A Call To All Heroes
Current events are both inspiring as well as concerning, but they do show the power of collective efforts.
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I'VE BEEN THINKING ABOUT HEROES THIS WEEK. That comes from watching people make extraordinary efforts to help others in war-ravaged Ukraine. When the routine of everyday life was shattered for millions, it was inspirational to see the response veer more towards courage and action over fear or inaction.
Citizens of neighboring countries are taking in millions of unknown refugees fleeing that war, opening their homes and hearts even when they don't speak a common language or have much to share materially. They are all heroes too.
What is a hero or a (s)hero? The common definition is that it's a person who faces dangers or physical risks and yet chooses to act anyway. Heroes arise when others are threatened. It's not a selfish act, but rather one which puts someone else's needs above one's own.
Hero— a person who is admired by many people for doing something brave or good. Oxford dictionary
Sometimes heroes fail, but their sacrifice is rarely in vain, as the act of trying lends energy and momentum to a cause, often shifting the outcome.
Heroism is more than taking physical risks, though. An alternate definition of heroism might be to keep pushing for a better outcome or towards a higher moral ground even when the world says things will never change.
Throughout history, everyday heroes defended suppressed peoples: the enslaved, workers toiling in unsafe conditions, women without rights, children laboring in dangerous factories, indigenous people forced off their homelands.
Over time, the suppressed people gained more rights and better lives thanks to the combined efforts of many thousands of unsung heroes who "moved the mountain an inch."
Then there are the heroes who defend the more-than-human world: idealists who plant trees and save wildlands, animal rights defenders, activists who put their boats between whaling ships and hunted whales, teens who conquer their fears to demand more protection for our planet. Modern day heroes all.
Converging crises
Recently, there was an interesting convergence of two events that had a similar theme of damage (war and climate change) and efforts to stop it. They seem intertwined.
Just four days after Russia invaded Ukraine, the United Nations Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) issued its strongest warning in a report from 270 experts. It was a scientific review of the current state of our climate, plus a plea to take more action and stop the war against the Earth.
The IPCC report got buried in the news cycle about Ukraine.
We face a climate deeply disordered by human actions, giving us new worrisome headlines such as these:
Climate Change is Harming the Planet Faster Than We Can Adapt, New York Times
Heat Waves at Both of Earth's Poles Alarm Climate Scientists, The Guardian
Amazon Rainforest Reaching Tipping Point, Researchers Say, BBC News
It can feel overwhelming. I see even climate experts admitting feelings of gloom. How do we fix long-term intractable problems like global heating?
Is courage contagious?
I feel there's a lesson for us in the response from the Ukrainian people under attack. They weren’t going to sit by as victims. They jumped into action.
Here’s what we might learn from this to repair the climate. Team up, ask for help, share burdens and resources, innovate, stand for your values— whether they are freedom or a livable Earth. Courage is contagious.
The climate crisis may not be a battle we want, just as the Ukrainians did not wish war to come to their doorsteps. We may feel afraid or intimidated about the scope and size of the problem, and that's understandable. Many of us, myself included, wish someone else would take care of the problem.
But we are the ones who are here, and it's our turn in history to act.
Here's an acronym that fits. Help Earth Restore Order (HERO)
Heroes are not just for battlefields and times of rescue. They are everyday people like you and me who pick up the baton of action to restore and regenerate Earth in a thousand small ways. When we tire, we pass the baton on to someone else and take a rest. Restoring the Earth is a group effort, and there is power in collective action.
We need to wrest some order from our planet's disorder as quickly as possible, ditching modes of living that threaten all of us and inventing new ones that heal Earth and ourselves. It's a messy business, but, like the poet, Robert Frost said, "The only way out is through."
If Earth could talk, maybe it would murmur something like this.
A call for Earth heroes
(With apologies to Dr. Seuss)
Will you restore it, Sam-I-am?
Will you, can you, see the plan?
Inch by inch and ant by ant,
tree by tree, and plant by plant.
Mice and man all keep their home,
a wild place for fur and bone.
Ice stays cold and sea flows clean,
Sky grows clear and land grows green.
Earth is yours and Earth is mine.
Can you, will you, take the time?
Robin A.
Six promises you can make to lower carbon emissions. The Guardian
In western countries, emissions that cause global heating are driven by consumption. Here are ways to lower it. If at least half of people would take even a short term pledge to do this, we’d drop emissions significantly. You can read the whole article at link below.
End Clutter—Keep electronics for at least 7 years.
Get rid of private vehicles (unless absolutely necessary)
Dress retro— Limit new clothing purchases to 3 per year and make them durable. Shop secondhand.
Eat green— Eat mostly plant-based foods and limit food wastage.
Travel lightly— Fly no more than once every 3 years. Aviation contributes to global emissions and there is no low carbon way to travel yet.
Change the system— Insulate homes better, choose electric appliances and green energy sources, choose ethical banks, activate for change
April is both Earth month and poetry month. Here is a powerful poem that speaks to both, written by two women, one in icy Greenland and one in the tropical Marshall Islands, an ocean away. The poem is titled RISE, and begins like this:
Rise
Sister of ice and snow
I’m coming to you from the land of my ancestors
from atolls, sunken volcanoes—undersea descent
of sleeping giants
Sister of ocean and sand
I welcome you
to the land of my ancestors
— to the land where they sacrificed their lives
to make mine possible
—to the land of survivors.
Or hear it on a video with music on this page.
I welcome reader comments. You can leave a public message at the comment button above, reply to this email to reach me privately, or contact me on Twitter @RobinApplegarth
Thanks for reading!