Today’s Poll

Climate Change Is For the Child in All of Us

Michael Jessen
By Michael Jessen
December 27th, 2012

Christmas, children, is not a date. It is a state of mind. – Mary Ellen Chase

Christmas is a time of wonder and excitement for children and grandchildren, a season when we give them the gift of love.

It is a moment of suspended disbelief as children marvel at all that Santa Claus can accomplish in one night.

But it is also for grown-ups.

Adults get back their childlike faith, defrosting their hearts and extending yuletide greetings even to enemies.

 No matter how we choose to celebrate this holiday, it is braided with the spirit of togetherness.

Our world seems fresh and new and beautiful; our childlike faith tells us no challenge is too great.

Every Yule we reflect on how to bottle the shining joy and innocence of Noel to find ways to pour drinks of loving and giving throughout the year – to make every day Christmas in action.

Each New Year’s Eve we ponder what we can do to make us better, happier, more fulfilled human beings and we resolve to commit behavioural change – to stop smoking, to drink less alcohol, to lose weight, to exercise more.

But it is not just about us.

Christmas and New Year’s is the perfect time to ask ourselves whether it is in our DNA to act based on the concerns of future generations.

Although 2012 brought drought, forest fires, record ice melt in the Arctic, a frankenstorm, more rain here and higher temperatures there, the world did not end as many thought the Mayans had predicted. The freakish climate did cause many deniers to admit that human-caused climate change is a scientific fact.

So what can we do to reduce the 90 million tons of CO2 we pump into the air every day that will become our children’s and grandchildren’s legacy?

Here are some suggestions I’ve adapted from Climate Today:

COMMIT: Commit to doing something this coming year to combat climate change.  Make some time almost every day to assess your progress, strengthen your actions, and move forward.

MODEL: Be a model for others – if you can do it, so can your friends, relatives, and neighbours.  If we show the new way, the entire world will begin to share the new vision. Top down has failed – when the people lead, the leaders follow.
Elizabeth May – Member of Parliament, environmentalist, writer, activist, lawyer, and the leader of the Green Party of Canada – is an example of what one person can do. Resources: http://elizabethmay.ca/ and http://www.choosingvoluntarysimplicity.com/

JOIN WITH GROUPS: Speak up! Everybody has groups – inspire your groups to take group actions. Join with others and get some solution underway.  Form action groups at work, church, school, clubs, and universities that help each other reach meaningful climate goals. Show films. Run courses and contests. Help others transition their lives one person at a time. Become a member of the West Kootenay EcoSociety and Transition Nelson. Resources: http://ecosociety.ca/ and http://www.transitionnelson.org/

POLITICAL ACTION: Share information!  Sign up for email alerts. Talk to your political representatives at the city, provincial and national levels, explaining how we must all lead in this transition to sanity. Write letters to legislators, businesses, decision-makers and newspapers. Support those who are fighting the battle! Join an action group working on energy issues and help out. Seek out the doers in your community, cheer them on, and join in. Resources: Support the Pacific Institute for Climate Solutions (http://pics.uvic.ca/) and http://350.org/

SLASH ENERGY USE/ END COAL: Cut your direct energy use at home, office, church, while travelling. Help others do the same. Share ideas, monitor your progress and make it visible and concrete. Let people know your findings – “We have reduced our energy bill by 30 percent because we have turned off unnecessary lighting and unplugged all the electronic devices and appliances that were using phantom power when not in use.” Consider buying solar panels. Sign up for wind. Ride bikes. Exporting coal is BC’s dirty secret: take action at http://stopcoal.ca/ and http://dogwoodinitiative.org/coal.

Resources: http://sesci.ca/ and http://www.canwea.ca/ and http://www.cyclecanada.com/



FINANCIAL ACTIONS: Learn how to divest from corporations destroying the earth at http://gofossilfree.org/.  Forget big corporate credit cards. If you live in the Columbia Basin, use and love community dollars and keep your money circulating in your hometown (see http://communitydollars.ca/).  Give donations to the causes that will directly reduce emissions and that will prepare us for adaptation.

WATER USE TO MERE DRIBBLE: Cut your water use. Water requires huge amounts of energy to get to you and when it leaves you, even more energy is required for waste water treatment. Buy a rain barrel. Create landscapes that do not need tap water.

Resources:  http://watercanada.net/ and http://www.harvestingrainwater.com/ 


EAT WITH NATURE: Some calculate that today’s food systems create nearly 1/3 of all carbon emissions. Localize your food; free yourself of packaging, processing, and the toxic array of the chemicals of industrial agriculture. Help build a local food system. Build urban farming. Focus on vegetables. Eat organically – you’ll have better health!

Resource: sign up for emails with the BC Food Systems Network at http://fooddemocracy.org/  and also http://www.organicconsumers.org/ 



FUN, NOT CONSUMERISM: It is estimated that 30 percent of our emissions are from the materials we consume – so cut your consumption. Joshua Fields Millburn and Ryan Nicodemus have written Minimalism: Live a Meaningful Life to guide you on how to get by with less stuff.

Check out their website at http://www.theminimalists.com/.

Before you buy anything, ask yourself if you really need to buy that. Could you buy it used and share it?

Can you just borrow it or rent it?

Can you postpone buying?

Start shifting pleasures to non-material joys – being with friends and laughing, having potlucks, giving and getting massages, going for walks, playing non-competitive games, taking the time to feel sunsets and watch the stars. Resources: http://www.canadianearthinstitute.org/voluntary-simplicity.html.

Join the collaborative consumption movement at http://collaborativeconsumption.com/ or http://www.compareandshare.com/



ZERO WASTE: Aim for zero waste (defined as a 95 percent reduction) by analyzing everything in your trash, then figure out ways to not to make it. Don’t buy disposables, and compost all organic material. Remember everything comes from somewhere – mining, logging, shipping are all destructive and contribute to climate change. There is no “away”. Resources: http://www.zerowaste.ca/Discarding%20the%20Idea%20of%20Waste%20%28Sept03%29.pdf  and http://www.onetrashcanayear.org/

Mark Putnam is president of Central College in Pella, Iowa. He authors a blog, Mark: my words and in a recent comment wrote:

“The climate has so much to give and demands so much from us. If we live in humility, embrace simplicity and give to the earth the respect it requires of us, we will pass on an endowment that will preserve many generations to come. That is, if we choose not to live at the edge of risk.”

In a heartfelt essay written in response to the moral outrage after the Newtown tragedy, Grist columnist David Roberts writes:

“Yet for every ton of carbon we emit, we are firing a bullet into the air. We may not live to see it, but those bullets will rain down on the children of the future, and they will suffer for it.”

Our children and grandchildren will thank us for taking action now to help make their future more secure. With that in mind, Sherry Greens – a Canadian mother of two young children – started the website One Earth to Live where I found the following poem:

This Earth is the one
we have to care about.
It is the only Earth
that we will ever have,
or love.

The needs and wants of our species are not the justification for preserving Nature; such a view locks us into a world of ownership rather than a world of companionship with Nature.  The Earth is not just here for us, we are a part of the Earth.

Until we can imagine a world of interconnectedness with our planet we will never find our way out of the mess we have created for ourselves.

This Christmas let’s rekindle that spirit of doing the impossible. Let’s rise to the moral challenge and tell humanity: We can do this. We can change the world.

We need to see ourselves, our children, and their children in the problem we call climate change. Then we will know we can do better.

Michael Jessen is a Nelson-based energy specialist and owner of the consultancy Zero Waste Solutions. He is also the energy critic for the Green Party of BC and can be reached by email at zerowaste@shaw.ca

RESOURCES – Climate Today’s Gift to Our Descendants is at http://climatetoday.org/

Their sister site about saving water is at http://www.tengallonsaday.org/

David Roberts’ Grist essay is at http://grist.org/climate-energy/newtown-tragedy-empathy-and-growing-our-circle-of-concern/

One Earth to Live can be found at http://oneearthtolive.wordpress.com/

“Our Biggest Challenge” is a musical investigation into the causes and effects of global climate change and our opportunities to use science to offset it.

It features Bill Nye, David Attenborough, Richard Alley and Isaac Asimov and is the 16th episode of the Symphony of Science series by melodysheep. View it at http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=HHP9Rh-ooh0
 

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