To inspire the people who care about the Earth, to protect the species with whom we share this planet, and to ensure a safe future for our children, I want to tell a true story of what is happening to the planet and what we could do to protect it—if we choose.
The story is hard to nail down, but the best I can do to tell the story at the moment is this:
We are in an urgent, critical and immediate crisis and everything depends on what we do starting right now.
Our activities are damaging the climate of the planet, and the consequences we are already suffering are awful; the ever-worsening consequences—if we do not change—will be fatal to life as we know it. In other words, millions of plants, animals and human beings will suffer and die unnecessarily, and this will continue—essentially—forever.
Much, but not all of this, is still avoidable. And yet, we show no signs of doing what’s necessary. By and large, our species is continuing “business as usual.”
Our leaders and systems, as they’ve existed for the last few decades, have demonstrated they are either incapable or unwilling to protect the Earth. So, caring people will need to get them to change policy, or disobey, disempower and overwhelm those leaders and systems to enact the needed changes. Fortunately, there are more than a billion of us and only a few thousand of them.
Unfortunately, we are not taking the needed action—because we feel alone and powerless and we don’t know what to do. Given the circumstances, I would recommend the following:
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- Think about who you know who cares. Form a small but active group to discuss, develop and carry out positive and consequential actions, insofar as possible. Don’t be discouraged that it’s not enough—no one group will be enough, but collectively, we can be.
- If you are ready to form a group, join EarthRebirth.Team (for now) and attend one or more Virtual Climate Parties, for inspiration.
- Alternatively, join and work with any climate/environment activist group.
- Always look for others who would like to be a part of the necessary change, and invite them to join you. Remember, historically dramatic change has never needed everybody. Usually, every revolutionary change begins with a small percentage of the population. You and your friends can be a part of that elite group.
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Broadly speaking, most of us don’t know specifically what needs to be done. So, our demands should be that leading climate scientists and activists be put in charge of a crash program to protect the climate and—insofar as possible—reverse the damage that’s been done so far.
That it. Think about this. And then, do something!
We are not nearly where we need to be—yet. The size and activity level of the climate movement worldwide is not sufficient to bring about the required changes. So, for now, our focus must be to find the others and motivate them to become activists—including offering them specific steps they can take RIGHT NOW.
Although we have some ideas that we are trying at EarthRebirth.Team, we don’t yet have compelling actions to take that—at our present small numbers—can be counted on to have a meaningful impact. Perhaps the focus for all of us right now should be to find the others, and just get us to meet to find ways to further our growth. We can take some climate actions now, but be aware that the real impact will come when we have the numbers to be a major unstoppable force.
In other words, though our plans and hopes are broad and ambitious, our immediate focus needs to be humbler. Let’s get our numbers up, and keep our caring people together, binding themselves into a growing community of friendly budding activists. Today, we need to be a volunteer PR agency working for our children and our planet. We need to speak up for the voiceless.
Can we do this?