What kind of ancestor will you be?
When supporting Black Lives Matter, please read this important article
The climate crisis is real. We can see and many can feel its impacts on a daily and/or seasonal basis. It is an epochal and existential crisis that was born of historical forces and through the conscious efforts of European ancestors determined to bend nature to their will and subjugate Black and Brown people worldwide to build their wealth and societies. We've inherited a world left by the descendants of invaders, enslavers, colonizers, 'manifest destiny' immigrants and profit-driven industrial capitalists. And we are experiencing the impacts of unfettered industrial expansion for over 250 years that has relied on land theft, raw material extraction, colonization and subjugation, enslavement. The impact that this expansion has had on the earth and those consumed by and made vulnerable to the impacts of industrialization and the resultant environmental injustices and climate change….well we are witnessing that with each devastating natural event, with increases in climate migration and population displacement, with climbing asthma rates and heat-related deaths and with food system impacts.
In some ways we have unknowingly contributed to the climate crisis by simply attempting to live in this world in the best ways we could: following the rules, spending money on the things we need and want at the prices we could afford, trying to stay warm or cool in the appropriate seasons, and more. And most of us have not quite dug into how the things we need and use to survive are produced (the process of their production, the materials used in their production, the byproducts of the production process, etc.), transported (through fossil fuel intensive means) and disposed of. So for generations, we haven't known or even given thought to the impact that simply living as best as we could has had on the earth's systems, on Black, Native/Indigenous, Brown and poor folks worldwide, on the lives of generations yet unborn.
Though we didn't create the climate crisis, we can do something about it. Each one of us has the capacity to do something. And if there is any part of you/me/us that wants our children's great grandchildren to live in a world governed by people, policies and practices that value their lives, that respect their divine relationship with other living beings, that is livable and in which love is evident, then my question to you, and myself, is What kind of ancestor will we be? In other words, if we consider what we are doing now, how we are living now, what and/or whom we are fighting for and on behalf of now, what are the seeds we are planting and nurturing that will feed and energize and resource those who've yet to come?
There is a lot that we can do to address the climate crisis, while seeding the courage to act and forging the basis for our grandchildren's great grandchildren to have a chance. As we move toward systems change - which is necessary - we can
Elect public leaders that are committed to advancing climate friendly policies
Advocate for climate friendly policies at the local, county, state and national levels
Engage strategically in direct actions that advance a principled outcome
Participate in mass disruptions that protect the earth's biospheres and their plant and animal (including humans) communities, the waters and lands
Shift personal practices in ways that reduce consumption, waste and reliance on industrial produced goods and dirty energy
Demand that corporations produce less and more ecofriendly
Though these actions don't contain all the answers to the climate crisis, they certainly contribute. And each act that we do leaves an imprint on others. It also does something to our own spirits to know that we are doing something good. And in building our muscle of "doing good things" we cultivate the courage and practice to do more. And in doing more toward addressing the climate crisis, living in a healthier relationship with the earth, fundamentally changing this system such that it values all life in policy and practice, we set ourselves up to become ancestors whose deeds will help to prepare a world that our descendants can live and, hopefully, thrive in.
A few movement resources - to support in appropriate ways
Movement for Black Lives Black Power Rising