Creating a better future

Moving beyond Copenhagen

In the wake of the latest round of climate change negotiations, here’s my response to “life after Copenhagen”.

Why I’m not disappointed about Copenhagen

The Copenhagen Accord does not amount to much at all, but I'm not disappointed with the outcomes of this conference. That's because I’ve learned to live without expectations. That way I don’t get disappointed, but I do get excited when something inspiring happens.
This is actually an important skill to learn unless we want to become grim and cynical. As Peter Senge says, if you “scratch the surface of most cynics you will find a frustrated idealist - someone who has made the mistake of converting their ideals into expectations."
I do feel deeply sad that we still don’t have a real global agreement for tackling climate change. Luckily I’m also very hopeful, as I know we’ll get there in the end. Many of the outcomes of Copenhagen are actually yet to be seen.

Why I remain full of hope

I’ve been working in the social/environmental change area for a decade now, but this is the first year that I’ve really felt a powerful climate change movement emerging (both in NZ and globally).
It’s more than just one movement - it’s a coalescence of the environmental and social justice movements.
It is being fuelled by many wise, passionate and positive people.
We’ve got all the tools we need to build the movement globally (including web-based tools for networking and collaboration).
All the attention on Copenhagen this year played a vital role in bringing people together. We’ve now got much stronger networks among people who are actively creating a climate-friendly society. We are actively sharing ideas, inspirations and solutions.
These networks are well-established locally and also globally connected.
Much of this groundwork has happened below the surface, but we’ll see more impacts in years ahead.
A huge momentum has been created this year. Now the movement is really underway, it will keep growing more powerful.
Any inaction by our political representatives from now on will simply fuel the movement more. Climate change is not going away. Many more people, particularly young people, are getting angry and upset. So long as this energy is channelled in a positive direction, it will lead to a lot of positive social change.
In NZ we also have growing public will for action on climate change. Almost 200,000 people have signed up for more ambitious targets for NZ. On the 350 global day of climate action in October, NZ had the most events and activities per person in the world. The movement is alive and well here.

Why climate change is not the problem

Climate change is actually a symptom of deeper causes. We need to tackle the causes at the roots.
That doesn’t mean that we should stop working on the surface levels. We need to work on multiple levels simultaneously (and different people can play different roles at different times).
How deep do we want to go? Here are 3 layers to consider:

Surface layer: It’s a consequence of how we are living and working
For example, most of us are rushing around and burning lots of energy up. We are often running to stand still. We keep trying to grow our economy to maintain our living standards, but research shows that most people in developed countries aren’t experiencing a better quality of life now than 50 years ago. In fact, research tends to suggest that reported quality of life has gone down in many western societies.
Many people seem to have forgotten how awesome it is to be alive.
We can see this all around us. Look at people when they’re stuck in traffic or rushing around to do their shopping. Now look at how happy people look when they are sitting still at the beach or with friends. Why is there such a contrast?
Part of the solution is actually enjoying life more: enjoying our travel, enjoying our food, enjoying the company of our friends and family, and being physically active as this keeps us healthy.

Deeper layer: It’s a consequence of how we are looking at things
How we look at the world shapes how we live our lives.
Actions to address climate change are usually seen as a cost. Although costs are important, we need to place more attention on the opportunities and benefits.
If we keep looking for costs, we’ll only see the costs. If we look for benefits, we’ll discover them.
My starting point is always: Life is awesome. It’s here to be enjoyed. So how do we make life more awesome?
How do we make our cities better places to live? How can our farmers enjoy a good livelihood, now and in a carbon-constrained world? How can we find more purpose in our work? How can we take this opportunity to improve our lives and work?
We need to keep asking questions like this.
Many people also think that climate change is too big or too gloomy for them to do anything about (but see my comments below).

Deepest layer: It’s a consequence of forgetting our connectedness
We need to remember how connected we are to the natural world. We are our environment. If we try holding our breath for 10 minutes we remember that very quickly (so long as we remember to breathe when we need to!).
We need to remember how connected we are to one another in society. When we cause harm to other people in our world, that harm rebounds on us. When we care for other people, that care comes back to us. It’s very simple.
We need to remember the threads that bind us through the generations. We’re here because people cared about us and our parents. We need to keep caring for our young people and those who follow them.

How we can all create the solutions

Anyone who's concerned about climate change can find a part to play in creating the solutions. People need to find their own role, depending on who they are, what they’re interested in, and what they’re good at.
For some people it might mean finding ways to enjoy life more while reducing emissions, because this is something that we can directly influence. For others it might mean creating new business opportunities. For parents it might mean getting involved with what’s happening in their children’s schools. Some people might get involved in campaigning or supporting their elected representatives to implement better policies.
The most important thing is to do something.
When I think about what I can do, I ask myself: what gets me excited? What am I good at? What solutions would I like to be part of?
We also need to enjoy our life and what we do! People will then be attracted to what we are doing (or how we are being). We will also avoid burning out or becoming cynical. We can keep making the solutions look so goddam attractive that people are drawn to them.
And if anyone says “why bother?”, this is what I have to say: If you feel that anything in our world is getting worse, then this is your chance to make it better. If you feel like you’re making things better, you’ll also feel better yourself. That's why living the solutions is good for all of us.

Finally: I was recently reminded of this video that did the rounds this year. It captures the power of attraction (even to something strange!), how a movement can erupt when we reach a tipping point, and how good it feels when we move together. It’s well worth watching.

Now I’m off to live the solutions of an enjoyable life with friends and family over the festive break.

Notes:

This is a cross-posting from Intersect. These are brief notes from a radio interview I took part in this morning, which is why they’re in brief bullet form. Most of this couldn't be covered in a short conversation, so I’ve shared them here as well.
The photo at the top comes from Park(ing) Day, which was one of my favourite events of 2009. You can see how happy people look when we play a bit differently in the photos from Auckland and Wellington.

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Comment by Mina on December 25, 2009 at 4:53am: That video is absolutely awesome. Pretty cool to see it has 2 and a half million views, too! Virality! I never thought that Copenhagen would do jack. I don’t think that the governments are nearly as powerful an agent for world change around global warming as the corporations. It’s just a matter of efficiency and motivation. It’s why FedEx works better than the Post Office and why investing on one’s own reaps greater returns than social security. Government is too large and too differently motivated to evolve quickly enough to make a difference, something I think we’re seeing proof of at COP15. I see a lot of work happening in the private sector towards curbing emissions. I like what WWF is doing with their Climate Savers program: http://www.worldwildlife.org/climate/climatesavers2.html where companies volunteer to curb their emissions and set their own goals. Probably the most impressive of the Climate Savers’ efforts is JohnsonDiversey, who originally promised an 8% GHG reduction over 10 years (2003-2013), and just recently announced they are tripling that to a 25% reduction. I watched some of the Copenhagen talks by their CEO (http://bit.ly/jdaction) and they’ve taken it even farther in honor of COP15 – announcing they’ll assess a carbon footprint for all of their products and make that info public. I think if every business on the planet put forth the same effort it would create more change than government could ever dream of producing.I never thought that Copenhagen would do jack. I don’t think that the governments are nearly as powerful an agent for world change around global warming as the corporations. It’s just a matter of efficiency and motivation. It’s why FedEx works better than the Post Office and why investing on one’s own reaps greater returns than social security. Government is too large and too differently motivated to evolve quickly enough to make a difference, something I think we’re seeing proof of at COP15. I see a lot of work happening in the private sector towards curbing emissions. I like what WWF is doing with their Climate Savers program: http://www.worldwildlife.org/climate/climatesavers2.html where companies volunteer to curb their emissions and set their own goals. Probably the most impressive of the Climate Savers’ efforts is JohnsonDiversey, who originally promised an 8% GHG reduction over 10 years (2003-2013), and just recently announced they are tripling that to a 25% reduction. I watched some of the Copenhagen talks by their CEO (http://bit.ly/jdaction) and they’ve taken it even farther in honor of COP15 – announcing they’ll assess a carbon footprint for all of their products and make that info public. I think if every business on the planet put forth the same effort it would create more change than government could ever dream of producing.

Comment by Lee Stewart on December 24, 2009 at 12:31pm: Great Blog Nick. Well written and I really enjoyed the video. Have a great break and here's to 2010!!

Cheers
Lee