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CLIMATE CHANGE ACTION
Ed Rowe (NBW)
Join thousands of people and pledge to cut your carbon emissions by 10% in 2010. Take the first steps on the road to becoming a zero-carbon society.
It’s easy to feel powerless in the face of a huge problem like climate change, but by uniting everyone behind immediate, effective and achievable action, the 10:10 campaign enables all of us to make a meaningful difference.
Go to sign up at http://www.1010uk.org
By the way, have you seen film ‘The Age of Stupid’?
See the Youtube clip: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DZjsJdokC0s
It is the new film about climate change. If you haven’t seen it, it’s a powerful
and moving experience, and I was involved in a good discussion with some
local people (and experts) after the showing in the village hall.
The reality is that, even if climate change doesn’t affect us right now,
then it will certainly cause big problems for our children and grandchildren.
There are things we can do now:
Make changes to our lifestyle that reduce our carbon emissions:
Walk not drive, use a train not a plane.
Ask our MPs to reflect our concerns in their policy making and discussions.
And ask them whether they will reduce their emission next year.
The website ‘38 degrees’ at http://www.38degrees.org.uk/MP-1010 has a form that
you can use to contact your MP and ask them to sign up to 10.10;
it only takes a minute to fill out.
Choose environmentally friendly goods and services. Ecotricity rather than Southern Electric,
re-use carrier bags, look for less packaging and local products.
All the stuff we probably mean to do but sometimes forget.
Join the nearest Transition Town group, see:
http://transitiontowns.org/TransitionNetwork/TransitionCommunities or similar, and get involved.
Go and see a showing of The Age of Stupid, or arrange one yourself. Info at:
http://www.ageofstupid.net/organise_a_screening
Climate change is the most difficult issue that the next generation will inherit from us. We can’t afford to wait for a miracle technology cure. Let's all do our bit now, everyday.
Some of the science behind it is explained by George Monbiot in, I think, a balanced view at http://www.monbiot.com/archives/2009/08/31/not-even-wrong/
Noble Eightfold Path
Below I suggest a new slant on the Buddha’s path:
Right Understanding:
May we accept the responsibility to change our understanding of Nature in the light of our deep interconnectedness and to learn, to communicate, to nurture and to share knowledge about the causes and consequences of climate change
Right Intention:
May we cultivate compassion for all beings, sentient and non-sentient, and thus act responsibly on the basis of this compassion, giving up those things that harm the environment
Right Speech:
May we be prepared to speak out with the truth, without harshness or confrontation, about how we have all created this unsustainable and self-destructive situation
Right Action:
May we accept the responsibility to take steps to reduce our personal consumption and thus our carbon emissions and to, gently, try to influence others to do so too
Right Livelihood:
May we all consider what we do for a living, and its consequences for the environment, humans and all creatures, and whether we can better put our skills and labour to serve human welfare
Right Effort:
May we accept the responsibility to cultivate joy and peace, to try to dispel doubt, apathy, ill will, craving, anxiety and make an effort for the benefit of the global community and environment
Right Mindfulness:
May we accept the responsibility to look into ourselves seek the sources of greed, hatred and ignorance in our own hearts and minds and use the world’s resources carefully, with gratitude, and to share examples of good practice
Right Concentration:
May we learn to focus our minds together in a beneficial manner and thereby throw light on the issues at the heart of our modern malaise, both spiritual and material.
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