So Much To Do

Photo by Glenn Carstens-Peters on Unsplash

What I’m thinking about and working on. Saving the planet is demanding.

I’d be stressed out, but the cause energizes me. We need to prevent climate collapse and end the cruel insanity of the current failing civilization.

I care about people, about life, about our world. I saw that we need help and that help isn’t coming. Even brave inspiring people, activists and groups that lobby for social and environmental causes, who do so much often at great personal sacrifice - their valiant efforts don’t seem to make much difference.

The status quo, the elites in all of the powerful countries under capitalism, communism, dictatorship or whatever, are “winning.”

That is, if you consider destroying the habitability of the Earth and dooming your progeny to be “winning.” The elites think they are being successful. They are, literally, insane.

I thought about all of this hard, for long time. I did much of my thinking publicly, working out many of my thoughts and conclusions on Medium. You may have read those articles.

Birth of The Saners

I decided we needed the smartest, most effective possible activist group, a movement, that harnesses the lessons learned (at great cost) by the previous movements of history. We needed to identify what works, what doesn’t, and what needs to be done differently to adapt to today’s situation.

That’s a tall order. I’m just an ordinary person. I’m not a genius like Martin Luther King or Gandhi. But as I read my history, I see that genius is not required. Ordinary people with passion and determination who study and learn from the past can get the job done.

My greatest inspiration right now are the 5 young people who, as college students, sparked the nonviolent movement that forced a Serbian dictator from power. And Serbia became a country with a representative government…still imperfect, but a LOT better than living under a cruel and violent dictator.

If 5 college students can do it, why can’t we? The answer is, WE CAN!

And that’s why I started The Saners, a group and a movement committed to using proven strategies to meet the current challenges. I’m convinced that, broadly speaking, our strategy is absolutely workable and can get the job done. I’m certain that execution will be difficult, challenging and often frustrating.

I can live with that. I realize that we can make some mistakes (even Gandhi and King made mistakes) and STILL ultimately defeat Big Oil, prevent climate collapse, and weaken the terrible values that underpins much of this failing civilization.

We can expose the truth that greed is NOT good, that power does not correlate with either justice or ability, and that we do not live in the best of all possible worlds. (Thank you, Voltaire. Giving credit here.)

I won’t try to explain everything about The Saners. I will, instead, refer you to the website (WeAreSaners.org) and especially the sign up page (WeAreSaners.org/join). And I’ll put a link to the YouTube Channel below along with an embedded video.

To Do

Our overall strategy as a movement has been worked out. I’m very confident it’s a winner. But getting out of the starting gate-that’s very, very hard and there IS a danger that this movement could become stillborn.

But probably not. Because I am very, very, very stubborn.

The need to spark interest and visibility and to get more members creates a very complex problem for me. Where should I concentrate? Where should I put my efforts? What order is the right order to get things really going?

There are a number of actions I could take, and certain things I must do:

1. Create compelling materials to motivate people to join, and understand what The Saners intend to do. (I’ve been writing on Medium, updating the website, publishing podcasts, creating videos, writing booklets, designing signs…so far. I’ve got additional materials I’d like to do as well.)
2. Find visible and influential allies. I’ve been reaching out to various groups and individuals who have the visibility that The Saners do not. I sometimes get positive responses-even excited interest. But nothing has turned into a valuable partnership-yet. Even though this hasn’t paid off, this is SO important that I must keep at it. I will.
3. Try to get individuals to make our messages visible in a memorable, compelling way. This movement COULD grow exponentially with just one visible viral act. Something that is filmed and shared on social media. Remember-the Arab Spring started when a single vendor set himself on fire in Cairo. Within a few months, several entrenched dictators were gone. Now, of course, I don’t want any action as exteme as self-immolation. This is just an example to make the point.

I find myself working on these three things (mostly) nowadays. Previously, working on strategy and messaging was the priority. I’m STILL working on those, but what’s in place now meets our current needs.

I often spend an entire day on a single potential idea or tactic. For example, from time to time, I’ve thought about, studied and experimented with stickers. Yeah, stickers.

Sound trivial but I think they could be very effective in getting The Saners identity and message out there. Imagine if you saw the name, the logo, and the URL of The Saners on telephone polls, construction walls, everywhere. And maybe there’s a single intriguing tagline on those stickers that sparks curiosity. You visit the website.

This is an idea that I will get to, and I’ll make these stickers widely available and urge everyone to put them up. It’s on my To Do list…along with (too) many other things.

Gandhi and King Had More People Behind Them

I’m also reaching out to old activists. I think about Gandhi and King. They didn’t do their work as individuals. They had groups of talented people working with them. Gandhi had the Indian National Congress, and King was part of an ongoing civil rights movement, and also had a network of churches working with him.

The Saners are, at the moment, a wonderful but dispersed group of individuals who are busy with daily life. They are magnificent and important, but I could really use a core of actual activists and strategists—ideally more experienced than myself—to work with me, help me think, and help me get things done.

For those of you reading this: food for thought!

Now

Today and this weekend, I expect to work on a new video, a new podcast episode, and more articles including (possibly) one more Saners booklet for free download and distribution. Oh, and I’ve decided that the COVERS of the existing Saners booklets are too dull, and need to be redesigned to get attention and persuade people to read them.

I’ve got dozens of other useful ideas that need to be evaluated. One way or another, we’ll get this done. We must.

LINK to subscribe to The Saners YouTube channel.