“Be the change you want to see…”  Earlier this month I had the honor of hearing one of the authors of the fast-rising and hugely useful Indivisible Guide for grassroots-organizing.

Our era and our children’s eras face great risk from climate chaos – a slow-motion train wreck, sure, but likely the biggest thing to ever hit humanity.  Sadly, this week’s news from Washington shows that Big Oil and Big Coal are aggressively counterattacking and undermining our futures.

But remember:  Polling shows majorities of both conservatives and liberals want leaders to reduce greenhouse gas pollution while improving quality-of-life for all, and not let climate change worsen future security risks like failed agricultures and the resulting bush wars and massive refugee and starvation problems.

And majorities know there are now more jobs being created in the advanced energy economy than in the entire fossil fuel industry, with even more prospects for growth coming.

As well, all the world’s major faiths now agree that human-caused global warming is a moral failing, because the poorest and weakest among us always get hurt worst and first – the invisible ones – now and in a worsening future.  Climate solutions are a must-have for civilization to thrive or even survive in many regions, going forward.  We do not have the right to hurt others.

So, get off your duff and use your Superpower:  “To save the planet, use your voice.”

Among the insights Leah Greenberg shared at the Climate Reality Project’s Denver leadership training were: Be hyper, hyper organized at a local level, and use your local member of Congress to aggressively play defense at the current Federal level – by always letting them know something is not OK with you, you are very engaged, you show up, and you are not going away.

Your reps don’t just work for you, representatives crave needing to be SEEN to be working for you: that makes even red-state ones uniquely vulnerable to true, energized grassroots pressure, especially when it is visible to the public like in town hall meetings.  Same with business, which are surprisingly paranoid about what people think…  And don’t forget to pressure your state governors (who often have a better sense for reality anyway).

It’s critical to get really good at saying “No, not acceptable,” as the Tea Party was very effective at doing… and it isn’t necessary to offer a nuanced counter proposal: By itself, “No!” is a complete sentence.

And it’s the vigorous strategy the bipartisan coalition fighting for global warming solutions that needs to use right now and all the way through the 2018 and 2020 elections.  One of your Three Superpowers is “To save the planet, use your voice:”  Download or read the Indivisible Guide please, it has more than a million already. A manual for effective engagement!

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Not sure where to start saving the planet (civilization, really)?  Start by deeply knowing your own personal Superpowers:  

1) To save the planet, Change Yourself First;

2) Invest Your Working Life;

3) Use Your Voice and take advocacy seriously!  Never miss a chance to vote, and never ever stop influencing your government and all businesses locally, at the state level, and at the national level.  It’s on you to lead the way with global warming solutions.

And in all cases and at all times, cast aside the learned-helplessness that infects so much of modern life… the time is now for climate change solutions. 

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