Wake up call

I recently read an article which left me feeling depressed and angry (http://www.monbiot.com/archives/2008/11/25/one-shot-left/). It certainly served as a wake up call and a stark reminder of the situation we´re facing.

It took me a while to decide on whether or not to do this trip. I felt that it would be a tad hedonistic to go swaning off around the world again, at such a critical point for the future of humanity and our planet. Shouldn't I be helping to plan and organise direct action in the UK, to pressure the Government into rapid and radical change?

Climate change activism is blooming in the UK at the moment, as more and more people wake up to the severity of our situation.

A growing number of people are loosing faith in our government's supposed will to seriously tackle climate change, and are sick of the rhetoric that surrounds it. They are realising that it could very soon be too late to turn things around and prevent 'run away' climate change, and that their children (not just their Grandchildren, or Great Grandchildren) will face problems more severe than any that have been experienced in the history of mankind. Hence the recent bloom in climate change-based activism in the UK, and in other countries.

When 57 activists shut down Stansted airport earlier this month to highlight the ludicrous plans for infinate airport expansion, at a time when the science says we need to drastically reduce this industry, it's not because they're 'idiots' or 'troublemakers'. They're not doing it for kicks. They really don't want to disrupt people's holidays - they know that without the masses onboard, things won't change. In fact they´d hoped the situation wouldn't become so drastic as to warrant this type of behaviour. But, when all other avenues for negotiation are closed down, what choice is left but to take your future back into your own hands?

When the Sufferagettes engaged in a programme of civil disobedience to fight for the right to vote for women, they were chastised, and told that they were wasting their time. But those ordinary women had made a brave commitment to stand up and act and they eventually made the change they knew was right.

And the same for the masses of brave black people in the states, who after years of oppression realised that non-violent direct action was the powerful tool which they needed to instigate a just social change. Lead by that amazing man Martin Luthur King, they overcame their fear of the law, and successfully created a better future for their prodigy. And King himself had studied Ghandi and India's mass movement for change earlier in the century. Again, non - violent resistance, or Satyagraha, was ultimately what lead to India's freedom from British rule.


So, the people who are being brave enough to challenge to stand up to the system today are only following in the age old tradition of civil disobedience. But this time, it´s not only about oppression, but about our collective future on this planet.

It must have been a terrible and stressful inconvenience for those whose travel plans had been ruined by that action. But the inconvenience that we will all face due to increased freak weather events, rising sea levels, loss of agricultural land and productivity and increased conflicts over dwindling resources will be far greater.


So, that article reminded me that we had decided that this trip would't just be about us. We planned to participate in many environmetal awareness projects, and to spread the word about climate camp and this new movement for global change. We also planned to learn new skills for for living in a changing world, gained through working on organic farms and permaculture projects.


So, with a renewed sense of urgency, we're preparing to enter the productive bulk of this trip, starting with a 2 weeks of spanish lessons to help us in communication in these issues. Then, in early January, we've organised a stint in an environmental education centre & organic farm in Ecuador. Here, we also hope to meet a prominent local environmental activist whose raising awareness about the effects of climate change in South America.


I will anyone who has read this to read the above article link if they haven't, or again if they have. It's too late to wait for someone else to make things better for us. The change has to come from ourselves.