Global #ClimateStrike
“I” am responsible for country
What can “I” do”?
www.creativediscussion.org
www.earthsight.org
Experiment
Discuss
“Insight
is action”
Global Climate Action, by each individual, interacting with others,
especially in the various organisations we all belong to.
Read,
and share your insights.
This historical event in Adelaide is the School Strike 4 Climate Action, part of the Global #ClimateStrike.
Let’s start by putting today’s gathering in historical context. This is 2019. Young people today are saying, “we can make things better, we must make things better. And we . will . not . forget.” 50 years ago, when I was about your age, the 1960’s generation said the same thing, but most of us did forget, we became the business people, the politicians, the uncritical audience of daily news, who are largely responsible for the Anthropocene Mass Extinction, the man-made extinction, the 6th major extinction of life on the planet, and the first brought about by a single species.
Going back in time, there have been 5 major extinctions, over 500 million, or half a billion years, the greatest of which, the Permian, resulted in the loss of over 90% of life on Earth. It seems this was the result of 5ºC of warming due to carbon dioxide caused by a meteor strike in Alaska, which melted the Arctic permafrost, releasing methane, and causing an additional 5º of warming. Today we seem to be repeating the process, only we are the meteor. The Arctic is melting again, and methane has already started bubbling out.
7 billion years ago, the planet Earth was a conglomeration of galactic matter, super hot and super cold. 4 billion years ago the planet started to control the temperature through homeostasis, allowing life to form. The planet became conscious, ‘she’ awakened.
Today this living planet is our home, we are the planet, the planet is us. And there is the risk, I say, the risk, not the certitude, but certainly the risk, that we are creating another Permian, and, even worse, much worse, the possible extinction of the 4-billion-year-old conscious living planet. Maybe, just maybe, this has already happened in our solar system, on Mars and on Venus. Maybe. At least seeing that as a possibility just might galvanise the entire human species into immediate action.
Our world is largely based on competition and profit, on eternal wars and depredation, on taking and not giving. This brings the risk, I repeat, not the certitude but certainly the risk, of planetary extinction. And as we all know, ‘risk management’ is a definite legal obligation in companies, in business, in political decision making, even in school management, but absolutely necessary in managing present climate change and species extinction.
So far, as a planetary population, as a global system of management, we still ignore the catastrophic risk of civilisation collapse or even planetary extinction due to our very own Anthropocene Global Warming.
As young people, our minds are still open, we have not yet been conditioned by the obligation to make profit, by the competition for power, the survival of the various organisations we belong to. As young people, we can see things: new, fresh, different.
We all need to change, dramatically – as individuals, and even more as organisations. How can we do this, at any age, while being part of an organisation which has its own agenda: a school, a company, a nation? How can we see what is really there, rather than what we are taught, informed, conditioned to see? And most importantly, how can we, as individuals, bring about change in those organisations we belong to?
In short, we need ‘creativity’, and the key to creativity is insight, more specifically, “flash of insight”, that sudden realisation of what is actually, really, in front of us, the realisation that the world is not what we thought it was. When we experience insight, at the same time, we often see something we can do about it, here, now.
We can’t practice insight, it just happens, but we can create a context where insight occurs naturally. A small discussion group, of 3 or 4 people, where we listen, not to agree or disagree, but listen, watch, feel for our own flash of insight, and then share that, with this group, and each person with another group that they in turn form. This is called “Creative Discussion using Plain Pair Groups”, and you can find the details on the website: www.creativediscussion.org (see Contents - "Creative Discussion Groups").
Read, experiment with creative discussion, and “don’t . forget”, keep going. The future is yours, at any age. Always question, find new ways, listen, watch for your own flash of insight.
Remember,
for
each of us, “I” am responsible for country - and for planet. Is there a society with a long, long record of sustainable civilization and caring for the planet who can give us advice?
Yes,
the
Australian indigenous civiilisation, caring for country over 10’s of thousands of years – decimillenial Australia. We need to listen, and share the many insights that will arise.
See:
www.creativediscussion.org for Creative Discussion using Plain Pair Groups
www.earthsight.org for Anthropocene Global Warming
William Plain
Email:
plain2@me.com
Adelaide,
South Australia
15th March 2019
Earthsight: planetary insight in the age of Anthropocene global warming
A call for global awareness of the level of RISK we are facing from Anthropocene warming. Even if unlikely, the level of risk is EXTREME, and the obligation on government, media and major organisations is absolute. The answer is to make the world a better place to live in. That's all. But if we don't act NOW, there may be no future.
Why is our species the only one to be responsible (already!) for a major extinction event? Why are we ignoring the possiblity that this may become the greatest? How can homo stupidens once again become homo sapiens?
The planet and me
Runaway global warming and approaching civilisation extinction demand a massive combined effort to achieve peace, with the living planet and with each other, with the hope of limiting and even reversing the planetary processes we have put in motion.
We have forgotten. We are part of the earth, we are the earth and the earth is each of us. The separateness we experience is of our own creation.
There is no 'other', our separateness, individual, nation and even species, is fictitious. In reality, there is no dividing line between what is 'me' and what is, in appearance only, 'not me'.
In every aspect of human activity we need cooperation not competition, quality not quantity, inclusion not exclusion. People, nature and planet must always come before profit, production and development.
When we struggle against each other to accumulate all we can, when we destroy the Earth, we destroy ourselves.
Can we live in a perfect 'people-world'? Today, we have no choice. Our 'big-world' is leading us to rapid extinction, perhaps along with our planet. We have to choose, immediately, a world which is perfect for people and for planet, even if the 'big-world' has to change radically.
What is the 'big-world'? Any entity that is bigger than the sum of the constituent individuals. An entity which controls what individuals want, rather than responding to what they need. An entity whose interests are separate to those of the individuals composing it and can be contrary to those external to the entity.
Throughout life, we are each part of some 'big-world' organisation, a school, a company or corporation, a nation.
GNP is a measure of our aggression against the earth.
We need to create the type of society that can allow us, along with all forms of life, to survive. Our present society is taking us rapidly towards extinction.
There is no choice, we need to act, now.
The Perfect People Planet
There is a problem, which is urgent, and can be beyond catastrophic. We need to act immediately, and we need to change almost everything.
Global warming has developed out of the Anthropocene mass extinction, the most catastrophic event in 70 million years, for which we are uniquely responsible. We have done virtually nothing to turn this around and many species are already extinct. Now it is our turn, unless we change most of the fundamental directions we have taken in the last 250 years.
However, change can be easy, even pleasant and ultimately profitable. We simply have to make a perfect people world.
A world in which each individual person is respected and given value.
A world in which each species is protected and given its appropriate space.
A world in which all of the planetary systems supporting and enriching life are allowed to flourish.
This world would be perfect, everyone would be much happier, and, if we act very very – very – fast, we have a good chance of avoiding the worst effects of global warming.
The only time we've got is now. We no longer have yesterday, and we might not have tomorrow.
Further reading
Some articles (PDFs) are on separate pages: see New articles
See also the main website, Creative Discussion, for 'What can "I" do?'