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.
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?
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!
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