Climate Reality

So I met Al Gore. And Kumi Naidoo, head of Greenpeace International. In Johannesburg South Africa. With 700+ other people from around the world.

I've been on a journey for a long while and I'm still on it. Not just a journey to South Africa. A journey to understand our crisis. Our crisis of climate destabilisation and species loss.

I've had a growing need to up the ante for myself and I have done it again. Attending the Climate Reality Leadership Training in Johannesburg, connected me with others that feel the sadness and the urgency of this crisis. We also share a passion for taking action to roll back the crisis however we can.

I learnt of William Kamkwamba from Malawi, who at 14 and starving, figured out how to make a wind powered electrical generator from scrap bicycle parts to power lights and radios. Then he built some more to help irrigate his village's farms. I learnt of Africans planting trees and teaching communities to grow their own food crops. Of solar thermal and photovoltaic plants built around the world. Of countries and states that have put a price on carbon pollution and are reducing emissions. 

These people and projects give me hope and inspiration to take the next step on my journey. I've joined Pingala, a community solar energy organisation, aiming to establish local renewable energy for local customers in Sydney. I've connected with ClearSky Solar that have similar projects running in regional NSW.

I'm left with a thought from the training, a quote from the American modernist poet, Wallace Stevens:

After the final no there comes a yes. 
Or to paraphrase, after the final hurdle comes success.

So if you have a project that could make a difference, seize the day. 

Fossil Fuel Divestment - Bill McKibben

Over the past two years since my last post a lot has happened for me. The most significant being the starting and completing of an Advanced Diploma in Applied Environmental Management with the prodigious Ryde TAFE College. I also attended a few courses on Edible Forest Gardening including 9 days with Dave Jacke. These both conspired to enable me to design and build an Edible Forest Garden in Greystanes. More on that another time.

All this has led me to the question what's next. And for many years I've seen the single most important thing for us to do is to halt climate change.



So my thanks go to GetUp. I snatched up their offer of a free copy of McKibben's latest book 'Oil and Honey'. I'm not going to attempt to give a decent book review, as I'm attempting to ease myself away from my tendency for thorough studying and writing, at least for a while..

Bill narrates his partly reluctant journey to become a leader in the fight to stop the Keystone XL pipeline. From the previous success of 350.org, he convened and led an alliance of organisations in a new campaign to divest individual and college funds from fossil fuel investments. While this progressed, Bill kept himself sane and connected with the natural world by helping his friend, chemical free bee guru Kirk Webster, raise bees and harvest honey.

So until next time. My message of the day is put your bank on notice. Switch to a fossil free bank, and move your Super and investments likewise. Here's how > marketforces.org

Bill McKibben