.
ELDER  ACTIVISTS
  • WELCOME
  • GET INSPIRED
    • Your Stories
    • Inspiring Elders
  • GET EDUCATED
    • Resources
    • Connecting Links
    • Workshops >
      • Upcoming Workshops
  • TAKE ACTION
    • Why
    • Discover Who You Are
    • What Can YOU Do
    • Sign On!
    • Shop
  • BLOG
  • ABOUT LYNNE
  • CONTACT
  • RSVP

WHAT CAN I DO – AS AN INDIVIDUAL --  TO STOP CLIMATE CHANGE?

8/3/2015

1 Comment

 
Picture
Isn’t that the big question?

Many of us wonder what we can do, where to put our energy, or which projects or actions will be most effective. 

Naomi Klein, columnist for The Nation, author of This Changes Everything:  Capitalism vs. the Climate, and one of the most well educated journalists that writes about climate change offers her advice.

She acknowledges that the clock is ticking when it comes to climate change, but that does not trump everything else.  We need to create integrated solutions – ones that radically bring down emissions, while closing the inequality gap and making life tangibly better for the majority.

Climate change and environmental issues are directly related to issues of inequality, poverty, “eco-justice” and a sense of hope, satisfaction or fulfillment with one’s life.  Many activists understand these connections and link them as they seek to understand not only the root causes of environmental degradation but also the social justice issues that go hand in hand with such issues.

Klein continues with:  The hard truth is that the answer to the question “What can I, as an individual, do to stop climate change” is: nothing. You can’t do anything.  In fact the very idea that we – as atomized individuals, even lots of atomized individuals – could play a significant part in stabilizing the planet’s climate system, or changing the global economy, is objectively nuts.  We can only meet this challenge together, as part of a massive and organized global community.
She offers a comparison between people in wealthy countries who have been conditioned to think of themselves as “powerful individuals” and consequently focus their activities on small, sometimes local, efforts that ignore the  important legal and policy  work that is the underpinnings of systemic change.  She notes that people with relatively little power know that governments and corporations do not value their lives.  Their sense of political powerlessness pushes them to be politically ambitious, to demand structural change.

Klein does gives credit to local activism, saying that it is critical to work on local issues, such as fracking and tar-sands pipelines.  Local is showing us what the post-carbon economy looks and feels like.  And, she urges us to do both: the local and the global.

Even as we work individually, effectively engaging our passions, talents and skills, we must also remember that we are not alone.  That the: weight of the world is not on any one person’s shoulders. It rests in the strength of the …transformation that millions are already a part of.

Yes, each person’s actions are important, but especially so when working with others for a shared vision. 

I am grateful that each day I see more and more individuals stepping us and finding their place in this great movement for a thriving and just world for all. 

Was it back in the 60’s when we said:  You can only get it together, together?

WHAT CAN YOU DO?
  • Read more by Naomi Klein, in The Nation, and her newest book This Changes Everything:  Capitalism vs. the Climate.
  • Become a Game Changer!  Enroll in The Pachamama Alliance’s Online Course designed to inspire, educate and equip you to be an activist.
  • Read Joanna Macy and learn to transform your own denial or fear into inspired action!
  • Make that phone call!  Share this blog with a friend, or attend a meeting of 350.org, or to whatever organization or effort has attracted your interest.
  • Join Us at the GRANDPARENTS CLIMATE ACTION DAY, Sept 9th & 10th.
  • Learn more at Conscious Elders Network and Elders Climate Action.
  • Take a risk and get active!
1 Comment
satish beegoo
8/5/2015 10:13:02 pm

Without trying to be pessimistic I can assure you that its like fighting a losing battle.Even if the world stops polluting to zero level today the consequences of what we have been doing all these years will be felt even at a higher level in the next ten to fifteen years.Moreover, who in this world will be willing to lower his standard of living, being given how selfish we have become and personal interest comes first..We need only a rise of 2 degrees in wold temperature for apocalypse to occur and at the rate we are going well accomplish this feat in just a decade or so.We have come to a point of no return in our search for wealth.We have caused immense suffering to nature and so nature is going to rise in all its fury to defend itself in the form of natural calamities with an intensity yet to be seen.Human beings who have degraded themselves to level of beasts will also help in this process of world destruction through nuclear wars.Well, this is nothing new because the world recycles itself every 5000 years.Remember that matter can neither be created nor destroyed but it can be transformed.So nature will recycle itself to become a paradise again as mentioned in the Genesis .Paradise lost will become Paradise regained.For any more information contact any Brahma Kumari Centre nearest to your locality..

Reply



Leave a Reply.

    Become an Elder Activist subscriber and get inspiring stories & announcements in your Inbox:

    * indicates required

    RSS Feed

    Picture
    Lynne Iser
    View my profile on LinkedIn
    About Lynne

    Archives

    July 2021
    November 2019
    June 2019
    May 2019
    November 2018
    July 2018
    May 2018
    April 2018
    December 2017
    September 2017
    March 2017
    November 2016
    October 2016
    July 2016
    May 2016
    April 2016
    March 2016
    February 2016
    January 2016
    December 2015
    November 2015
    October 2015
    September 2015
    August 2015
    July 2015
    June 2015
    May 2015
    April 2015
    March 2015
    February 2015
    January 2015
    December 2014
    November 2014
    October 2014
    September 2014
    August 2014
    July 2014
    June 2014
    May 2014
    April 2014
    February 2014
    January 2014
    November 2013
    September 2013

    Categories

    All

    RSS Feed

Powered by Create your own unique website with customizable templates.