The climate challenge is still with us, and little progress has been made. The reasons are obvious: The big boys are pushing the little guys – like you and me – to do things that we are not sure will work, and some of it we do not like at all. Even worse is the recent talk from the IPCC about geo-engineering – halfbaked thoughts that scare people.
The big nations like the US, China, Western Europe won’t do much – they mostly talk and walk away. The positive side is that many local activities are coming up, and understanding is growing in many places.
So another approach must come: Climate change must be made part of the bigger ecological change we are going to have – we must make the world a sustainable place in the sense we have in deep ecology. Then climate will be included too – it fits well into this scenario.
There must also be a shift from global thinking to local thinking – followed by local action. Local is the only way as everybody live locally, everything we do is locally done. Global geo-engineering is a rather badly developed idea, technically it is unsound, democratically it is unacceptable.
So the only way is generating local action where members of all local communities play their part. We all have ideas about sustainability, we know a little and we must learn more, we must learn to see the consequences of what we do. We must learn to be the judge of what we should do.
Activities that are useful for the community must be started, including local industry, farming, transport, daily life.
This could be part of a common pool resource project of sustainable, deeply ecological local communities: administration based on local involvement by all stakeholders or inhabitants, local understanding and ownership of rules, deep involvement by all because it matters, continous and lasting involvement by all, local supervision and corrective action where necessary – so everything must be local of course.
It is all done separated from usual politics – only a coordinative function is required. All we need is a basic rule about sustainability. It has to be above ordinary politics – this is bigger and wider than that – it is about everybody’s life – involvement is compulsory – decision making is all including – using the principles found in the old way of council – it is about all of us so you must participate.
Global thinking will never solve a thing – everything and everybody is local. There is nothing you can do about that so start local work on sustainability and deep ecology where you are – the only thing you should do is your own local bit. Being global can be good in the sense that you should travel widely, learn a lot, get to know a lot of people, see the beauty and character of other places, help others that are in need, develop new ideas, share.
And in the end – if we all take part and make this work – we will all be better off. Global rules with doubtful relevance pushed at us from an uncertain authority will never work. Build local ecology first, when that is fixed, maybe everything is all right?
Understanding will come – the future is bright.
