Unite and co-ordinate all climate campaign efforts by ClimateSafety.net

13comments

Share conversation:

Pia Jensen Jun 23, 2013 11:15 Member 1 \| Share via:	Totally agree. I especially appreciate your comment on using the atmosphere like an open sewer. I'd like you to review several proposals I have which I think are in alignment with your proposal. "Switch the Track: Questioning personal & authoritative mental models & frameworks to derive better solutions requires new cognitive frameworks." https://www.climatecolab.org/web/guest/plans/-/plans/contestId/21/planId/1302083 - Changes the paradigm we operate in "Buying Time: Rapid Impact Rules: Sometimes, there comes a time, when... you just have to "bite the bullet"" https://www.climatecolab.org/web/guest/plans/-/plans/contestId/10/planId/1301868 - immediate policy and industrial action "Transforming Garbage into Useful Products: Don't burn or toss that kitchen waste, plastic, styrofoam, glass, or "trash"! That's a Gold Mine! https://www.climatecolab.org/web/guest/plans/-/plans/contestId/26/planId/1302173 - site level waste management (zero waste zero burn policy and enforcement)
Pia Jensen Jun 23, 2013 12:04 Member 2 \| Share via:	Not sure if you know this, but last year there was a WA DC event that came about through anti-nuclear activists. During the event, the environmental leaders present admitted that that was the first time they had all come together on one place. Imagine - all these years of everyone working on the same issues, but having never come face to face. Your idea has great merit and I am going to support it even though we have our proposals in the same category. :) I think it is important to stress the need for policy makers and legislators to be involved in your concept as well. Perhaps industry will follow.
Mik Aidt Jun 23, 2013 12:41 Member 3 \| Share via:	Proposal contributor Thank you, PJ - that's great to get some feedback. I'll take a look at the three proposals. And yes, policy makers and legislators MUST be involved, but if you ask me, then the climate safety campaigners have some serious home work to do before that involvement can begin. The deeper I've studied this strange phenomena, the clearer it stands out that democracy was not built to deal with issues such as climate change. There is a "built-in" problem with the way the political system works that short-circuits taking action at the level which is needed. Regardless of what Obama will say on Tuesday, his initiatives are not going to bring global warming down to the 2°C degrees that the 2009 Copenhagen agreement promised us, because the US has “exported” its emissions to China by moving the production over there. And so on. The driver for change has to come from the campaigners and the grassroots with an increasing support from the citizens. THEN the policy makers and legislators will involve themselves automatically without anyone having to push them.
Mik Aidt Jun 23, 2013 12:50 Member 4 \| Share via:	Proposal contributor As an example of how bad the situation is: Just take a look at the Avaaz crowdfunding which was started last week. I don't understand why the climate campaigning community can't all just say: "Okay, Avaaz got something great and 'border-crossing' going on here, so let's chip in now, since it is the only offer at this level that the planet has seen so far...” But apparently they just can't. Everyone sits with their own little organisation and works hard for their own little visions. (More about it here: http://climatesafety.info/?p=2894 ) It is absolutely stupid, seen from a 'helicopter perspective'. Imagine if the 20 largest climate NGOs were able to distribute the assignments between them, and say: “Bill, you take care of the divestment campaign - Avaaz, you do the global multi-language petitioning-stuff for the UN summit 2015 - Al Gore, you take the carbon tax case and ally yourself with these five other NGOs who have that same agenda,....." and so on. What a boost it would create for the whole cause! I think we can do something to change this unproductive situation. :-)
Pia Jensen Jun 23, 2013 01:58 Member 5 \| Share via:	I certainly appreciate mush of what you are saying. Being in Central America right now I am learning first hand from people who have been here for along time what happens with project money and support - people get a little "carried away" when the funding arrives and the projects don't get the money they require to move forward. Something about money is an issue. :) There needs to be clearly defined rules set for accountability. Not that those don't exist, but, projects require oversight from those who are in a position to ensure the projects get their money and that the money is used on the project and that those who do the work on the project, not the leadership - get what they need to live. A more global issue is - the competition factor - I think it would behoove us all to look at why groups can't come together on one page. Often, that leads right back to the money issue. Everyone needs a job to put food on the table, etc. etc.. It may be that one key to unlocking this critical roadblock you describe is to demonetize climate change efforts. I'm not sure what that would like, but it seems there is a problem with distribution. Of course, people still need to put food on their tables, etc. etc.. So... must think on this.
Pia Jensen Jun 23, 2013 01:09 Member 6 \| Share via:	Also - it may be beneficial to look at the primary issue as climate change and not focus on the temperature. We could well be heading into a serious cooling phase right now.
Mik Aidt Jun 23, 2013 01:54 Member 7 \| Share via:	Proposal contributor Exactly! And yes, the "money issue" which you describe is a big part of it. I watched the 2009-movie 'Home' the other evening, (I can highly recommend it, if you haven't seen it), and it dawned on me that some of the issues we are dealing with here are rooted deep in human nature - we are talking about things that can be explained by looking at our 200,000 years on this planet, and how we evolved and which skills we developed, and why. In some way, I saw a glimpse of a "biological" explanation why we are finding it so difficult to work together in such an enormous group which is required of us here. It is not "natural" for us at all! Just a few centuries ago, we lived in small units, compounds, villages, and one of the most important things for our survival was the protection of the unit, the group, the 'tribe'. As humans, we have been full of initiative, courage, innovation, driven by a strive for improving our standard of life - for the compound. For the tribe. Never for 7 billion people and unborn generations of the future. I stopped using that term 'global warming' long ago, when I learned how easy it is for people to dispute and even ridicule that terminology. The Keeling Curve is much better as an illustration of our problem with the atmosphere. No one can dispute that curve. And climate change IS what we feel and see. Flooding. Draught. Irregularity. Extremes. Whether things feel warmer or colder depends very much on where on the planet you are, and in which season.
Pia Jensen Jun 23, 2013 01:12 Member 8 \| Share via:	I will check out "Home" thanks for the recommendation. As an agrarian type and a volunteer for a few non-profits, I understand the concept that we are biologically handicapped. The agrarian part of me says, grow food, share it, help others... the non-profit experience told me - secure those dollars, no matter how needy the others you are competing with are. It's very conflicting. I like to think that social progress is our grand imperative - and, I just found this which may be helpful: The Social Progress Imperative: http://www.socialprogressimperative.org/‎ Perhaps there is a global "imperative" and ethos we can all align with. As for temps, while the debate continues and there are extremes in different areas, one thing is true - as more volcanos do their thing, earth will cool. We are, IMHO, in one small part of a bigger phenomenon than most tend to focus on.
Pia Jensen Jun 23, 2013 01:08 Member 9 \| Share via:	By the way, I tweeted that this conversation is happening, so perhaps more will jump in :) https://twitter.com/Cecalli_Helper "Interested in #Climate #change dialog? check this out! https://www.climatecolab.org/web/guest/plans/-/plans/contestId/21/planId/1201906#plans=tab:comments \|"
Mik Aidt Jun 24, 2013 01:40 Member 10 \| Share via:	Proposal contributor Great! :-) Appreciated! The movie 'Home' is available in many formats on youtube. I'd recommend using this one: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jqxENMKaeCU And - because this is a special film and you'd want to actually EXPERIENCE it, and not just SEE it. Like when you go to a cinema: creating a special time and space around it. Here are some suggestions I gave a friend the other day: 1) Find an evening when things are quiet around you, 2) See if you can connect a speaker system to the computer, and if not, use earphones or a headset 3) Click on the link - but also remember to click on the small button on the bottom right of the video-window where you can choose the resolution and choose the highest possible - AND 4) also press that other button which gets the image up to full screen size. THEN you're set! :-) PS: If your computer or connection doesn't allow you to play it in high resolution, then download the video-file. Size: 1.5 GB. (You can download a youtube film for instance by going here http://en.savefrom.net and pasting the youtube-URL there) Once you've seen it, you might want to go and see the official website , which is here: http://www.homethemovie.org/en The film is four years old, but it is so well made that you can see it as if it was produced yesterday - only that the figures that they mention about the melting ice on the poles, sadly, are much higher today. I think all human beings on this planet should see this film. I'm actually so keen on it that I'll be organising a public screening of it in the town where I live in a couple of months. _____ The link you sent about The Social Progress Imperative opens up a door to a huge room of visions which I have been and still am deeply involved with in Denmark. I actually run a blog (in Danish language) which (roughly translated) is titled 'From Culture Conflict to Culture Dreaming', and which used to be my number one on the agenda before this climate issue came in and caught my attention. The content of the blog is focused on exploring what it will take to create a new vision for the Danish society - a new "Danish Dream". Just to say that this area certainly is something I agree with you is extremely relevant and important. However, as we have set out to find out how the world can solve its urgent problem with our carbon emissions, I believe it is important to strip the strategy as well as the goal(s) down something which is very very narrow. Many people I discuss climate issues with are telling me that "We need create a 'holistic' sustainability-transition of society - it is not only about CO2-levels, but also about correcting inequalities, the end of the growth-paradigme, cultivating transparency, fairness and justice", and so on. As much as I agree with the importance of all this, I totally disagree with that these aspects should be included when we try to find a fast and successful solution to the CO2-problem. With 7 billion people involved in the debate, we will ONLY reach our goal if we strip the discussion down to a bare minimum and keep it simple simple simple. (I elaborated a bit on this in a blog-post recently, under ‘Draft for a simple manifest’: http://climatesafety.info/?p=2844 )
Pia Jensen Jun 24, 2013 05:59 Member 11 \| Share via:	Reading your blog post (last url provided) I had a 100th Monkey sensation. Some of us are where you and Bill McK. are - maybe we hit the 10% - and, yes moving into adaptation and mitigation because leadership ignored the signs feels defeatist. Thinking that when my mom sent me a tear sheet off the AP wire from the newspaper she worked at (1989) and she highlighted what the UN environmental folks were saying: if we did not change soon, we'd be at the line of no return, that we hit that line already some years ago. Adaptation and mitigation is our only choice now, I think. And, simple, simple, simple is the only way to go. Keep the carbon footprint down, use tech tools to communicate... host online educational forums, use micro-radio where the internet is not accessible, forget using robots and nanotechnology... people in their neighborhoods are the people who will carry out the tasks required to mitigate and adapt. Enough with the research and studies, it's time to hit the ground running. There is a social and moral imperative and its people like you and Bill McKibben that provide the compass. If leadership chooses half baked solutions it won't be helpful. I wonder, who did Pres Obama invite to his table when he crafted the speech he will deliver Tuesday? Maybe he will go beyond our expectations. But, having seen so many big moments like this pass by with little substance, I'm not holding my breath. I am not sure a carbon tax is the way to go. I think that hard line policy and enforcement may be more effective. I recall that Germany instituted hard line environmental laws years ago and it made a difference. Whatever is done, it has to be global. No more industrial moves to other nations because of lax environmental laws. Thank you for the ideas on how to watch the movie. Unfortunately, my 13" mac laptop is on its last legs, no more room for big files, battery has been been beaten down by faulty central american electrical wiring, and my ability to upgrade is greatly limited. In fact, I'm worried about the timing of my battery needing replacement soon, this is a critical week for communications and my check doesn't hit my bank until July 3rd or sometime between then and the 8th. Crossing my fingers that it holds up until I get my money and can make the bus into Managua where there are several mac stores, but not all have everything... par for the course with life in a developing country.
Pia Jensen Jun 24, 2013 05:38 Member 12 \| Share via:	Should be jumped on by org with clout right away 1 Grant award 5 yrs $2.6Mil ea yr total $13Mil Accelerating Inclusion and Mitigating Emissions http://www07.grants.gov/search/search.do;jsessionid=cTyJRLvFjC1hTxV1p0B2pHy1HkS4rJhQn9fcX3GQnDykNxG1ypyG!2075041033?revNum=2&mode=VIEWREVISIONS close date: 6.27.13
2013shiftingculturesjudges 2013shiftingculturesjudges Jul 2, 2013 01:17 Judge 13 \| Share via:	The proposal references, and seeks to compile, a number of organizations doing good work, but it's unclear what specific new actions could actually make these new actions happen.

Pia Jensen Jun 23, 2013 11:15 Member 1 \| Share via:	Totally agree. I especially appreciate your comment on using the atmosphere like an open sewer. I'd like you to review several proposals I have which I think are in alignment with your proposal. "Switch the Track: Questioning personal & authoritative mental models & frameworks to derive better solutions requires new cognitive frameworks." https://www.climatecolab.org/web/guest/plans/-/plans/contestId/21/planId/1302083 - Changes the paradigm we operate in "Buying Time: Rapid Impact Rules: Sometimes, there comes a time, when... you just have to "bite the bullet"" https://www.climatecolab.org/web/guest/plans/-/plans/contestId/10/planId/1301868 - immediate policy and industrial action "Transforming Garbage into Useful Products: Don't burn or toss that kitchen waste, plastic, styrofoam, glass, or "trash"! That's a Gold Mine! https://www.climatecolab.org/web/guest/plans/-/plans/contestId/26/planId/1302173 - site level waste management (zero waste zero burn policy and enforcement)
Pia Jensen Jun 23, 2013 12:04 Member 2 \| Share via:	Not sure if you know this, but last year there was a WA DC event that came about through anti-nuclear activists. During the event, the environmental leaders present admitted that that was the first time they had all come together on one place. Imagine - all these years of everyone working on the same issues, but having never come face to face. Your idea has great merit and I am going to support it even though we have our proposals in the same category. :) I think it is important to stress the need for policy makers and legislators to be involved in your concept as well. Perhaps industry will follow.
Mik Aidt Jun 23, 2013 12:41 Member 3 \| Share via:	Proposal contributor Thank you, PJ - that's great to get some feedback. I'll take a look at the three proposals. And yes, policy makers and legislators MUST be involved, but if you ask me, then the climate safety campaigners have some serious home work to do before that involvement can begin. The deeper I've studied this strange phenomena, the clearer it stands out that democracy was not built to deal with issues such as climate change. There is a "built-in" problem with the way the political system works that short-circuits taking action at the level which is needed. Regardless of what Obama will say on Tuesday, his initiatives are not going to bring global warming down to the 2°C degrees that the 2009 Copenhagen agreement promised us, because the US has “exported” its emissions to China by moving the production over there. And so on. The driver for change has to come from the campaigners and the grassroots with an increasing support from the citizens. THEN the policy makers and legislators will involve themselves automatically without anyone having to push them.
Mik Aidt Jun 23, 2013 12:50 Member 4 \| Share via:	Proposal contributor As an example of how bad the situation is: Just take a look at the Avaaz crowdfunding which was started last week. I don't understand why the climate campaigning community can't all just say: "Okay, Avaaz got something great and 'border-crossing' going on here, so let's chip in now, since it is the only offer at this level that the planet has seen so far...” But apparently they just can't. Everyone sits with their own little organisation and works hard for their own little visions. (More about it here: http://climatesafety.info/?p=2894 ) It is absolutely stupid, seen from a 'helicopter perspective'. Imagine if the 20 largest climate NGOs were able to distribute the assignments between them, and say: “Bill, you take care of the divestment campaign - Avaaz, you do the global multi-language petitioning-stuff for the UN summit 2015 - Al Gore, you take the carbon tax case and ally yourself with these five other NGOs who have that same agenda,....." and so on. What a boost it would create for the whole cause! I think we can do something to change this unproductive situation. :-)
Pia Jensen Jun 23, 2013 01:58 Member 5 \| Share via:	I certainly appreciate mush of what you are saying. Being in Central America right now I am learning first hand from people who have been here for along time what happens with project money and support - people get a little "carried away" when the funding arrives and the projects don't get the money they require to move forward. Something about money is an issue. :) There needs to be clearly defined rules set for accountability. Not that those don't exist, but, projects require oversight from those who are in a position to ensure the projects get their money and that the money is used on the project and that those who do the work on the project, not the leadership - get what they need to live. A more global issue is - the competition factor - I think it would behoove us all to look at why groups can't come together on one page. Often, that leads right back to the money issue. Everyone needs a job to put food on the table, etc. etc.. It may be that one key to unlocking this critical roadblock you describe is to demonetize climate change efforts. I'm not sure what that would like, but it seems there is a problem with distribution. Of course, people still need to put food on their tables, etc. etc.. So... must think on this.
Pia Jensen Jun 23, 2013 01:09 Member 6 \| Share via:	Also - it may be beneficial to look at the primary issue as climate change and not focus on the temperature. We could well be heading into a serious cooling phase right now.
Mik Aidt Jun 23, 2013 01:54 Member 7 \| Share via:	Proposal contributor Exactly! And yes, the "money issue" which you describe is a big part of it. I watched the 2009-movie 'Home' the other evening, (I can highly recommend it, if you haven't seen it), and it dawned on me that some of the issues we are dealing with here are rooted deep in human nature - we are talking about things that can be explained by looking at our 200,000 years on this planet, and how we evolved and which skills we developed, and why. In some way, I saw a glimpse of a "biological" explanation why we are finding it so difficult to work together in such an enormous group which is required of us here. It is not "natural" for us at all! Just a few centuries ago, we lived in small units, compounds, villages, and one of the most important things for our survival was the protection of the unit, the group, the 'tribe'. As humans, we have been full of initiative, courage, innovation, driven by a strive for improving our standard of life - for the compound. For the tribe. Never for 7 billion people and unborn generations of the future. I stopped using that term 'global warming' long ago, when I learned how easy it is for people to dispute and even ridicule that terminology. The Keeling Curve is much better as an illustration of our problem with the atmosphere. No one can dispute that curve. And climate change IS what we feel and see. Flooding. Draught. Irregularity. Extremes. Whether things feel warmer or colder depends very much on where on the planet you are, and in which season.
Pia Jensen Jun 23, 2013 01:12 Member 8 \| Share via:	I will check out "Home" thanks for the recommendation. As an agrarian type and a volunteer for a few non-profits, I understand the concept that we are biologically handicapped. The agrarian part of me says, grow food, share it, help others... the non-profit experience told me - secure those dollars, no matter how needy the others you are competing with are. It's very conflicting. I like to think that social progress is our grand imperative - and, I just found this which may be helpful: The Social Progress Imperative: http://www.socialprogressimperative.org/‎ Perhaps there is a global "imperative" and ethos we can all align with. As for temps, while the debate continues and there are extremes in different areas, one thing is true - as more volcanos do their thing, earth will cool. We are, IMHO, in one small part of a bigger phenomenon than most tend to focus on.
Pia Jensen Jun 23, 2013 01:08 Member 9 \| Share via:	By the way, I tweeted that this conversation is happening, so perhaps more will jump in :) https://twitter.com/Cecalli_Helper "Interested in #Climate #change dialog? check this out! https://www.climatecolab.org/web/guest/plans/-/plans/contestId/21/planId/1201906#plans=tab:comments \|"
Mik Aidt Jun 24, 2013 01:40 Member 10 \| Share via:	Proposal contributor Great! :-) Appreciated! The movie 'Home' is available in many formats on youtube. I'd recommend using this one: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jqxENMKaeCU And - because this is a special film and you'd want to actually EXPERIENCE it, and not just SEE it. Like when you go to a cinema: creating a special time and space around it. Here are some suggestions I gave a friend the other day: 1) Find an evening when things are quiet around you, 2) See if you can connect a speaker system to the computer, and if not, use earphones or a headset 3) Click on the link - but also remember to click on the small button on the bottom right of the video-window where you can choose the resolution and choose the highest possible - AND 4) also press that other button which gets the image up to full screen size. THEN you're set! :-) PS: If your computer or connection doesn't allow you to play it in high resolution, then download the video-file. Size: 1.5 GB. (You can download a youtube film for instance by going here http://en.savefrom.net and pasting the youtube-URL there) Once you've seen it, you might want to go and see the official website , which is here: http://www.homethemovie.org/en The film is four years old, but it is so well made that you can see it as if it was produced yesterday - only that the figures that they mention about the melting ice on the poles, sadly, are much higher today. I think all human beings on this planet should see this film. I'm actually so keen on it that I'll be organising a public screening of it in the town where I live in a couple of months. _____ The link you sent about The Social Progress Imperative opens up a door to a huge room of visions which I have been and still am deeply involved with in Denmark. I actually run a blog (in Danish language) which (roughly translated) is titled 'From Culture Conflict to Culture Dreaming', and which used to be my number one on the agenda before this climate issue came in and caught my attention. The content of the blog is focused on exploring what it will take to create a new vision for the Danish society - a new "Danish Dream". Just to say that this area certainly is something I agree with you is extremely relevant and important. However, as we have set out to find out how the world can solve its urgent problem with our carbon emissions, I believe it is important to strip the strategy as well as the goal(s) down something which is very very narrow. Many people I discuss climate issues with are telling me that "We need create a 'holistic' sustainability-transition of society - it is not only about CO2-levels, but also about correcting inequalities, the end of the growth-paradigme, cultivating transparency, fairness and justice", and so on. As much as I agree with the importance of all this, I totally disagree with that these aspects should be included when we try to find a fast and successful solution to the CO2-problem. With 7 billion people involved in the debate, we will ONLY reach our goal if we strip the discussion down to a bare minimum and keep it simple simple simple. (I elaborated a bit on this in a blog-post recently, under ‘Draft for a simple manifest’: http://climatesafety.info/?p=2844 )
Pia Jensen Jun 24, 2013 05:59 Member 11 \| Share via:	Reading your blog post (last url provided) I had a 100th Monkey sensation. Some of us are where you and Bill McK. are - maybe we hit the 10% - and, yes moving into adaptation and mitigation because leadership ignored the signs feels defeatist. Thinking that when my mom sent me a tear sheet off the AP wire from the newspaper she worked at (1989) and she highlighted what the UN environmental folks were saying: if we did not change soon, we'd be at the line of no return, that we hit that line already some years ago. Adaptation and mitigation is our only choice now, I think. And, simple, simple, simple is the only way to go. Keep the carbon footprint down, use tech tools to communicate... host online educational forums, use micro-radio where the internet is not accessible, forget using robots and nanotechnology... people in their neighborhoods are the people who will carry out the tasks required to mitigate and adapt. Enough with the research and studies, it's time to hit the ground running. There is a social and moral imperative and its people like you and Bill McKibben that provide the compass. If leadership chooses half baked solutions it won't be helpful. I wonder, who did Pres Obama invite to his table when he crafted the speech he will deliver Tuesday? Maybe he will go beyond our expectations. But, having seen so many big moments like this pass by with little substance, I'm not holding my breath. I am not sure a carbon tax is the way to go. I think that hard line policy and enforcement may be more effective. I recall that Germany instituted hard line environmental laws years ago and it made a difference. Whatever is done, it has to be global. No more industrial moves to other nations because of lax environmental laws. Thank you for the ideas on how to watch the movie. Unfortunately, my 13" mac laptop is on its last legs, no more room for big files, battery has been been beaten down by faulty central american electrical wiring, and my ability to upgrade is greatly limited. In fact, I'm worried about the timing of my battery needing replacement soon, this is a critical week for communications and my check doesn't hit my bank until July 3rd or sometime between then and the 8th. Crossing my fingers that it holds up until I get my money and can make the bus into Managua where there are several mac stores, but not all have everything... par for the course with life in a developing country.
Pia Jensen Jun 24, 2013 05:38 Member 12 \| Share via:	Should be jumped on by org with clout right away 1 Grant award 5 yrs $2.6Mil ea yr total $13Mil Accelerating Inclusion and Mitigating Emissions http://www07.grants.gov/search/search.do;jsessionid=cTyJRLvFjC1hTxV1p0B2pHy1HkS4rJhQn9fcX3GQnDykNxG1ypyG!2075041033?revNum=2&mode=VIEWREVISIONS close date: 6.27.13
2013shiftingculturesjudges 2013shiftingculturesjudges Jul 2, 2013 01:17 Judge 13 \| Share via:	The proposal references, and seeks to compile, a number of organizations doing good work, but it's unclear what specific new actions could actually make these new actions happen.