The time for you to act is running out, but sorting things out could be quite easy…
For anyone who cares to look, the climate and nature emergency is becoming critical. Although, I suspect the billionaires will finish us off first by inspiring a wave of fascism across the globe.
You’ve left it too late… Almost.
I’ve been an environmental activist for about 30 years now. I’ve been on F knows how many protests, designed a few campaigns, been arrested 13 times (currently 😁). And I feel I’ve got a pretty good handle on the problem.
And time is running out.
Not feeling motivated to get involved? Too apathetic? Thinking ‘why bother?’ Thinking ‘if there was a problem, the government would tell us!’ (Good luck with that!)
Well, I’ve some good news for you.
You don’t actually have to do very much!
Sure, it’d be great if I saw you on this or that protest, but how many people does ‘the movement’ need to do those things?
The truth is, that we need a few people to do actions, BUT… we need millions of people to simply ‘mentally engage.’
Most people in the UK and indeed the world, are quite reasonable and are sufficiently intelligent, from my experience.
What’s needed is for those people, the majority of people, to simply connect with the problems and think about the issues… and that’s it!
And from the starting point of simply mentally engaging, millions of people make small adjustments to the way they go about life resulting in massive changes.
One great example: voting. So many people don’t bother to vote, but it has the potential to be hugely powerful. Yes, it has its problems, but at this moment, if we don’t vote, it’s looking like the fascists will win. They are already winning… In the US. Don’t let that spread to the UK with Reform and Farage. So if you’re not registered to vote, do it today and vote whenever you can.
Most of us are intelligent enough to understand. I seem to recall a comedian saying something like: “Think of a person with average intelligence… half the population are more stupid than him.” I’ve talked to thousands of people over the years, when out campaigning, and I’d guess, from my own experience, that it’s about 10% who are ‘problematically stupid.’ These days, that 10% are emboldened by the echo chambers they find on social media, and they are a real threat.
The main thing you need to do, as is say, is to engage with the problem. Think about it. Read about it. I say ‘it.’ I guess I tend to think of our collective problems as one big problem.
To emphasise: all MOST PEOPLE need to do is spend a little time thinking about what we face. This will automatically lead to small actions in the right direction. That might be voting, what sort of things you buy, maybe buying less, ethical changes to your diet, growing your own food or even just influencing the conversations you have.
One key word here is OPTIMISM. Optimism is your only choice. I have to tell you, after 30 years of activism, I often feel like giving up. But what does giving up look like? It means definitely losing. Not giving up means that there’s some small hope that we might actually win. The fossil fuel companies won’t give up. They’ll push their business as far as they can, even as the world burns. (It’s quite extraordinary behaviour, when you think about it. Bizarre).
So we don’t need millions of people to go on marches or to lock themselves to oil pipe lines.
We need millions of people to engage with the problem. Think about it and small actions will automatically follow.
We can win.
Additionally; My book offers some insight into our global situation. It might inspire you.