Beginning to Implement the Unified Goal on the Climate
Reaching the understanding that our continued existence is at stake [at risk] has been a big step. Acting on this understanding will be an even bigger undertaking. Much of the world does not yet realize or act on it. Part of our role will be to communicate with and engage others from the perspective of this understanding.
Janet Kabue (Area Reference Person for Nairobi, Kenya, and apprenticing to me as International Commonality Reference Person for Care of the Environment) and I have been thinking and discharging about how we can implement this huge goal. We want to engage every Co-Counselor; every group of Co-Counselors; every Area, Region, and constituency in this work. We encourage all of you who are taking this up [undertaking this] to have at least one “climate buddy” with whom you can Co-Counsel, share your thinking and plans, and evaluate the impact of what you do.
CONTINUING CURRENT INITIATIVES
We want to continue our current initiatives that are addressing the climate emergency: raising the topic in all RC classes, support groups, and workshops; having “climate moments” in every class; keeping the work on racism and the climate crisis central; developing five-year plans; holding monthly webinars; posting regular updates on our websites; holding Sustaining All Life projects at major climate conferences; posting to our RC e-mail discussion lists; convening monthly calls for people addressing different aspects of the crisis; Regions focusing on the climate emergency for two months at a time; and more. And continuing to work on all the distresses that interfere with our thinking and acting toward making the necessary large changes quickly.
RRPS, ILRPS, AND ICRPS TAKING INITIATIVE
After the World Conference, we began meeting with groups of Regional Reference Persons (RRPs) and International Liberation and Commonality Reference Persons (ILRPs and ICRPS) to think together about how we can increase our work together to implement the Unified Goal. Many great ideas resulted. Some of them are as follows:
- Constituencies addressing the work within their constituencies (both inside and outside of RC) and then building alliances with other constituencies
- Explaining the failures of capitalism and how these relate to the climate emergency
- Facing what has divided us in the past and using the existential climate crisis to motivate us to fully address the divisions and move forward together
- Unified work on the oppressor distresses that contribute to the climate emergency
- Making the Unified Goal a central piece of leaders’ workshops and classes
- Translating the Goal into every language used in RC
- Working with RC teachers and Area Reference Persons on how to teach about the Goal
CLIMATE EMERGENCY COORDINATORS
We also are launching a project of having a “Climate Emergency Coordinator” for each Region and each constituency. Some of you are already playing this role, and we hope more of you would like to. Here’s how we’re thinking about it:
One of our goals is to bring into our work on the climate emergency RCers who have not previously been involved in it. Another is to increase the level of activity on the climate crisis in the various Areas, Regions, and constituencies—in other words, have more classes, support groups, and workshops that address it.
We want to encourage people to not only lead these events but also volunteer to be “Climate Emergency Coordinators,” who will keep the work going and expanding. These “Coordinators” will encourage and support work on the climate emergency in their Areas, Regions, and constituencies. They will coordinate, but not necessarily lead, activities like support groups, gather-ins, and workshops. Janet and I will meet with the Coordinators monthly for the next year.
If you are interested in being a Climate Emergency Coordinator, please speak with your RRP, ILRP, or ICRP. If they approve of your being one, please write to Diane and Janet (at dshisk@me.com and kabuewambui@gmail.com), and we’ll add you to our list. We don’t expect Coordinators to come to all the monthly meetings, but we hope they will be able to come occasionally.
It has been great to work together with many of you on this important topic. We look forward to rapidly expanding our “climate gang” of RCers who are prioritizing the Unified Goal.
Shoreline, Washington, USA
(Present Time 210, January 2023)