START WORKING NOW FOR ZERO CARBON.Think about George Monbiot’s recent frightening but succinct analysis “The Earth is in a death spiral. It will take radical action to save us”. And David Attenborough’s “the collapse of our civilizations and the extinction of much of the natural world is on the horizon.” Add to this the IPCC’s October eighth’s analysis, including the time frame that humans must be emitting ZERO or LESS CO2 in twelve short years to preserve life on Earth as we know it. Years ago, a long defunct house magazine carried a sidebar that stuck with me titled “Give Until it Hurts”. It was talking about money, but it applies equally well to action, time and energy.
There you have it: a motivation, a goal, and a suggested way forward. What on Earth is keeping you from starting? What could be more important?
Now, think of what you’ve done to reduce CO2s to zero since October eighth. Nothing, or at least nothing substantive, right? Perhaps the foolish think governments will do it. Well, what have they (ever) done, beyond denial, uttering pious sentiments and continuing with their day to day corruption? Again nothing, right? Guess what: THIS WILL NOT DO! But the way forward has been illuminated. Adjust yourself personally, and get out into the movement and work and pay with single minded focus. Work, to and beyond whatever personal limit you have, for those causes that can make a huge difference in ten years. Longer term projects are no longer needed. To succeed, our movement must create a new political universe; the old one carries much too much baggage and will be useless for the task ahead. Think instead of an Extinction Rebellion type mentality gaining government. It is up to us to take over and make over our world to include a future with life in it. Who else will do it, if you won’t?
So, may I suggest a few things? – Realize that we all really have only one goal over the next ten years. It’s ZERO CARBON. Resolve to do all you can to reach it, both personally and as a society. All else has become secondary.
-Each of us needs to liberate time in our schedules, and dollars in our budgets, in which we can increase our activism.
– Friends, acquaintances, relatives, business associates, literally everyone in our circles needs to be approached and converted to the cause. Figure out how to approach strangers with the message (The Ecological Citizen serves this function for me).
– Groups moving in the right direction need to be found and supported, or started. Other groups should be abandoned, as worthless to the cause.
– Keep the only goal in the forefront – ZERO CO2
– Keep the way there illuminated – personal and governance change.
– Eschew the ten thousand other causes and red herrings.
– Get at it, starting, say, tomorrow.
Ian
PS: Canadians should be deeply shamed, and mad as Hell that we have been classed as one of the 3 worst countries for CO2 pollution. From the Guardian: “China, Russia and Canada’s current climate policies would drive the world above a catastrophic 5C of warming by the end of the century, according to a study that ranks the climate goals of different countries.” Read about it here
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