In recent weeks I have found myself reading and re-reading the following remark from Bill McKibben:
“As individuals, there’s not much we can do. We can change our light bulbs—and we should—but doing so won’t change global warming. It’s a structural, systemic problem that needs to be addressed structurally and systemically. The most important rule for an individual in this fight is to figure out how not to remain an individual, how to join a movement big enough to change the politics." (2014 New York Times interview)
What does this mean for me? I keep wondering. Discernment, I find, is challenging.
In this second week of the UN Climate Conference in Paris (COP21), I notice that my mood and behavior are erratic. I can’t stay focused. I feel unsettled. Some of this agitation is clearly connected to the levels of heat and energy in the public sphere right now: so much talking, staking of positions, slinging of opinions, anger, retaliation, complaint; and deeply hurtful rhetoric. But there are many meaningful actions, too—folks acting out of well-reasoned intention and with integrity; this balances some of my agitation.
Still, I circle and pace—in mind as well as body. Nothing satisfies, nothing holds me to the moment. This is counter to my usual practice of mindfulness and concentration, but so it goes. Honesty, it feels a bit like gulping down three cups of strong coffee in a short stretch of time—but I haven’t.
It is vertiginous to live in a time of so much public imbalance. I want something to resolve. Today is the last day of the Climate Summit, and I fervently want to see a strong commitment from ALL countries, especially mine. I search the Web greedily for news, bouncing between The Guardian (with live coverage), to Harpers (reports on the ground from Rebecca Solnit), to the New York Times. What will we do? Will we really commit to decarbonizing our future, against all odds and shameless pressure from over-empowered corporations?
On Sunday November 29, the day before the UN Climate Conference began, I took a special meditation walk with 80 other people in the woods of Carolina North in Chapel Hill, NC. The walk was planned under the banner of the Global Climate March 2015, a worldwide event organized by 350.org to send a message to world leaders and delegates attending the Climate Conference in Paris (COP 21, November 30 – December 11) urging them to make a historic and binding commitment to a low-carbon, sustainable future.
The warm day was perfect for our silent walk. Surrounded by pines, we were there to demonstrate solidarity with people engaged in creative, nonviolent demonstrations in the wounded city of Paris and with people already suffering the consequences of a warming planet. By the end of the weekend, there had been more than 2,300 events in 175+ countries, with more than 785,000 participants!
Walking mindfully together with others from my community deepened my awareness of our interdependence with the Earth and with all beings, human and nonhuman. This awareness--deeply sensing that I am not separate from nature or from all of humanity--is a precursor to engagement.
There are those who still do not accept that the planet is on the verge of human-caused catastrophe. I suggest that no more time be used trying to persuade; that we get on with the work. Wendell Berry put it this way: “even if [the experts] are wrong about the alleged human causes of climate change, we have nothing to lose, and much to gain, by trusting them.”
Perhaps we in the “first world” have managed to put off feeling empathy for people already affected by a warming planet because thus far, they are primarily people in poorer nations and marginalized communities—-be it folks on our own Gulf Coast, Alaskan native communities, or inhabitants of tiny Pacific islands. But I am certain that if we really pay attention, and deepen our awareness of our interdependence, we will trust what the science tells us and understand that acting now is the right thing to do.
“As individuals, there’s not much we can do. We can change our light bulbs—and we should—but doing so won’t change global warming. It’s a structural, systemic problem that needs to be addressed structurally and systemically. The most important rule for an individual in this fight is to figure out how not to remain an individual, how to join a movement big enough to change the politics." (2014 New York Times interview)
What does this mean for me? I keep wondering. Discernment, I find, is challenging.
In this second week of the UN Climate Conference in Paris (COP21), I notice that my mood and behavior are erratic. I can’t stay focused. I feel unsettled. Some of this agitation is clearly connected to the levels of heat and energy in the public sphere right now: so much talking, staking of positions, slinging of opinions, anger, retaliation, complaint; and deeply hurtful rhetoric. But there are many meaningful actions, too—folks acting out of well-reasoned intention and with integrity; this balances some of my agitation.
Still, I circle and pace—in mind as well as body. Nothing satisfies, nothing holds me to the moment. This is counter to my usual practice of mindfulness and concentration, but so it goes. Honesty, it feels a bit like gulping down three cups of strong coffee in a short stretch of time—but I haven’t.
It is vertiginous to live in a time of so much public imbalance. I want something to resolve. Today is the last day of the Climate Summit, and I fervently want to see a strong commitment from ALL countries, especially mine. I search the Web greedily for news, bouncing between The Guardian (with live coverage), to Harpers (reports on the ground from Rebecca Solnit), to the New York Times. What will we do? Will we really commit to decarbonizing our future, against all odds and shameless pressure from over-empowered corporations?
On Sunday November 29, the day before the UN Climate Conference began, I took a special meditation walk with 80 other people in the woods of Carolina North in Chapel Hill, NC. The walk was planned under the banner of the Global Climate March 2015, a worldwide event organized by 350.org to send a message to world leaders and delegates attending the Climate Conference in Paris (COP 21, November 30 – December 11) urging them to make a historic and binding commitment to a low-carbon, sustainable future.
The warm day was perfect for our silent walk. Surrounded by pines, we were there to demonstrate solidarity with people engaged in creative, nonviolent demonstrations in the wounded city of Paris and with people already suffering the consequences of a warming planet. By the end of the weekend, there had been more than 2,300 events in 175+ countries, with more than 785,000 participants!
Walking mindfully together with others from my community deepened my awareness of our interdependence with the Earth and with all beings, human and nonhuman. This awareness--deeply sensing that I am not separate from nature or from all of humanity--is a precursor to engagement.
There are those who still do not accept that the planet is on the verge of human-caused catastrophe. I suggest that no more time be used trying to persuade; that we get on with the work. Wendell Berry put it this way: “even if [the experts] are wrong about the alleged human causes of climate change, we have nothing to lose, and much to gain, by trusting them.”
Perhaps we in the “first world” have managed to put off feeling empathy for people already affected by a warming planet because thus far, they are primarily people in poorer nations and marginalized communities—-be it folks on our own Gulf Coast, Alaskan native communities, or inhabitants of tiny Pacific islands. But I am certain that if we really pay attention, and deepen our awareness of our interdependence, we will trust what the science tells us and understand that acting now is the right thing to do.