The United States government Friday published its most-weighty report yet on the unfolding climate change crisis, drawing on over 1,500 peer-reviewed scientific papers, according to National Public Radio’s All Things Considered: Read their article or hear the broadcast here.
In a nutshell the report says: Climate change has started, we did it, and it’s further along than most people realize. This year’s disastrous fires and hurricanes are important confirming data points, and we can expect more as the years unfold.
The Climate Science Special Report runs to over 600 pages, and is available now to the general public, businesses and national, state and local policymakers and leaders. If you are a busy person, here is an Executive Summary.
(The report was issued to conform with existing U.S. law, and though the new and hostile U.S. administration was actively nattering about it, it appears they are unable to suppress the huge report… after all, it’s mandated by Congress, according to the Washington Post.)
As heavy as all this is, there is a good-news angle we must keep in mind: Humanity has the ability, if we act promptly, to stop the worst case scenario… there are a wealth of important solutions available to any of us.
Please browse tips we’ve shared over the last year, for how to use our Three Superpowers: To Save the Planet Change Ourselves First, or Invest Our Working Lives, or Use Our Voices. Find the tips which speak most to you, and be the change you want to see.
Tell others, as well… it is on each of us to influence the people around us to begin taking action. Stress the positives, like that global warming solutions will actually create a vast number of good jobs as well as a sense of community and personal purpose – for people in all walks of life and in all parts of the world. People need to hear more than gloom and doom: There is much good that can come out of inventing the cleaner civilization of the future. Hope is a renewable resource!
As well, please take a look at the excellent list of the most-impactful solutions available to humanity, as outlined recently in Project Drawdown’s research study. When in doubt, work on big stuff that matters, and try to focus on the top 20 or so of their 80-item list… when time is shortening, we have to work on the heavy hitters.
The important thing is to get started, now… don’t try to do it all, but do get started.
(Photo credit: Spencer Platt, Getty Images.)
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Not sure how to start saving the planet (civilization, really)? Start by always remembering that “Hope is a renewable resource.”
Then, our practical answer becomes “Deeply know the personal Superpowers” we all bring to the game of life:
1) To save the planet, CHANGE OURSELVES FIRST;
2) To save the planet, INVEST OUR WORKING LIVES;
3) To save the planet, USE OUR VOICES and take advocacy seriously! Never miss a vote and never, ever stop influencing your government and all businesses locally, at the state level, and at the national level. As well, set a solid example for all around you to see. Jawbone to others about what we need to do, and influence them as peers. Finally, have an annual cash donations program. All of these are ways we can use our voices.
Stay focussed: Lead the way with substantive global warming solutions. (Far from being a bummer, this is actually a fun trend for each of us to be part of… get energized!) Our kids and their kids will be proud of us.
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. Never give up.
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Global Warming, You and I 