“The biggest climate event on the planet… a bit of a traffic jam. Very important people meeting with other very important people, anyway that’s the way it has to be to progress things on the climate agenda.” CEO of a company we will not name
Actually, NO this is not how it has to be and after politely participating in this dance for decades, stroking the egos of “very important people” to help them see what is happening, it is clear to me “the very important people” approach is not working and will NOT solve our survival crisis
(yes, I have decided to stop even talking about this as a climate crisis, or how to save the earth or any of the other fruity slogans we have coined. We have passed the tipping points and it is now a question of survival). What we have proven for decades is how infatuated we are with power. Even if all the delay tactic talking means leaving a hell-scape for our kids and grandkids and wiping-out our species and a most others; our conditioned human brains are subversive and will trick us into thinking all our eco-warrior talking is good. Really what our brains want is to connect, be accepted and not abandoned from the herd so we are programmed to do these elaborate dances, to preen around the City even if it means literally and figuratively creating a traffic jam in front of the biggest tidal wave ever: mass extinction.
What the Survival Crisis needs is wisdom of Socrates, the compassion of Jesus, plus the discipline of Ernest Shackleton and the light-hearted world view of Big Bird. Instead of grandstanding about another trillion raised or creating another version of colonialism to ensure we protect the minerals to support our growth at all costs; it is time for the “very important people” to admit — they really have no clue how to survive. No it is not the people leading the meetings in NYC, but the people working the fields to collect the harvest, the grassroots organizers and tinkerers — these are the community leaders I want helping our community survive when the water dries up and we are choking on smoke from the fires. It is essential the Survival Crisis be kept FLAT and foster the brilliant wins from the bottom-up, and outside-in.