Over at Grist, Bill McKibben is asking for your input. He wants you to “think about the possibilities for direct action, and write them down and send them to us”. He offers some guidelines — think big, keep it legal, be mindful of costs and physical limitations (”we’re not going to have hundreds of people rappelling or scuba diving”), etc., all of which I agree with completely.
A call for direct action in the climate movement: we need your ideas
I commented both places with:
1 MSM continues to downplay the role of climate change in weird weather, present denialist opinions as if they were as credible as science, and ignore the plight of the victims thus far (i.e. millions of Pakistanis), so people really really don’t know what’s happening.
2 People are struggling to survive this ‘recession’
3 Voters are supporting people like Sharron Angle (stupid, gullible and/or inept electorate)
Not a chance that demonstrations will move them… none at all. (Been there, done that)
This issue needs to distance itself from a counter culture type revolution. It’s science… and the future of all life on the planet depends on action. The man on the street is confused by it, can’t understand the science, can’t get his arms around the magnitude of the problem and the herculean effort that will be required to mitigate it.
We need world leaders like Obama, the pope, etc. If Obama doesn’t get it, how can we expect Joe the plumber to?
Hansen included this letter in his book Storms of my Grandchildren:
http://www.columbia.edu/~jeh1/mailings/2008/20080703_DearPrimeMinisterFukuda.pdf
I recommended sending a copy (hard or soft) to every world leader we can, and include a photo of our children/grandchildren.
Update
No letter is too long... include only the section Hansen included in his book
Finally, Prime Minister Fukuda, I would like to thank you for helping make clear to the other leaders of the eight nations the great urgency of the actions needed to address climate change. Might I make one suggestion for an approach you could use in drawing their attention? If the leaders find that the concept of phasing out all emissions from coal, and taking measures to ensure that unconventional fossil fuels are left in the ground or used only with zero-carbon emissions, is too inconvenient, then, in that case, they could instead spend a small amount of time composing a letter to be left for future generations.
This letter should explain that the leaders realized their failure to take these actions would cause our descendants to inherit a planet with a warming ocean, disintegrating ice sheets, rising sea level, increasing climate extremes, and vanishing species, but it would have been too much trouble to make changes to our energy systems and to oppose the business interests who insisted on burning every last bit of fossil fuels. By composing this letter the leaders will at least achieve an accurate view of their place in history.
BTW Hansen's book should be a must read for every high school senior
What about asking the ACLU to file a class action suit against big oil, big coal and even the government on behalf of everyone 10 and under?
That the defendants policies are denying future generations of the right to pursue life, liberty and happiness?
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