My story
When I became aware of the issue of climate change, I knew that living
well would have to include trying to do something about it. The only
alternatives I can think of—denial, passivity or self-destruction—were
simply not acceptable to me, even though taking action seems daunting.
But the question of what to do was not easy to answer.
Switching to compact fluorescent light bulbs is great—but much more is
needed than what we can do privately. We need to get many millions of
people to drastically cut back their consumption of energy, and we need
it to happen soon. I wondered, “Should I quit my job and try to work on
this full-time? I do good work as a children’s music teacher, but does
its value measure up next to what urgently needs doing? And what about
making a living?”
I was on summer vacation, already spending part of my time volunteering
for a local non-profit called People
Power. People Power works to encourage sustainable transportation,
particularly bicycles, in my town of Santa Cruz, California. My
involvement there turned out to be a godsend as I learned about the
global crisis, in that it gave me connection with people who understood
about climate change and peak oil, and were already working on it from a
hopeful perspective. The difference between trying to cope with crisis
alone and doing it with others is like night and day.
The very first thing I helped with at People Power was designing a
flier to pass out to people as they exited the movie “An Inconvenient
Truth.” At the top of the flier, it read, “WHAT CAN I DO NOW?” and
below, it listed five action steps that people could take right away.
The flier was produced, and I took a stack with me as I went to go see
the movie. Foolishly, I went by myself to this frightening movie, and as
it was ending, I rushed out ahead of everyone else, a little shook up.
In the lobby I turned around and started offering fliers to people.
Contrary to my fears about people not wanting to be bothered, almost
everyone took the flier gratefully, like parched travelers accepting a
canteen of water. Although the end of the movie also offers ideas for
action, it seemed that people were reassured to encounter a real person
who was already in motion on the problem. I realized that by offering
this to them, I also reassured and empowered myself. This was the start
of my activism on the issues of global crisis.
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