All the Pieces of My Plan For Saving Humanity Fit Together

Photo by Maria Thalassinou on Unsplash

I wanted to keep it simple. Corporations have been destroying the climate by continuing to produce and sell fossil fuels — despite clear warnings by scientists of the deadly consequences. The corporations are still pumping out gigatons of CO2 emissions, assisted by the governments that protect and support them. And here we are.

So, the solution seemed to be obvious: stop fossil fuels, force a sharp and immediate cut to production.

Well, that’s still the central objective…but by itself, it’s not enough. I kept looking at the problem and saw that it required more — a strategy to for action, additional actions, a new culture and set of values to support those actions, and systems that are humane and sustainable to replace the deadly shitshow we have today.

I’m confident it’s all doable, but it’s hard to explain it all, and especially to do so quickly and clearly.

Our immediate target is the 57 corporations that are responsible for 80% of the emissions.

The answer of how to stop those corporations from cooking the planet already existed in history. Movements have demonstrated how to successfully (and sometimes unsuccessfully) overcome nominally superior forces. Similar tactics that allow a restive population to oust a dictator will empower us to save our planet and our children from foolish plutocrats and oil sheiks.

But we still need to protect and repair (insofar as possible) our biosphere, AND establish a society that continues to protect it. That’s a tall order. But solutions exist and we just need to do the work. Those of you who regularly read my writing are probably already familiar with my conclusions, and the steps required. But I’ll restate them here as a refresher and to illustrate the point of this essay — that it’s hard to summarize this view and plan, and REALLY challenging to do it in a clear, short and compelling way.

Point By Point…Yet Again

Here’s what needs to happen.

1. We need a movement: The Saners, a group dedicated to preventing climate collapse and building a humane and sustainable society worldwide.
2. We need a science-supported Worldwide Emergency Plan to stave off climate collapse and repair whatever is repairable.
3. We need to have the movement enforce the adaptation and execution of the Plan, over the objections of those who are destroying the climate for power and profit.
4. We need new systems and values and cultures that support ongoing requirements for a sane, caring and Earth-friendly society.

This is all difficult to capture in a few words, although ultimately we will adapt some kind of phrase to encapsulate it. In the meantime, we must remember how memory works — we can easily remember songs and stories. Abstract concepts and complex ideas aren’t so easy.

So, I’m thinking of storytelling to memorably summarize these ideas, and ideally tell the story using short cartoons and a book telling the story as an illustrated fable. This can also use humor, which makes the stories more captivating and memorable.

In the meantime, the key words can help: movement, plan, adaptation, systems. It’s not an elevator speech, but that should come, too. In time.