Why Does it Take a Catastrophe for Needed Action to Take Place?

I was moved to tears by President Obama's address to the grieving people of Newtown, Connecticut tonight, and impressed by his resolve to use the powers of his office to end the cycle.  "We can't tolerate this anymore," the President said. "These tragedies must end, and to end them, we must change. We will be told that the causes of such violence are complex, and it is true. No single law, no set of laws can eliminate evil from the world or prevent every senseless act of violence in our society. But that can't be an excuse for inaction. Surely we can do better than this."

Why does it take a catastrophe to make government take necessary action?  Aren't we smart enough to see that something must be done or the unthinkable will happen?  Maybe we are, but those in opposition say we're overreacting and nothing gets done until, well, something comes along like what happened Friday at the Sandy Hook Elementary School.

You hear it all the time from people who care deeply about the unravelling climate: the needed changes won't happen until a catastrophic event takes place, then we'll act.  Of course then it will be too late. 

Because if fires in Colorado, devastating heat across the nation, drought in the farm belt, and then the ginormous wake-up call that was Hurricane Sandy didn't count as catastrophes, what on Earth will?  

The event that will finally make people realize how serious this is will have to be so big that it will surely go hand-in-hand with permanent change setting in.  Greenland melting rapidly and Florida vanishing under ever rising sea levels.  Something like that.  Then it will be too late to stop this.

So every one who cares about the climate has to realize that he and she has to demand change.  They have to read Gene Sharp's books and educate themselves on nonviolence, and take it upon themselves to make the difference.  Don't just give to a climate organization, don't just wait for their next action.  Find people who share your concern in your community and start pushing your leaders, the media, your neighbors.  It's a thankless job, but at some point critical mass will happen, as it did with the Civil Rights movement.  Remember, the leaders are powerless without us.  We have to lead them.  Don't wait for the catastrophe.  Please.

CH


Permalink

The Need to Stick to One Issue, the Climate

I'm just sick about gun violence in this country, and am posting late because my mental energy today has been spent on the soul-crushing tragedy in Connecticut yesterday.

I try not to opine on politics outside of the climate (and I fail miserably at it) because I intend to be a one-issue guy.  Climate change is advancing so quickly that we need everybody on board in a hurry or we'll all be screwed.  I want the bankers and gun owners and everybody else who I fundamentally disagree with on board to help us remove the fossil fuel industry's stranglehold on American energy policy.  I'm left-wing on everything but the death penalty (fry 'em!), but I'd yield on all of it to save the climate.

We MUST stop the ship from sinking.  We can fight about he rest later, but time is so short.

CH


Permalink

The Tar Sands Blockade: Playing an Essential Role for the Climate Movement

A blog about the Climate Movement would be incomplete without mention of the Tar Sands Blockade.

For the past 82 days, tree-sitters have blocked part of the southern section of the Keystone XL pipeline, which, if fully implemented, would ensure “game-over for the climate”, as renowned climate scientist James Hansen has stated.

While I think these amazing activists would have had a greater positive impact for the climate if they’d concentrated on the U.S. elections first and then got around to the Tar Sands Blockade, I cannot deny their courage and their importance.  And at least they’re doing something!

Gandhi was a big believer in the importance of the quality of activists versus the quantity.  Activists who are willing to do bold things and really put themselves on the line are likely to inspire others, and are indispensable to a movement.  

The people of this blockade are, at this juncture in time, walking their talk more than any other activists in the movement.

Permalink

If the Climate Movement isn't Going to Act with a Sense of Urgency, How can We Expect Anyone Else to?

It’s New Year’s Day, 2011 in Cairo.  President Hosni Mubarak awakens to a gorgeous dawn and another year of power, with no end in sight.  

Forty-one days later his 30 year reign is over and the Egyptian Revolution is complete.

Nonviolent movements can happen fast.

Memo to the climate movement: If you’re operating on a five-year plan: you’re doing it wrong. 

First of all, who says we have five years to spare?  The climate is unravelling fast, way ahead of even the worst projections (anyone remember when they said the polar ice cap would be gone by 2100?  Now they’re saying as early as 2020).  I know two leaders of the climate movement who have given up hope, despairing that it’s already too late to stop the natural feedback loops from kicking in.  The truth is no one knows, but it’s foolish to assume we can take our time here.

Second, if the climate movement isn’t going to act with any sense of urgency, how can we expect anyone else to?  I’m SO DISAPPOINTED that they didn’t show up en masse after the scorching summer to make the crisis a major issue in the elections.  It was ripe for the picking.  This is a failure of leadership.  Many people are desperate to do something about climate, but the leaders of the movement didn’t react to the situation staring them in the face to create action on the issue NOW.  They were too busy, no doubt, with their five-year plans.  The movement didn’t act with a sense of urgency, and – shocker! – no one else has.

Finally, nonviolent movements can happen fast.  First, though I know he wasn’t nonviolent, consider the words of The Art of War’s Sun Tzu, who wrote “Though we have heard of stupid haste in war, cleverness has never been associated with long delays”.  Now update that with these words of a co-leader from a nonviolent movement, Ivan Marovic of Serbia’s Otpor: “If it is carefully planned, by the time they start it is over in a matter of weeks.”

Americans are basically contented, and don't give a lot of thought to the climate tsunami racing toward us.  But if we don't act fast, the whole world is in for a world of hurt.

Permalink

Openness Vs. Secrecy in Nonviolent Movements

In the movie Gandhi, a group of Indians, Hindus and Muslims, meet in a crowded hall to plan their resistance against the British / South African government.  Several white constables sit in the front row, with helmets and batons.  Gandhi greets them with a smile as the meeting commences, and tells them "We have no secrets".

The climate movement is now in a position where we are taking on the fossil fuel industry and their allies to save our civilization and life on Earth as we know it.  These are huge stakes.  They have so much power, so much money.

The temptation, certainly, must be to conspire plans in dark rooms to take them down.  This is foolish, naive, and it undercuts how nonviolent struggle works.

We're the good guys!  We, like Gandhi, have nothing to hide.  We need to openly talk about them and what they are doing to the planet.  We need to frankly put forth our plans to stop them from destroying the world.

Yes, they will use this knowledge of our intentions to fight back, but they'd know our intentions anyway.  Years ago a British environmental group found out that one of their most trusted members was a spy.  Any group that becomes a threat to the fossil fuel powerhouses should expect to soon have moles on the inside, so it's best to adopt a position of openness, and let the whole world know what you're up to.

It actually serves to give your movement more power.

Permalink

Flashback: Pete Calls for Activists to Join Us in Boca!

A message from Pete the Pissed-Off Polar Bear:

Dear Humans,

     I couldn't help noticing that YET AGAIN no one asked a question about climate change in the debate.

     Moderator Candy Crowley, in her infinite so-called wisdom, decided that since most people were concerned about economic questions she'd just have to ignore climate change.

     Oh!  Right!  People aren't concerned about THE DESTRUCTION OF OUR LIFE-SUPPORT SYSTEM!

     Sage choice, Cand!

     Anyway, before I go all "Siegfried and Roy's rogue tiger" on Candy, let's consider another culprit, someone YOU actually have control over....

     They don't ask questions about global warming because you humans aren't out on the streets protesting!

     We polar bears would do it if we could, but when we tried it last year in Churchill, Manitoba, HUMANS shot us with tranquilizer darts and put us in giant nets and then helicoptered us hundreds of miles away.  And that was on our home turf, can you imagine what they'd do to us in Boca Raton?!

     The Pissed-Off Polar Bears, a team of dedicated polar bears AND humans, were protesting at the debate in Denver and at Hofstra.  At DU there was a little group from 350.org and Energy Action Coalition, and at Hofstra the Young Evangelicals for Climate Action were there.  But at each debate it was only, like, 20 people.  WHERE THE HELL WAS EVERYONE ELSE?!

     "Oh, let's fight something that will literally cause the destruction of civilization with, like, 20 people.  That'll get a lot of press!  That'll scare the crap out of the politicians!"

     Where ARE you people?  Come to Boca, dudes!  Bring a polar bear hat.  Start making some noise and turning up the pressure.

     If you don't, one day you'll regret it, and if last summer's weather was any indication, that day will come a lot sooner than humans think!

Sorry to push you, but we've got a world to save!

Pete

Permalink  



  

Why I Do What I Do

Two summers ago I found myself wondering why the hell I’d become a “super  activist”, more committed to saving the climate than anyone I knew.

The usual answers popped through my mind.  “Because it’s so important!  All of civilization will collapse!  The ecosystems of the world will vanish.”

I had to press further because I knew that wasn’t quite it.

Then it hit me:  I always wanted to live for something greater than myself.  I wanted a calling that challenged me, that I could devote myself to completely and selflessly. Something real.  Something noble.  Something necessary.

When I realized how urgent and pressing the climate crisis was, I realized that I was living, not just in a period of great crisis, but in the time of THE greatest crisis humans have ever faced.  Here was my calling.

That's why I do this.

CH

Permalink