Thank you for the reply. I concur that a purely personal change model is not sufficient. My main concern is when persons give their “power” over to politicians… that is putting their hopes for better tomorrows into another. Certainly we should work with others to make change reality, and I think grassroots methods are much more effective than trying to sway the course of humanity. “Trickle down” ecology won’t work any more than it has with economics.

In terms of how we work in relation to governments on this issue, I think perhaps the best place to start is in our own communities and with local governments.

I think you and I are probably very much in agreement on things, and, again, my comments were made generally as a safeguard against projecting too much power on others.

peace,
Evan

Yes, we absolutely have to demand that our national representatives do more to move us toward the vision that we wish to see in the world. However, we cannot be the ones compromising and groaning when they let us down, which they inevitably will. We have to be the ones taking our message to people at every level of society and to the institutions that shape our lives. If we do this with conviction, consistently, and with solid principles in mind, we will succeed. Remember, this is the challenge of a generation, of a lifetime. The solution requires a fundamental shift in how how all of us live our lives. That is not something we can leave to any one president, senator, CEO, or activist. This is the climate election. It is also a critical time to put our bodies on the line to stop the building of new coal-fired power plants that will destroy our communities and our climate for fifty years if they are built. It is also a critical time to bring our communities together around local 21 plans for sustainability. It is a critical time for researching the kind of deep change solutions to replace our fossil fuel infrastructure with something better. If we cannot envision it today, how are we going to build it by 2050? This is a challenge for all of humanity. And yes, I agree that it does start inside each and every one of us.

Thanks for comment. However, I would like to pull a deeper explanation out of it. While I believe that climate change can be a scary, scary prospect and it is essential that we internalize and come to grips with the future we are creating. Only through such ownership will we build a vision of what is necessary and understand that with the challenges ahead come great opportunities.

Unfortunately, I fear that solely advocating for personal action will not get us where we need to be. People - including myself - have been changing light bulbs, turning down thermostats, biking, etc. for years. However we a need a f@cking social movement and we need it ASAP. We need to hold our politicians accountable and turn them into the leaders that embody our values - about climate change and a host of other issues.

I have to admit that looking at the list above doesn’t get me particularly pumped. And, as Andrew pointed out, it is incredibly unfortunate that our “first opportunity to put a women or a person of color in the white house has been tainted by the fact that neither of them have come out with a strong energy policy”. However that is where we - the people come in. We have the power to make Obama and Hillary better on climate. We also have the power to make Edwards, Richards, et al. anti-racist and pro-feminist allies that Obama and Hillary respectively symbolize in many people’s eyes.

Ultimately, we have the power to make our voices extend beyond “a check mark on a ballot” and I hope that - you and I Evan - are speaking the same language of the “people”.

It sucks that our first opportunity to put a women or a person of color in the white house has been tainted by the fact that neither of them have come out with a strong energy policy. I don’t really want to vote for another white male, but unless Clinton or Obama shape up on climate change….