be negotiated in Paris in 2015?

Let's start here and now:    * * * **  ** * ***  ** * ** *** *** ** *
                                      * * * * *     * *      * * **** **
                                 * * RCP2.6+  * ** * * !!!
                                 RCP2.6+  ** *** * ** **** ** * ***
                            RCP2.6+                                *** * **     *** **     * * *** **
                  RCP2.6+                                                 
RCP2.6+

I'll tell you something that should chill your blood. No matter how far we tip the scales our way, no matter how many of them we turn dark, nothin' seems to break their capacity for hope. They pass it back and forth like the flu at a preschool fair. We're losing, Lucifer. One bright star at a time, we're losing. (from the movie Winter's Tale)

Which means we just might be winning!

Another Crack at Climate Change Humour

Finding humour in the climate change crisis isn't easy, but nor is it impossible. I've tried once before to look at the lighter side of this whole schmozz. Let's give it another try, shall we (even if all we end up with is gallows humour)?

Okay, this one's cute for sure!

Look what happens when we cut down too many trees. Global warming is one thing, but see below and look at what might happen if we continue to clear our forests! We have to stop cutting down trees! This is getting serious! 

Hey, who knew Thoreau was so wry?

"If a man walks in the woods for love of them half of each day, he is in danger of being regarded as a loafer. But if he spends his days as a speculator, shearing off those woods and making the earth bald before her time, he is deemed an industrious and enterprising citizen." Henry David Thoreau (1817-1862) from Walden, 1854

Stephanie McMillan's Code Green rocks at getting an environmental message across with some humour:

Did I mention gallows humour?

169 Days - Laugh or Cry? Climate Heaven or Climate Hell?

Sometimes I just break down and weep. I am one of the unlucky ones ... I understand global climate change, I see it happening, I know who is being impacted the worst (and it ain't rich white people with big cars) — and it breaks my heart.If I didn't feel the pain, I wouldn't spend hours every day doing this work for the sake of the future. I'd be having a good time.
I lament that more people don't share this burden. I've often thought that if everyone did their share, no one would have to do it all. And some days, it feels like we can count the world's real climate activists on our hands and maybe one foot.

Anyway, after a cry and a short walk today to clear my mind (and restore my heart), I sent a resource to a fellow activist by email. His response was almost immediate. To which I replied: "Now ... what are we both doing indoors at our computers on such a lovely day?????"

His response made me laugh: "My computer and I seem attached at our navels, though I don't know who is feeding whom. Anyway, as you know weather does not distract me from climate."

Oh well, I found it funny. ;-)

Anyway, here's my point — and my compassionate climate action for today: In order to do this work, to be dedicated climate activists on behalf of the children of all species, we have to feel some pain, we have to cry, to despair, to occasionally lose faith in our species, to get angry at the stonewalling and denial and obfuscation.

And then we have to remember that if we don't do it, maybe nobody will. We have to carry on and do what we can do. We have to reach out, support others who are making the effort, encourage those who are contemplating making the leap. (It takes courage to jump into climate change activism.)

And then every once in a while, we must laugh.

Have you heard the one about the climate change activist who walked into a bar ...? (Neither have I.) Okay, try this website for some late-night global warming humour (which is separate from the climate change jokes, global warming cartoons and cartoons and memes about climate change).

Here's my favourite:

"According to a new UN report, the global warming outlook is much worse than originally predicted. Which is pretty bad when they originally predicted it would destroy the planet."

— Jay Leno

And here's one last one that I found in an essay on the dearth of global warming humour:

"Interviewing the presenter of a CNN programme called 'Planet in Peril,' Stephen Colbert asks, 'Are you talking about Planet Earth?' ('Yes.') 'Could that eventually affect Planet America?'"

Get it?

Okay, back to the serious work now.