This is a joint post by Morgan Goodwin, Juliana Williams and Jesse Jenkins. Also cross posted on Dailykos.
Two recent studies “in separate journals over the past few weeks, suggest that both industrialized and developing nations must wean themselves off fossil fuels by as early as mid-century in order to prevent warming that could change precipitation patterns and dry up sources of water worldwide… The world must bring carbon emissions down to near zero to keep temperatures from rising further.“
Sure, the science is evolving, but why are these headlines in major publications particularly relevant to the climate movement? Our activism has been aimed at targets based on cautious interpretation of the scientific data and calls for relatively incremental goals like 2% reductions in emissions per year, targeting 80% reductions by 2050 - one of the main “mantras” of our movement since Step it Up. We’ve been busy making that 80×50 goal politically feasible, but is this really the goal we need to work towards? Now the mainstream media is telling us - climate activists who are supposed to be pushing the cutting edge - that our goals aren’t good enough.
“People aren’t reducing emissions at all, let alone debating whether 88 percent or 99 percent is sufficient,” said Gavin A. Schmidt, of NASA’s Goddard Institute for Space Studies. “It’s like you’re starting off on a road trip from New York to California, and before you even start, you’re arguing about where you’re going to park at the end.”
If we get wrapped up in the targets we get caught up in the mess of what’s politically feasible and scientifically relevant. We as the youth movement need to come at this from a different angle. No more targets. We need a vision.
We as a country, we as a people and a society have overcome amazing challenges when we’ve been inspired by a vision. Inspired by JFK’s call to do the seemingly impossible, we put a man on the moon and built an aerospace industry that launched an economic boom. Inspired by MLK’s Dream and passion, we fought to desegregate our hearts and our society.
We now stand at the brink of a challenge that dwarfs those that have come before - climate change - and we are beginning to articulate a compelling vision that matches the scale of that challenge, of that opportunity. We are ready to start building and talking about something inspiring and tantalizing, something truly revolutionary. This sort of vision can be held by everyone in the movement, moving us from fear and despair at the scale of the challenge to hope and optimism at the equally grand scale of opportunity that challenge presents. That sort of vision must be powerful enough to inspire individuals and society to action.
What is our vision?
Since Power Shift, young leaders across the country have been developing an idea that feels both powerful and simple:
We can be Climate Positive.
Climate Positive has dual meanings. It is a philosophy or mind-set, a way of engaging with the world and the challenge of climate change. And it is also a goal, the target towards which we as a movement and a society are striving.
Climate Positive is a mind-set that engages eagerly in the opportunities inherent in solving the climate crisis by building a sustainable, just, and prosperous, post-carbon society. It is a philosophy fueled by the vision of the possible, actively striving to make a better future a reality by engaging everyone in the solutions.
Climate Positive also means that net global greenhouse gas emissions are below the level at which they are absorbed by natural cycles. In this sense, it is the ultimate target of our movement. Putting aside percentages or numerics, Climate Positive is about restoring our atmosphere to a state of balance, and ending for good the climate crisis we are faced with today.
Most of all, Climate Positive is a vision of what is possible, of the future that we are striving to create. The vision is not complete - we are all building it every day. But already, you can see it taking hold within the swelling ranks of the climate movement.
These days we are moving beyond simply talking about emissions reductions. We are moving beyond talking merely about what we simply wish to avoid - melting ice caps, dying polar bears, a world of climatic chaos. We are beyond talking about simple, small steps, like changing light bulbs and eating local. These things are all still critical. Emissions reductions are of course essential, individual actions and lifestyle changes are a way to start (get your house in order first, right?), and the nightmarish vision of the world we can expect if we fail to act fuels our urgency.
But we are also starting to see it differently. We are uniting behind fresh visions that are inspirational rather than limiting. We are moving beyond the paradigm of simply cutting carbon emissions to articulating bold plans for a new energy future that will reignite America’s economy, generate a new kind of sustainable development, confront poverty and inequity both here and abroad, and build healthy communities that are not only materially comfortable but socially, economically, and ecologically sustainable and secure.
This approach, a Climate Positive mindset, and a Climate Positive target - a Climate Positive Vision - engages everyone in creating local and global solutions, unleashes human ingenuity, potential and compassion to end the climate crisis and build a brighter future. Those of us in the climate movement can not come up with all the solutions to meet this challenge; not even everyone currently engaged in politics, science or advocacy can come up with all the solutions. We will need everyone, everywhere working on every level.
Faced with this daunting challenge, we ask ourselves, what are global warming solutions?
A Climate Positive Vision recognizes that WE - human beings everywhere - are global warming solutions. We are a force for change, a force that can step outside the old energy paradigm to build the future and present that we know is possible. Ordinary people, acting in every community, hold the ideas and inspiration for change, and we can believe in those people as we believe in ourselves.
Daniel Quinn observes, “During your lifetime, the people of our culture are going to figure out how to live sustainably on this planet–or they’re not. Either way, it’s certainly going to be extraordinary. If they figure out how to live sustainably here, then humanity will be able to see something it can’t see right now: a future that extends into the indefinite future. If they don’t figure this out, then I’m afraid the human race is going to take its place among the species that we’re driving into extinction here every day–as many as 200–every day.”
We have the opportunity to build an extraordinary way of living. Let’s make it Climate Positive.
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“Climate Positive” sounds like a great goal! But, in terms of vision, I’m looking for something I can see. I started to sketch (though perhaps via negativa) a “Climate Positive” vision here: http://itsgettinghotinhere.org/2008/02/13/the-return-to-old-ways/
So, consider this an invitation and a challenge. Imagine what a climate positive society or community looks like. What do you see?
Sounds good to me! Let’s do it.
Hey Morgan, Jesse, and Juliana,
I love your essay on Climate Positive. This paragraph was really inspiring:
“We are uniting behind fresh visions that are inspirational rather than limiting. We are moving beyond the paradigm of simply cutting carbon emissions to articulating bold plans for a new energy future that will reignite America’s economy, generate a new kind of sustainable development, confront poverty and inequity both here and abroad, and build healthy communities that are not only materially comfortable but socially, economically, and ecologically sustainable and secure.”
Right on guys! Let’s put a bold, inspiring, muscular plan at the center of our vision: massive public investments in clean energy. $500 billion to spark an energy revolution, achieve disruptive technological transformations, create millions of new jobs, and build new energy sources all across America.
As you articulate so well, we’ve got to take the positive and inspiring language to the next level and begin uniting young people across the country behind a vision that includes a strategy – a bold national plan – that we can aim to achieve.
And you’re right on: we can’t rely on setting incremental targets, such as cap-and-trade’s 2% annual reduction strategy. We need an energy revolution. We need a price on carbon – absolutely – but we can’t put higher energy prices and limits at the center of our vision. If anything, a carbon price – whether through cap-and-trade or a direct carbon tax – should be used to raise the funds for a bold American investment.
Onward,
Teryn
Great post, Morgan!
As a part of the gang over at Step It Up who started pushing for 80×50, I’m thrilled to see that more radical targets are becoming mainstream. If “climate positive” becomes a major message, all the better.
But let’s remember how that process works . . . less than a year ago, 80×50 was just a radical idea that no one but enviros were talking about. Because the amazing work of organizers around the country and the thousands of students at Power Shift, it went mainstream: Nancy Pelosi lead a chant of “80×50″ at Power Shift infront of 6,000 students, 80×50 is the leading platform on Hillary and Barack’s climate plans, and 80×50 has been passed into legislation in states around the country. We’ve gone from fringe to legislation in a year.
That’s a major accomplishment - together, we’ve completely shifted the debate. This couldn’t have happened if we just said “Stop Global Warming” or “Step It Up.” Because we got specific, we defined the debate in the media and in congress. We made it unacceptable for politicians to talk about any other target. Perhaps most importantly, we gave people a clear way to judge existing policy - does Warner-Lieberman meet 80×50? No. Well, then it isn’t acceptable.
Is it everything we need? Of course not. But let’s not throw out the idea of targets completely. Motivational language is great, positive visions essential, but in the end, we’re also dealing with politics and chemistry. Those sometimes require specifics. If we can pair the two together - as we tried with our mantra (I like that) “Step It Up, Congress: Cut Carbon 80% by 2050!” sometimes we can get amazing things done.
Hi Jamie,
Our call to move beyond 80×50 shouldn’t be considered a slight on the work of Step it Up in any way. In fact, it’s your rapid and truly tremendous success (and the success of all of us who helped mainstream 80×50 in about six months time!) that inspires us to push for more and gives us hope it’s possible.
To be clear, climate positive isn’t without a goal. In fact, it’s precisely what the science calls for, which is to drive towards near-zero emissions as soon as possible! Clearly, in that context, Lieberman-Warner’s paltry 60% by 2050 is entirely inadequate as well. And 80×50 marks a good starting point, a line in the sand that should be the bare minimum of what we should consider.
Of course, the science has advanced pretty considerably since Step it Up (just about a year ago now) and it’s not good news. Its sounding more and more like 80×50 may only be enough to give us a 50-50 shot at avoiding runaway climate change (some McKibben has written about recently as well). And I’m sure we are all unwilling to take a coin flip with the future of the world as we know it!
Thus the call to move “beyond 80×50″ and adopt something bolder, something with even more urgency (talking about 2050 still seems pretty far off, even to young people), and yes, something more expansive - because this is about WAY more than just cutting emissions, it’s also about building a more sustainable, just, and prosperous society.
So Climate Positive is all those things. It’s ~100% by as soon as freakin’ possible, if you’d like to talk about emissions levels. But it’s also about building a sustainable, just, and prosperous future for all. And it’s hard to capture that in a statistical emissions reduction target, eh? If we want a movement powerful enough to do all that, we need a mantra powerful enough to compellingly communicate it. I don’t know if “Climate Positive” is it. But we’re willing to test it out.
Cheers,
Jesse Jenkins
Yes! We all need to step it up! Check out this website (http://www.energy2025.com) and its associated blog: (http://www.energy2025.com/blogs.html) for some concrete ways to focus on reducing our use of oil as well as shifting energy production from Burning Stuff (even corn-based ethanol, BTW).