Sarah Rifaat via 350.org Flickr Creative CommonsIf you’re still looking for a good reason to venture out and take part in an International Day of Climate Action event on Saturday, try this on for size: the day of action won’t simply be a landmark moment for the global climate movement; it could very well turn out to be a landmark moment in human history. And that’s not an exaggeration.
The truth is, nothing like the International Day of Climate Action has ever happened before. As Bill McKibben just said, with over 4000 events taking place in almost every country in the world, this day will be the most widespread day of global action on any issue in history. That’s no joke, and for that reason I’d also argue that this will be the first truly global event in human history. Not even the Olympics or a world cup final could come close to matching the Day of Climate Action as great global events. Sure they might draw global TV audiences that would dwarf our numbers on this day, but the real measure of a global event lies not in its numbers but in its spirit. And on that score I’d say the Day of Action will beat any Opening Ceremony hands down.
Just consider the context. As the first truly global-scale crisis humanity has ever faced, climate change is forcing us to start perceiving ourselves for the first time as a global community, as a common people facing a common threat. It’s becoming increasingly clear – and especially in the light of the sputtering UN climate process – that solving the climate crisis will require a new brand of international cooperation that transcends the traditional model of individual nations negotiating their way toward a middle ground between their individual interests. What we need now more than ever is action not as a united nations but as a global community. We need action by people and for people, not just by nations and for nations. To transcend this crisis, we need the first truly global grassroots movement – a movement which by its very nature will lead us through a door to a new era of global consciousness, to a transformation not just of the way that we consume energy, but of the way that we perceive ourselves, and our relations and responsibilities to each other.
That’s what October 24 is all about. That’s what this day is the opening ceremony for. And as the first truly global-scale expression of this coming transformative global movement, I think it’s safe to say that the International Day of Climate Action could turn out to be a pretty historically significant moment. Moreover, those of us who participate in it won’t just be helping to usher in a new stage in the global climate movement; we’ll be helping to usher in a new era of human history.
Come snow or rain or heat or gloom, I’d say that’s definitely something to show up for. Do not miss out. Go to www.350.org now to find an action near you.
Copenhagen: Getting past the urgency trap
The road to Copenhagen
Comments
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Steven Earl Salmony Posted 10:22 am
24 Oct 2009
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Jay Taber Posted 10:33 am
24 Oct 2009
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Billhook Posted 5:57 pm
24 Oct 2009
Or do you not see any need for global negotiation to agree a global cap on GHG emissions, because, once the USA tells them what to do (in 'Murcan of course) well they'll just have to get on and do it ?
That democracy needs fundamental renewal and advancement I've no doubt - but your offhand dismissal of hard-won national democratic structures, and of the nearest we have to a global debating chamber for their national delegations, seems to me exactly the attitude that is advancing democracy's decay, to the benefit of malign corporations and their political clients.
Have you really managed to convince yourself that "the relational understandings of tribal peoples and their network of civil society friends" have even a remote chance of re-orientating the corporations ?
Or are you content to pretend that they'll have to go away if you ignore them long enough ?
Regards,
Billhook
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Jay Taber Posted 6:31 pm
24 Oct 2009
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Billhook Posted 6:00 am
25 Oct 2009
It is not, and never has been, even autonomous in policy or its operation, let alone independent.
At best it facilitates the highest common factors of the member states' interests; at worst, as in the Reagan/Chernyenko years, it strives to do more than channel their lowest common denominators.
If you think "indigenous peoples" are getting a raw deal from the UN, (in reality from its dominant member states) have a look at the climate prognosis for Africa, with the US-led pollution-based droughts and mega-famines now starting to show up. - The German holocaust is liable to look like very small beer indeed compared with the forthcoming American one.
So I hope you're not proposing the somewhat racist notion that an indigenous life is more important than a conventional one ?
Regards,
Billhook
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randino Posted 7:21 am
25 Oct 2009
In Cleveland we had a great day. The Cleveland Climate Watch and 1 Sky threw up a picket line in front of RRI's Avon Lake Power Plant, on the banks of beautiful Lake Erie. About 20 of us risked hypothermia (Why doesn't Bill McKibben ever want to have one of these events in June?)to drive home our messages that we have to get back to 350 ppm, and that RRI should quit using mountain top removal coal from its plants. Go to our web site at http://www.clevelandclimatewatch.org for pictures and an article on the event.
Could the grumps move aside now and can we have some other reports on 350.org events that we participated in yesterday? I'm sorry, but the 350.org web site is such a monster that it is hard to find your way around. This comments section might be friendlier.
Randy Cunningham
Cleveland, OH
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