Why We Are Here
The Saners began as a climate group. The name stems from the idea that to knowingly choose to ruin the planet we all live on would require a person to be functionally insane.
We sought (and continue to seek) to establish a sane approach to the polycrisis before us.
From the start, we were aware that climate collapse and the destruction of our biosphere was not the only situation requiring urgent attention. But we saw it as the biggest and most urgent crisis.
Broader Mission
Sadly, we now see that fascism and plutocracy form a deadly blockade preventing the actions necessary to avert climate collapse. Against our wishes, we have been forced to expand our mission. It’s not that we don’t care about abusive governments and economic systems—we do. But we thought that our group would be more effective with a narrower focus.
Fortunately, as we expanded our mission, a popular resistance movement appeared—the No Kings movement championed by organizers at Indivisible and Fifty Fifty One. We see part of our mission as providing the maximum support for these groups, and taking part in the movement.
Along the way, we have sought to grow our expertise on how to be an effective movement. We studied history, the writings of past movement leaders, and sociologists studying what makes movements succeed. We have concluded that our group must use nonviolent noncooperation as our core approach. The variety of tactics available under this strategy are huge, and it’s a challenge to decide which are best for our group and situation at any particular time.
We also provide a vision for what should come next. We don’t believe that returning to what we had just before the latest terrible turn of events would be enough. We promote a new way forward, a way that treats human beings and our planet with love and care and deep respect. We have not had this before.
Going forward, as Saners, we will accept nothing less.