How I Started, and Keep Engaged
I started working on the climate by going to the 350.org website and signing up for 350.org e-mails, even though there was no chapter in my city.
Then I received their call to organise a local event and filled in the form to be the host. I invited neighbours. I baked biscuits! We had a very small gathering in the local park, took pictures, and sent them in. Next, I went to an event in our central mall, asking a bank to stop funding coal. I invited some friends, and the five of us outnumbered the organisers.
Then a friend asked me to join a reading group, and we read a book that informed me, made me hopeful, and scared me a lot. When we finished it, three of us decided to set up a climate action choir. I tried every new thought I had. We sang outside banks. We organised the local event for “national days of action.” We sang at rallies. I practiced giving a short, inspiring speech. I got better at following news on the climate crisis. At every rehearsal, I asked each person to write a postcard to a politician or CEO and provided key points. And I kept going from there.
How do I keep engaged?
- I keep acting on my best thinking. Over time, I am better informed, better connected, and have discharged more.
- I remember it is more important to keep taking action than to take exactly the right action. I learn by trying things out.
- When overwhelmed, I work on remembering that this is not a one-person-sized issue—and that I am not alone in acting on it.
- I try to take the direction that my whole life has prepared me for taking part in responding to this crisis—and that that means . . . .
- What I do doesn’t have to be big or spectacular. Being friendly and warm, being persistent, having the occasional well-communicated thought—these things are all valuable and so is just showing up [being there] and helping with practical work.
- It can never make sense to give up. We know that every effort, no matter how small or large, is needed.
Australia
Reprinted from the RC e-mail discussion list for leaders in care of the environment
(Present Time 207, April 2022)