It’s up to you and me.
It’s only going to get hotter, and the unnatural “natural” disasters will get more frequent and more intense.
Nature is screaming and the people in charge, worldwide, are covering their ears. But the earsplitting roar will soon become too loud to ignore.
We aren’t waiting for that moment. We understand science, and we see what is happening in the world. We’ve begun shouting the truth from the rooftops. We know leaders will ignore our words, but the sane and caring people-those who are sensibly worried-will hear us and know that they are not alone.
Extreme Sanity
We are becoming aware of what’s important, what the situation really is, and-most critically-what we can do to fix things. Because we live in an insane self-destructive civilization, we seem to be out of step.
We are. We are out of step with our societies and in step with Nature, with Life and with Reality.
The reality is, nothing meaningful is being done to prevent climate collapse. Leaders everywhere in business and government are ushering us over a cliff. They have failed. They cannot be trusted. They are in a kind of feverish craziness, enthralled by a system built on greed and unenlightened self-interest.
They will never save us. So, WE must save us-and them. We must be extremists for sanity.
Powerless Yet Powerful
The authorities have institutions full of willing workers, and armed enforcers everywhere. They have invented myths and ideologies to justify their power as legitimate. But, of course, it is not legitimate to ruin the biosphere that sustains all of us. It is not legitimate to take billions of human beings, put them into (essentially) lifetimes of forced labor to further enrich and empower a greedy, foolish elite. This is true whether that elite is a dictator, a bunch of plutocrats, or the Chinese communist party.
Ecocide and the waste of billions of human lives is wrong and never legitimate.
The sane and caring people who recognize the danger have a moral obligation to block climate collapse and end the system of servitude. As it happens, they also have a personal self-interest in this-because they want to stay alive and be free to enjoy their few decades of consciousness.
Sadly, under the existing systems, the sane people have no authority to fix anything. Unauthorized fixes also seem unlikely. Violent revolution, in addition to being morally wrong, is implausible as our opponents will always be better equipped to commit brutal and violent acts.
But there is a way.
Taking Principled INaction
A small number of people cannot control, much less rule over, a huge number of people if those people decide to NOT cooperate. That’s because the large number of non-rulers do all of the actual work. The rulers do nothing except issue orders and feed fear.
Courage and noncooperation is a winning strategy. This kind of people power has been successfully employed many, many times. Of course, it’s also possible to botch it. It’s not easy, but the biggest barriers to success are psychological. If we are brave, success is very, very likely.
Our group, The Saners, is proposing essentially the same strategy as Gandhi’s followers used to oust the mighty British Empire from India, the same moral force that civil rights activists successfully employed to integrate the racist American South.
Nonviolent noncooperation-especially in a clearly moral cause-can be all but unstoppable. This is the strategy that so often already in our young millennium has sent numerous dictators into exile. It is the approach that can shut down Big Oil, and end the rule of elites.
When our nonviolent noncooperation is based on good values-love, generosity, kindness, respect-we can remake the world as it should be, as it should have been all along. But because we’ve lived in an insane society for so long, to envision and create this society will challenge our imaginations. That’s okay—we can do this.
Earth First
We need to prevent climate collapse first. If we fail at that, there are no abused workers to free. If we let the Earth be turned into a hellhole, hostile to human (and other) life, that would be game over.
The big problem here isn’t succeeding. We CAN actually do this. The big problem is that we have limited time, that so much damage has already been done, and nobody knows exactly how late will be too late.
All we know is that the crisis is urgent, and sooner is better. We know that the situation is both dire and urgent. But, according to climate scientists, we aren’t done-yet. Sorry doomers, but if we don’t stop climate collapse soon(ish), you will get (useless) bragging rights and get to say “I told you so.”
We intend to thwart both doomers and ecocidal maniacs.
Broadly speaking, here’s how it’ll work:
- We spread the powerful truth-that leaders have failed to prevent climate collapse, that they never will and that WE CAN.
- We work to protect workers (not execs-people who do REAL WORK) in the fossil fuel industries, and empower them to quit their jobs to protect their children’s future. We will need to protect them, and provide them with what they need. And recognize them for being the heroes they will be.
- At the same time, we will gain experience and the courage to slow down at work-the useless work most of us do that waste our lives and produce (ultimately) disposable crap that gets thrown into landfills. All production of useless crap is a waste of life and a crime against our biosphere.
- As fossil fuel production is ground to a halt, we will ONLY work to produce essentials, like food and medicine. We will distribute these essentials to everyone, at no charge, because that heralds the birth of the first human worldwide civilization.
- We will rediscover each other as companions in this mysterious experience of consciousness, as friends, as beings with stories to share, ability to create, to experience, to live. With only a tiny fraction of our lives used to produce-and used only to produce what’s needed-our short lives will seem much longer, and much richer. We will have traded mountains of commodified crap for the time and energy to live.
We need to get these ideas out into the world. We need to work hard at this, do this every day, make it a habit to spread the word. At the website for The Saners, we have a page of various flyers and booklets to print, distribute, post and otherwise share. You can also talk about The Saners and tell your friends and concerned strangers to sign up. (
It’s only going to get hotter, and the unnatural “natural” disasters will get more frequent and more intense.
Nature is screaming and the people in charge, worldwide, are covering their ears. But the earsplitting roar will soon become too loud to ignore.
We aren’t waiting for that moment. We understand science, and we see what is happening in the world. We’ve begun shouting the truth from the rooftops. We know leaders will ignore our words, but the sane and caring people—those who are sensibly worried—will hear us and know that they are not alone.
Extreme Sanity
We are becoming aware of what’s important, what the situation really is, and—most critically—what we can do to fix things. Because we live in an insane self-destructive civilization, we seem to be out of step.
We are. We are out of step with our societies and in step with Nature, with Life and with Reality.
The reality is, nothing meaningful is being done to prevent climate collapse. Leaders everywhere in business and government are ushering us over a cliff. They have failed. They cannot be trusted. They are in a kind of feverish craziness, enthralled by a system built on greed and unenlightened self-interest.
They will never save us. So, WE must save us—and them. We must be extremists for sanity.
Powerless Yet Powerful
The authorities have institutions full of willing workers, and armed enforcers everywhere. They have invented myths and ideologies to justify their power as legitimate. But, of course, it is not legitimate to ruin the biosphere that sustains all of us. It is not legitimate to take billions of human beings, put them into (essentially) lifetimes of forced labor to further enrich and empower a greedy, foolish elite. This is true whether that elite is a dictator, a bunch of plutocrats, or the Chinese communist party.
Ecocide and the waste of billions of human lives is wrong and never legitimate.
The sane and caring people who recognize the danger have a moral obligation to block climate collapse and end the system of servitude. As it happens, they also have a personal self-interest in this—because they want to stay alive and be free to enjoy their few decades of consciousness.
Sadly, under the existing systems, the sane people have no authority to fix anything. Unauthorized fixes also seem unlikely. Violent revolution, in addition to being morally wrong, is implausible as our opponents will always be better equipped to commit brutal and violent acts.
But there is a way.
Taking Principled INaction
A small number of people cannot control, much less rule over, a huge number of people if those people decide to NOT cooperate. That’s because the large number of non-rulers do all of the actual work. The rulers do nothing except issue orders and feed fear.
Courage and noncooperation is a winning strategy. This kind of people power has been successfully employed many, many times. Of course, it’s also possible to botch it. It’s not easy, but the biggest barriers to success are psychological. If we are brave, success is very, very likely.
Our group, The Saners, is proposing essentially the same strategy as Gandhi’s followers used to oust the mighty British Empire from India, the same moral force that civil rights activists successfully employed to integrate the racist American South.
Nonviolent noncooperation—especially in a clearly moral cause—can be all but unstoppable. This is the strategy that so often already in our young millennium has sent numerous dictators into exile. It is the approach that can shut down Big Oil, and end the rule of elites.
When our nonviolent noncooperation is based on good values—love, generosity, kindness, respect—we can remake the world as it should be, as it should have been all along. But because we’ve lived in an insane society for so long, to envision and create this society will challenge our imaginations. That’s okay—we can do this.
Earth First
We need to prevent climate collapse first. If we fail at that, there are no abused workers to free. If we let the Earth be turned into a hellhole, hostile to human (and other) life, that would be game over.
The big problem here isn’t succeeding. We CAN actually do this. The big problem is that we have limited time, that so much damage has already been done, and nobody knows exactly how late will be too late.
All we know is that the crisis is urgent, and sooner is better. We know that the situation is both dire and urgent. But, according to climate scientists, we aren’t done—yet. Sorry doomers, but if we don’t stop climate collapse soon(ish), you will get (useless) bragging rights and get to say “I told you so.”
We intend to thwart both doomers and ecocidal maniacs.
Broadly speaking, here’s how it’ll work:
- We spread the powerful truth—that leaders have failed to prevent climate collapse, that they never will and that WE CAN.
- We work to protect workers (not execs—people who do REAL WORK) in the fossil fuel industries, and empower them to quit their jobs to protect their children’s future. We will need to protect them, and provide them with what they need. And recognize them for being the heroes they will be.
- At the same time, we will gain experience and the courage to slow down at work—the useless work most of us do that waste our lives and produce (ultimately) disposable crap that gets thrown into landfills. All production of useless crap is a waste of life and a crime against our biosphere.
- As fossil fuel production is ground to a halt, we will ONLY work to produce essentials, like food and medicine. We will distribute these essentials to everyone, at no charge, because that heralds the birth of the first human worldwide civilization.
- We will rediscover each other as companions in this mysterious experience of consciousness, as friends, as beings with stories to share, ability to create, to experience, to live. With only a tiny fraction of our lives used to produce—and used only to produce what’s needed—our short lives will seem much longer, and much richer. We will have traded mountains of commodified crap for the time and energy to live.
We need to get these ideas out into the world. We need to work hard at this, do this every day, make it a habit to spread the word. At the website for The Saners, we have a page of various flyers and booklets to print, distribute, post and otherwise share. You can also talk about The Saners and tell your friends and concerned strangers to sign up. (WeAreSaners.org/join)
This could take a long time and we don’t have a long time. Or it could go from a tiny movement to a gigantic worldwide force overnight. We must keep talking, keep sharing, keep promoting these ideas until they catch fire. This is the way. It’s worked before. We need to be stubborn and determined so it will work for us, now.
This could take a long time and we don’t have a long time. Or it could go from a tiny movement to a gigantic worldwide force overnight. We must keep talking, keep sharing, keep promoting these ideas until they catch fire. This is the way. It’s worked before. We need to be stubborn and determined so it will work for us, now.
Add your first comment to this post