• About
  • Join/Donate
  • Contact
Friday, January 22, 2021
No Result
View All Result
The Brief
NB MEDIA CO-OP
Share a story
  • New Brunswick
  • Canada
  • World
  • Environment
  • Indigenous
  • Labour
  • Gender
  • Politics
  • Arts & Culture
  • Videos
  • COVID-19
  • New Brunswick
  • Canada
  • World
  • Environment
  • Indigenous
  • Labour
  • Gender
  • Politics
  • Arts & Culture
  • Videos
  • COVID-19
No Result
View All Result
NB MEDIA CO-OP
No Result
View All Result
Home *Opinion*

Time to turn on a dime

by Elizabeth Glenn-Copeland
September 19, 2019
2 min read
Time to turn on a dime

Elizabeth Glenn-Copeland is a Sackville-based writer, theater artist and arts educator. Her book of narrative eco-poetry, Daring to Hope at the Cliff’s Edge, was recently released by New Brunswick’s own Chapel Street Editions.

This summer saw unprecedented changes in our climate as large parts of the globe burned, carbon in the atmosphere hit a record high, and Arctic ice melted at rates not forecast until 2070. The 2019 Atlantic hurricane season has so far seen five Category 5 storms, all of which have left a trail of death and destruction, and the Sixth Great Mass Extinction continues.

Time to turn on a dime, shift from our cozy ‘business as usual’ paradigm.

Time to collectively mobilize, strategize, diversify our efforts.

Time to listen and learn from the teachings of the First Peoples of Turtle Island, to remember our place as little brother and sister in Earth’s evolution.

Greta says, “Act as if your house is on fire, because it is.” The wisdom and discipline of emergency service workers is required here. Consider this…

When our fire chief is on the way to a fire, does he ask for long term studies and expensive consultants to understand the cause of the flames devouring someone’s home?

If you are hemorrhaging, does the triage nurse call you an alarmist for wanting her to staunch the flow of your life force? We need to calm our nervous systems (which are all a-twitter with the stress hormones that are our evolutionary alarm bells) long enough to create a meaningful collective response.

We need to awaken from our device-encouraged consumer trance and claim our democratically-given rights to actively protect what is left of our forests, rivers and marshlands. Locally, we need to do what must be done to ensure, among other things, local access to clean drinking water, local food security, and for those of us here in Tantramar, practical plans for surviving the water when it comes in.

LaDonna Brave Bull of Standing Rock encourages the creation of Sovereign Economies.
Dr. Jem Bendell warns of collapse, advises Deep Adaptation.
Thich Nhat Hanh calls for Mindful action born of Love.

If we begin from the premise that the change is underway, that we are facing a time of great uncertainty, can we take a quiet moment to drop in the question, “What is my part in this, humanity’s next great adventure?”

Human beings are highly adaptive and deeply innovative. This is our evolutionary birthright. We are being called now as never before to enact that birthright in meaningful ways based on the strength of our collective wisdom.

What gift do you bring to the collective in these challenging times?

Elizabeth Glenn-Copeland is a writer in New Brunswick.

Tags: Climate ChangeElizabeth Glenn-Copelandenvironmentslider
ShareTweetSend

Related Posts

David Bush and Valerie Lannon on the Green New Deal and the socialist case against the carbon tax [video]
Canada

David Bush and Valerie Lannon on the Green New Deal and the socialist case against the carbon tax [video]

November 22, 2020

On November 20, David Bush made a socialist case against the carbon tax and was followed by Valerie Lannon's thoughts...

Throne speech promise of nuclear reactor revenue does not add up
Economy

Throne speech promise of nuclear reactor revenue does not add up

November 18, 2020

On Tuesday this week, the Higgs government formalized its support for the development of new nuclear reactors (so-called small modular...

Environment

Canadian start-up plans to mine seabed to stop climate change

September 9, 2020

Carbon-intensive transportation and the need to transition to a zero-carbon economy has led climate activists to call for a transition...

*Opinion*

What can the lockdown teach us about reducing carbon emissions?

August 26, 2020

Thanks to the global coronavirus pandemic, 2020 is almost certain to be the first year the world has managed to...

Load More

Recommended

bethnhugo

They who “feed the world” took her water: PotashCorp launches PR blitz, Beth Norrad leaves Penobsquis

9 years ago

Government budgets: a sexy topic

9 years ago
Alward government repairs position on status of women

Alward government repairs position on status of women

8 years ago

All are not equal before the law in Guatemala

2 years ago
NB Media Co-op

© 2019 NB Media Co-op. All rights reserved.

Navigate Site

  • About
  • Join/Donate
  • Contact
  • Share a Story
  • Calendar
  • Archives

Follow Us

No Result
View All Result
  • About
  • Join/Donate
  • Contact
  • Share a Story
  • COVID-19
  • Videos
  • New Brunswick
  • Canada
  • World
  • Arts & Culture
  • Environment
  • Indigenous
  • Labour
  • Politics
  • Rural

© 2019 NB Media Co-op. All rights reserved.

Login to your account below

Forgotten Password?

Fill the forms bellow to register

All fields are required. Log In

Retrieve your password

Please enter your username or email address to reset your password.

Log In