We blew past 1.5° C. That has been the goal. To keep warming down to this level. We failed. But close is good-ish and it’s still possible. In a recent Heated post, scientists shared that every fraction of a degree makes a difference. 2° C is still possible.
But we have to lay down our arms and use our heads. I read the All We Can Save anthology a few years ago and one of the editors has a new book titled What if We Get it Right?
What if we get it right? What would that look like? One of the most moving stories is one of Bren Smith, a commercial fisherman who realized that he had to stop fishing.
Ayana Elizabeth Johnson, on episode 7 of the What If We Get it Right? podcast explains: “He [Bren Smith] said, ‘speaking from the culture I grew up in, we’re going to have to say goodbye to some things we hold close to our heart. For me, that’s chasing fish, being on the high seas. That search and the hunt is hard for me to say goodbye to, but it is what I have to give up to make a better world for my kid. I suspect everybody on the planet is going to have their own version of something like that. It’s cultural things we’re going to have to give up. And those are the most painful.’”
She goes on to repeat Bren’s provocation: “What is it that we need to give up that we love and we don’t want to give up. But when we see the big picture, we understand the necessity of it.”
It’s hard to stop doing things. Our brains are addictive and we hate change. If you have ever tried to quit smoking, lose weight, or maintain an exercise program, you know what I’m talking about. Changing how we live to aid a distressed climate requires difficult changes and difficult conversations.
What will you stop doing? What will you give up that you love?
In his book Possible: How we Survive (and Thrive) in an Age of Conflict, William Ury writes: “Transforming conflict is some of the hardest work we humans do. It calls on us to engage when we feel tempted to attack or to avoid. It requires us to take responsibility for conflicts around us when we might prefer to remain bystanders. It requires courage, patience, and persistence.”
It’s our moment to engage. It’s our responsibility to engage.
Learn more:
Books
- All We Can Save: Truth, Courage, and Solutions for the Climate Crisis edited by Ayana Elizabeth Johnson and Katharine K. Wilkinson
- What if We Get it Right: Visions of Climate Futures edited by Ayana Elizabeth Johnson is a series of essays, interviews, data, poetry, and art that could lead us to positive climate futures.
- Nature’s Best Hope: A New Approach to Conservation That Starts in Your Yard by Douglas W. Tallamy
- Doughnut Economics: Seven Ways to Think Like a 21st-Century Economist by Kate Raworth
- The Great Displacement: Climate Change and the Next American Migration by Jake Bittle | Simon & Schuster
- Before It’s Gone: Stories from the Front Lines of Climate Change in Small-Town America by Jonathan Vigliotti | Simon & Schuster
On Substack
- Heated by Emily Atkin
Podcasts
This podcast traces the development of Limits to Growth research and subsequent book: this amazing three-episode series tells the story of (Dana) Donella Meadows and her fellow researchers. She knew in the late 1960s that the climate and capitalism—specifically unchecked growth—were on a collision course.
- A Matter of Degrees Podcast hosted by Dr. Leah Stokes and Dr. Katharine Wilkinson
- HEATED Podcast | Emily Atkin
- WHAT IF WE GET IT RIGHT? Podcast hosted by Ayana Elizabeth Johnson
Science Fiction
- Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home is a cautionary tale of the unintended—and potentially catastrophic—consequences of species loss.
- The Wayfarers Series by Becky Chambers is set in a universe where the Earth has been destroyed by environmental collapse.
