Jeffrey Free Luers Prison Dispatch - August 30, 2008

The stories and pictures she has shared with me of the campaigns to protect the Weld Valley in Tasmania has been a tremendous inspiration (to learn more about how you can help, look up the Huon Valley Environmental Center [HVEC] on Myspace)[or go to http://www.huon.org/]. I have been invigorated by the exchange of ideas and strategies, becoming so excited I even sent diagrams of tree-sits I used to build.

This sudden participation in activism again has made me realize just how much I slid away from it the last few years. In fact, I recently confessed that I no longer know how to apply myself.

It has been a combination of burnout, being forced to focus on my own personal struggles and a disempowering sense of being stuck.

I have made myself a good protagonist when it comes to raising awareness about global warming and environmental catastrophe. When the US still treated climate change as a myth or liberal hoax, it was easy knowing what to do. I was motivated and inspired to dedicate as much time as possible to researching science reports, newspaper articles and other sources of information so that I could knowledgeably write and talk about the matter in order to raise awareness about one of the largest threats to humanity. However, this battle has largely been won. Only the most ignorant or corrupt still deny the truth about global warming, which leaves me confused as to how I can best contribute to and further social change.

I am quite practiced at pointing out the problems. However, like so many others I fail when it comes to providing or developing solutions. The problems are apparent to the public, yet we have no creative solutions or alternatives to provide.

As a result our movement has been co-opted by the very institutions we have been struggling against. The same giant greedy corporations that fucked so much of this world up in the first place are now marketing themselves as green and part of the solution.

The fact that they are succeeding in this greenwashing is a slap in the face to those of us who have dedicated so much time and energy to pulling them out from behind the curtain.

It is accepted scientific fact that we are living through this worlds sixth mass extinction period: the first extinction event to have been brought about by the actions of one species--humans.

We are now moving at geological time. Changes that usually, subtly, take place over thousands of years are now happening in the span of human lifetimes.

What that means in real terms is that our children and our grandchildren will grow up in a world radically, radically different than the one we know and grew up in ourselves.

That we recognize these changes are occurring is simply not enough. Its most certainly not enough to be placated by the promises of change being made by the same industries that have profited enormously from denying the truth about global warming.

We also cannot fool ourselves into believing that we are somehow innocent in all of this. We too share culpability. Each of us must individually act to lesson our own carbon footprint.

As activists this leaves us in a uniquely new position. We must shift our focus from outreach and opposition to community projects; community organizing and preparation must now take a leading role.

Some projects can be as simple as developing rain water collection systems or coming up with other solutions for predicted water shortages. Others could involve the creation of community gardens to lessen the impact of food being transported into urban centers.

More complex projects could be designing windmills for community and/or individual electrical needs and designing and developing grey water recycling systems.

The possibilities are endless, but they require us to apply ourselves in entirely new ways. It will be hard and dedicated work to achieve the kind of change we need and move away from the industries we have come to rely upon.

One thing is for sure: it is no longer enough to support this struggle by believing in it or going to the occasional demonstration. Each of us must contribute time and energy to affect the change we need to see.

A whole new world is coming. We can not change that. We can, however, help shape it. Where those who have come before us failed to create a society in harmony with our natural environment we can succeed. In many ways the challenge is even harder than fighting for recognition of the problem, but the rewards will be that much greater as well.