Squeezing in One More Thing

I’ve taken a little break from this work to do my one paid gig, and the down time has given me a little more clarity about what I’m called to say about this overwhelming subject. I’d like to articulate as clearly as possible that, to paraphrase a favorite author of mine, “we need it all.” Every single act—be it voluntary or part of your job—that serves a genuine purpose in transforming our culture into one that respects all life is needed. I do not wish to belittle any contribution to this enormous task. But I also want to be as honest as I can about the situation we currently face, and I want to ask if all these small steps will be effective in keeping climate change from getting out of hand. Given the limited window we have to reverse CO2 emissions, I keep returning to the same answer: the most effective actions have to be given highest priority right now. If you have thought about this deeply and come to your personal conclusion that the most effective thing you can do is help your community prepare for decarbonizing, then that is what you should be doing to live a life of integrity. I’m drawn to that work, but right now feel convinced we have to take a shot at the international climate treaty being formulated this December. After coming to the conclusion that slowing the destruction of western civilization is critical to the survival of nearly all life on this planet, I have spent much of my mental energy in the last two years trying to figure out what the most effective ways to do this might be. I think we are witnessing and experiencing the answer right now – negative economic growth. As painful as it is for millions of human individuals and families, this recession is the best news the planet has heard in a long time. As I’ve stated before, a system dependent on continuous economic growth on a planet with finite “resources” is a system doomed to implode. Is this recession the beginning of the economic implosion? [The biological one started a while ago.] I think you could find many folks who believe that, but I can’t help but believe that even the most informed are still just guessing on this one. I do believe it is possible, though. If that is the case, then perhaps the most effective work is in transforming minds in your locale to rally around ideas like relocalization and conservation. With this mindset, it is pretty tempting to think, “Politicians and corporations won’t change, so trying to get a sane climate treaty is a waste of effort. The international economic system is crumbling so we don’t have to work at changing it.” But I still find the risk of inaction at the national and international level too great. We’ve only got six years to have in force a global plan to be forever reducing CO2 emissions. Even if emissions slow for a couple of years due to global economic downturn, we still have to have laws that move us away from fossil fuels. And what if a new corporate scheme evolves that allows for a return of economic growth? Without a sane plan in place to eliminate CO2 emissions, we will be back to facing the dire climate catastrophes scientists are predicting.

I guess what I’m saying is we each need to prioritize our actions, and that the most effective actions toward changing climate policy are the ones we need to squeeze into our lives, somehow. Regularly supporting institutions working for sane policies seems to be the most doable action for most of us. So, if you already volunteer weekly to help some of the under-served people or creatures, don’t stop that important work, but squeeze in one more thing. If you just cannot do this, you will have to make the difficult decision of where to put your energy, and this is where individual morality defines us. If you are fortunate to have a paid job that daily benefits a cultural transformation away from the commodification of everything, does that alone satisfy your personal needs for being responsible to the community of life? If so, lucky you! If not, only you can know that, and only you can make the changes to align yourself with your morality. If you see opportunities at your work place to integrate climate change strategies, then that might be a really effective use of your paid time. There are endless ways to organize. I’m not intending to tell anyone how to live his or her life, I’m simply sharing some of the process I’ve gone through in arriving at this current strategy. And I hope that it is beneficial to some readers. And if anyone has ideas for more effective actions, please tell!

To summarize the key points driving this post:
• Incorporating regular effective actions on climate change into your life is the highest priority.
• All current work toward healthy societal transformation is worthy and should be continued, but asking if there is a way to make that work more effective toward climate change, or if there is a way to address climate change through that work is definitely worth exploring.

My next post will share what I have learned about the volunteer possibilities available from some of the organizations doing good work. Stay tuned.