The Conversation on Climate Change

Climate Change Reflections: by Bonnie Sundance

Invisible to the eye and absent from the mind for many us as we go about our daily lives, the processes of climate change and our human contribution to its reality goes on every minutes of every day. These processes are natural to the Earth’s Living processes involved in our air and its temperature. They are processes which we can learn to understand and talk about and then we can make choices to alter our lives to make a difference in our impacts.

Climate Change as a human driven reality is confirmed by 188 climate scientists with only 2 other scientists who disagree.

Even further, humans have become the primary evolutionary force on our planet—every one of us is involved as an agent of evolution whether we choose to be or not. The great part of that, is that we can choose to make our evolutionary impact a positive contribution and become Evolutionary Activists on behalf of a future for humanity’s harmonious partnership with the Earth

It takes thinking about what we know, being aware that storms and floods may not be just a freak thing of nature; it takes learning how our own human behavior has caused the current overall global conditions which bring these weather events into expression.

While watching Boulder Creek in its Spring and Summer “flood” stage full with melted snow and churning white water, I realize that there are 6 aspects and strategies to working with our human created world to shift climate change. What is our conscious intention? I hope we will co-create an atmosphere for the Earth which is supportive to all species and ecosystems and one whose CO2 is below the 350 ppm which is safe.

Every one of these 6 strategies to shift Climate Change need our personal and citizen attention as an ongoing effort to gather more energetic and active participation to address the challenge we face as humanity and as planet Earth.

1. Education: learning the facts and seeing graphical statistics about temperature rise and CO2 levels /see Resources page on this site and below/

2. Inner personal attitudes: about climate change and our role in its creation and in its change—doing our own personal exploration work to see what we believe and whether it serves for positive movement forward for humanity and the Earth

3. Outer life behaviors – co-creating expanded choices; for example one day a week getting out of one’s car to take alternative transportation for commuting. Other ideas, see http://www.coloradoipl.org/action/

4. Political strategies: policies, regulations, leadership which is genuinely dedicated to the Good of the Whole: for Earth and for humanity. One example is the work of www.citizensclimatelobby.org

5. Spiritual work and deepening connections and communications with the Earth; seeking the Divine Source and the Sacred Earth as allies in this process There are also spiritual and religious organizations seeking to have positive impact: a local source, Colorado Interfaith Power and Light www.coloradoipl.org

6. Cultural beliefs and the nature of our shared collective consciousness and the collective unconscious : its content and what we each contribute to it through our beliefs and thoughts

We especially need to think and act towards living for the long-term: behaving now as if tomorrow were a possibility for humanity. Reflect about where you are in each of these 6 areas above and consider each week spending 1 hour to expand your efforts in one area at a time.

I believe that humans and humanity as a whole CAN bring our collective willingness to alter how we live on the planet to reduce our negative impact on the atmosphere. There are very specific steps we can take to reduce our CO2 and methane emissions. Please check out some of the Resources for further info.

Resources:

www.350.org Bill McKibben’s international organization working with people on strategies to raise awareness about climate change and to bring us back to 350 ppm of CO2 in the atmosphere.

www.citizenslcimatelobby.org Very well organized effort to put a tax on carbon dioxide emissions in the U.S. where per capita use of energy is double that of Germany and of Japan

www.climaterealityproject.org Al Gore’s project to raise awareness and bring action to Climate Change issues

www.bioneers.org A tremendous source for people who walk the talk for the Earth, CD talks and annual conference and other resources

www.uptous.org An online educational project of Pachamama Alliance to educate and inspire people to be well informed and to join movement efforts to make a difference for our Earth so we become a socially just, spiritually fulfilling and environmentally sustainable human presence on the Earth.

www.coloradoipl.org Colorado Interfaith Power and Light (CoIPL) provides support to individuals and congregations in their goal to be faithful stewards of Divine creation…and to identify actions in support of a healthy Climate, energy conservation, etc.