Discussion Shifting Behavior for a Changing Climate 2016

The question of how to reach masses of people to solve climate change is the most important question of our time.this is the key point of change for success.

This contest is based on the belief that local individual changes will add up to solving global warming. Perhaps in some theoretical world they might. We certainly must amplify the multitude of local changes that are already going on in areas such as Permaculture, Transition Towns, renewable energy and improved industrial design.

But in addition we have to shift consciousness to affect the large-scale drivers of climate change: the transnational organizations, global trade agreements, devotion to economic growth, inefficient industrial design, psychologically manipulative advertising, dis-information, and undue corporate influence on governments. There is massive power mobilized against us, and they are psychologically savvy.

Putting this together, we need a whole system change to solve global warming. Pope Francis' encyclical is a thoroughly thought through expression of what is involved in whole system change; so as Annie Leonard's The Story of Stuff series. It is not just about piecemeal on the ground changes.

In this context we should ask: what will it take to win?

I suggest that will take mobilizing thoughtful passionate public will to transition from sure ecological self-destruction to a life-sustaining society - a society that is ecologically sustainable and works in collaborative goodwill for the well-being of the whole society.

I am spearheading the Inspiring Transition initiative as a vehicle whereby (potentially) millions of groups and their members can seed the idea that we are transitioning to a life-sustaining society into mainstream culture, and show ways that people can contribute to the transition within their sphere of influence. Our goal is audacious but necessary: large-scale cultural transformation.

In what time frame? In 2007 Rajendra Pachuari, head of the IPCC, said, "If there is no action before 2012, that's too late." Regretfully, he may be correct. In any case, we are right on the edge. I live with a daily sense that methane release from Arctic seabeds - once thought impossible because of thick permafrost - it is rapidly increasing. So I have adapted an audacious goal for myself which I hope that you will take on board as well: raising the global sustainability conversation to the level of whole system change to a life-sustaining society by the end of this year.

The way to do this is to engage millions of groups and their members as citizen educators, and provide ready-to-use tools to make communicating about our global emergency and systemic change as straightforward as possible.

Such tools are freely available on the Inspiring Transition website. They include briefing points and sample emails to be sent to our networks. Perhaps our most innovative tool is Kitchen Table Conversations, a way of using physical markers to enable people to keep track of complex conversations. People enjoy them.

Inspiring Transition is not an organization in the usual sense. Everybody who participates in the Inspiring Transition initiative acts as a co-leader. There is no centralized command-and-control; we all act through our own initiative. We are aligned in our intention to succeed in transitioning to a life-sustaining society by communication about what is involved with our networks (this is how we reach a mainstream audience; we are all embedded in the mainstream).

We have the beginnings of a global network, with colleagues in the US, Canada, England, Europe and across Australia.

I will place an entry about Inspiring Transition into this contest, even though it does not fit the terms of reference very well. 

In the meantime, if you agree that communicating to gain mainstream commitment is essential for success, I invite you to go to the Inspiring Transition website, get clear about how to communicate about the systemic changes we need, and get on with communicating with your networks through your own initiative.

www.inspiringtransition.net

Hi Alison,

Thank you for your suggestion!! Because the 2016 contests just opened, a lot of proposals are still in development or have recently been moved from the workspaces from last year, which is why they seem inactive. As the contest progresses this should certainly change. Authors may be slow in responding or making changes. 

Again, thank you for your suggestions! We really appreciate your participation and cooperation with other authors!

Please feel free to reach out to me if you have any other suggestions or questions!

Thanks, 

Annalyn Bachmann
Project Assistant with the Climate CoLab