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Latest thoughts…

February 16, 2021
I had the most wonderful chat with Syreeta @thisisleaven about hope, kids, climate and everything in between. We met when we both attended a course run by the awesome Shaylers @markshayler @nicshayler and really connected, staying in touch over the last rollercoaster year. Syreeta is doing brilliant things over on her platform, infusing light and active hope into everything she does, check out her beautiful content, luminescent words and new courses too. For more info on the community climate project here in Cheltenham - follow @planetcheltenhaminsta for updates and ways to get involved. Photo by @clairewestawayphotography 🌍 It’s like the worst choose-your-own-adventure book ever. But there is a choice. Some news outlets and commentators would have you believe that ‘they think it’s all over’, that we’re doomed, nothing we can do. The fact is that every 0.001 degree of warming we prevent means lives saved. So every 0.001 degree is absolutely worth fighting for. ‘What can I do?’ At this point, anything! We need everyone involved, ‘there are no passengers on spaceship Earth, only crew’ and we need all hands on deck to tackle this. The only requirement to be a ‘climate person’ is to be a person, that’s it. Do what you can, where you are, with what you have. It’s fine to grieve and rage, the warming may be human induced but we sure as hell don’t all bear equal responsibility for it, it’s ok to be scared and it’s fucking inevitable to be angry at the fossil fuel industry who put us here knowingly. BUT DON’T GIVE IN TO THE DOOM. ‘Rage against the dying of the light’. If you’re local (Glos) then join me @planetcheltenhaminsta if you’re not, first thing you can do is head to @mmmoneymatter_ and make sure not a single penny is funding and fuelling future warming. Let’s get our shit together and do this thing, together. Let’s be good ancestors and leave things better than we found them. #climatechange #communityclimateaction #ecoanxiety #regenerativethinking (Image: projected warming graph from IPCC report) The Met Office has issued its first ever extreme heat warning in the UK. Here a few tips from the NHS website about keeping cool and what to do if someone is suffering from extreme heat. The first and last slides are my own, disclaimer I am not a medical professional, always seek medical advice if you are unsure if someone is suffering from heatstroke. As the climate changes it is likely that the UK will have to deal with more extreme weather events including heat waves. There is a significant gap in people’s knowledge of what to do in heatwaves, and the very real risk to vulnerable people of extreme temperatures. Take some time to check out the NHS website for more information and teach kids about how to cope with hot weather, it might be the hottest weather you’ve experienced but it’s likely this year will be one of the coolest in their lifetimes. Rest is a radical act! It’s so important to take a minute (or hour, or day, or week) from time to time. I don’t know about you but I feel like the last year of working from home has blurred the boundaries of what’s appropriate work wise, and it can be even more difficult to draw boundaries when your living is earned from something you love. In the sustainability industry there are big issues around pay because it’s seen as a passion that people have and also a ‘cause’ that people are willing to work on for free. The work will never be ‘done’ because fixing systems isn’t the work of one singular lifetime. Therefore it’s vital to recognise when it’s ‘enough’. Shifting away from extractive systems also means shifting away from extractive mindsets, labour must be adequately rewarded but we should also be working more sustainably not harder or longer. Automation and AI has long been predicted to ‘take over’ and reduce human labour, Keynes posited this in the 30s, that we would all be working 15 hour weeks. Studies show we’re actually working longer than ever and in what Graeber called ‘Bullshit Jobs’ (37% of UK workers think their job is meaningless). A 4 day week would be a game changer in terms of carbon reduction and giving people more time to volunteer and pursue hobbies, but what about service industries and other low paid jobs? I never use the term ‘low skilled’ only ‘low paid’, because if we’ve learnt anything the last year it’s that those jobs were the most valued and the least valued at the same time. We need a revolution of work and pay on the scale of the labour movements that have given us weekends and better pay and sick pay and rights. Knowing when to step back is a big middle finger to the extractive system, stepping off the conveyor sometimes and agreeing with Dolly that it’s ‘all taking and no giving’. So have that break, block out some time, and you’ll be changing the system one nap at a time. Those hippies at the *checks notes* IEA, produced a map towards net zero by 2050 and it looks like this. Note that it includes NO new oil, gas or coal from NOW (2021) meaning that any expansion or continued exploration by fossil fuel companies is not in line with net zero targets that make the Paris Agreement of limiting warming to 1.5 degrees achievable. By 2025 NO new gas boilers should be allowed. By 2035 NO new ICE cars will be sold, any new cars will be electric. It also includes a massive expansion of carbon capture and storage technology at a scale not currently available. We are now closer to 2050 than we are to 1990. For those of us that remember 1990, how radical have the changes been that we’ve seen in that time? Can we radically transform again? Because the only options left on the table right now are the radical ones. In 2050, will we be able to say we did it? What will your excuse be if we can’t? Will we tell the young people of 2050 how we built back better for people and planet? Or apologise? Don’t be overwhelmed by the challenge, fall in love with the solutions! Clean air, climate justice, healthy seas, biodiversity, thriving communities - let’s do this ✅ we really can’t wait anymore. Can you spot the ‘desire path’? Humans are very very cool. We’re constantly looking for new and easier ways of doing things, often subconsciously. So how do we make the sustainable and regenerative way the default way? Right now it’s often more expensive, complicated and requires conscious choices that place barriers in the way of action. We definitely require regulatory and legislative change that simply puts a stop to people and planet harming activities of the past. But don’t underestimate the power of forging new paths for others to follow, even though it doesn’t seem like the easiest way forward. Individual choices that reject the well trodden paths of consumption and stuff and instead break new ground with new paradigms of happiness and ‘success’. How do we ‘pave’ (metaphorically of course!) these new paths? By treading them. Often. Then one day someone looks at the old way and can’t believe anyone ever went there. What path are you on today? Today, at Biden’s international climate summit ahead of COP 26, Boris Johnson referred to ‘bunny-hugging’ climate action. He was using it to signal his ‘them and us’ mentality, those weirdos who want a safe planet to live on and ‘normal people’. Such characterisations don’t help anyone and certainly don’t help do anything to progress meaningful action on climate breakdown. This coming from a man who wrote in his right-wing Telegraph column in 2015 that fear around the climate was ‘without foundation’. The man is less useful than my bunny friend here, who I would happily exchange for any member of the current cabinet. A stuffed toy would probably manage to cause less international harm. So hug your bunnies (or whatever slightly less pervy version of this you prefer) proudly and as the famous meme goes, roll your eyes and say, ‘yeah Susan I’m really into the survival of all living things’ - because the real question is, why aren’t we all environmentalists?! Do you have another home to go to?! Happy Earth Day All (#EverydayIsEarthDay) Image by Tim Lahan. When babies and toddlers have a developmental leap they are often super grumpy, stuck right on the cusp of being able to do something they couldn’t do before. Tired and frustrated that they are almost able to do something but not quite. I have been wondering the last few weeks if as a society we are also experiencing a developmental leap. It might be overly optimistic (I do tend towards optimism) but what if all this pain and frustration is a sign of outgrowing old ways? We’re realising that we need to let go of broken things, toxic environments, hierarchical structures of patriarchy, white supremacy and disaster capitalism. There’s anger at those who want to keep us stuck here, those fighting tooth and nail for ‘business as usual’ preventing evolution and growth. These ‘tantrums’ are necessary, to feel the pain, to deal with the uncomfortable feelings and recognise the opportunities to face the ugly realities and transform regardless. To work despite those people not with them. And if they call you a snowflake, remind them that enough snowflakes make an avalanche. Let’s have the courage to rage and the courage to move towards a better future. If you can imagine a world of justice, peace and health, aren’t you angry that it’s not coming soon enough for those that so desperately need it? Imagine better. Demand better. Leap towards it. ‘What if this darkness is not the darkness of the tomb, but the darkness of the womb’ - Valerie Kaur. Can you feel it? All that potential just waiting to burst into action! There’s a reason it’s called SPRING! Plus the double delight of release from lockdown means that there’s more energy than ever waiting to break out. I’ve been a bit quiet, hibernating, head down, focused on surviving but now I’m ready to start thriving again. A big community climate project is coming together which will work to build back better post-covid. If you’re Cheltenham based and interested to find out more then DM me your email address for an invite to a google meet intro session towards the end of March. Think real action to tackle root causes of environmental and social issues, food security, waste and inequality. Community fridge, Library of Things, solidarity not charity, a hub space for people and planet.

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