Insight and inspiration in turbulent times.
Stopping the destructive effects of industrial, capitalist civilization has now become the defining challenge of our age. If successful grassroots struggles can be linked with equally hopeful movements for real political change, then there is hope for the future.
You’ve probably seen the term “new normal” used to describe how human caused climate change has forever changed the kind of weather we can expect.
Hurricane Florence made landfall in the poorest portion of one of the poorest parts in the country: the Carolinas. It was the heaviest rainstorm in East Coast history, and the resulting floodwaters forced tens of thousands from their homes.
The Solidarity to Solutions Week of Actions that took place in San Francisco this past week exemplified these gains for the climate movement. They were not “feel good” exercises.
Does that mean that the problem of plastic pollution unsolvable? No. It is, actually, a minor problem in comparison to other, much more difficult problems we face.
At least 23 people have died in North and South Carolina so far during the historic storm. Around half a million people in the region are without power, with more damage expected as Florence continues to rage.
Can a “never-seen-before ” weather event that happens every few years really be called “never-seen-before”? Does a “1 in a 1,000 year” event that happens twice in two years become a warning of something different happening?
What Rich left out is that the mainstream environmental movement – the ecosystem of big green organizations and funders – consistently excluded and failed to provide resources to organizations representing those most vulnerable to climate change: communities of color and low-income communities.
The Coastal Douglas fir biogeoclimatic zone that dominates the landscape on the east coast of Vancouver Island is the smallest and most at-risk zone in B.C., with the highest number of species and ecosystems at risk, many of which are ranked globally as imperiled or critically imperiled.
The results are starkly clear: there is NO evidence of an increased public interest in global warming as a result of the fires. One thing that can be said is that no major environmental problem was ever solved by means of a bottom-up meme diffusion mechanism.
The emergence of the “Pacific Climate Warriors” marks a huge shift in the role of the Pacific in the global story of climate change – moving from passive victims to active leaders.
If you want to put meaning into meaningless slogans, he said, think about an eco-civilization that means local resource sovereignty, multidiversity solidarity, and sustainable ecological safety.
