Time to turn on a dime

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.