For many years, I’ve been involved in one way or another with environmentally focused non-violent direct action, a form of peaceful protest. My first arrest for non violent civil disobedience was back in 2011 in front of the White House in a large coordinated campaign to stop the Keystone XL pipeline. Since then, I’ve participated in many actions in many ways including organizing some close to home along with facilitating workshops on direct action and peaceful resistance. I believe that direct action is an antidote to despair and that now more than ever, activism is essential nourishment for our spirit.
Ever since I was a kid, climate change has been on my radar along and other environmental issues. My dad worked at Bell Labs for over 4o years, they came out with the first film about global warming in 1958, two years before I was born.
Back in the late 1970’s, when President Carter wore a sweater, put solar panels on the White House and advised us to turn down the thermostat, I was hopeful that we would all work to address the big fossil fuel and greenhouse gas situation. We had time back then to make a difference.
You might not be happy to hear this, but the environmental movement has been a failure. We have not created meaningful behavior change, nor have we gotten the attention of government decision makers. Its getting very late in the game to make a difference. We’ve got to get really serious, really quickly.
Extinction is a real possibility. Some scientists like David Suzuki are speaking frankly about it. I’ve been sharing his YouTube discussion of it to anyone who is brave enough to watch. We have a 5% chance of keeping global temperature rise below 2 degrees, we’ve got to get serious. We’ve got to tell the truth.
Over the year, I’ve been directly involved with 350.org, Al Gore’s Climate Reality Leadership Corps, Rainforest Action Network, and many other organizations. Most recently, I’ve been following the work of Extinction Rebellion in the UK. They are a group focused on non violent direct action working to wake people up about our climate woes. To learn more about Extinction Rebellion, here is a link to who they are, please check it out! When I learned the movement would be expanding into the USA, I was excited to attend a training meeting for an upcoming action in NYC. I was impressed with their level of organization and determination.
This weekend was US Rebellion Day One which started off as a march from Central Park down 5th Avenue. The march was well attended, appropriate for all ages, filled with songs, chants and the Rude Mechanical Orchestra added lively marching music to scene. The high concrete buildings on 5th avenue make for great acoustics. Marchers, sang, chanted and danced down the avenue with lots of encouragement from the Stop Shopping Choir who were wearing extinct Golden Toads on their heads.
The final destination for marchers ended up being one of the most famous NYC landmarks, the skating rink at Rockefeller Center. At this point, there were hundreds of us, singing songs and chants about climate chaos. Along with many tourists, we witnessed a die in on the ice along with a huge level banner drop on the giant golden statue of Prometheus.
In Greek mythology, Prometheus is a Titan, culture hero, and trickster figure who is credited with the creation of man from clay, and who defies the gods by stealing fire and giving it to humanity, an act that enabled progress and civilization. Prometheus is known for his intelligence and as a champion of mankind. This was a great choice to drape a banner about climate change.
This event was well organized, fun and very effective. Every NYC based news organization covered the event, along with NPR and other national outlets and magazines like Rolling Stone wrote articles too. Expect to hear more from Extinction Rebellion in the months ahead. If you love the planet like I do and want to do all you can to make sure it is livable for your kids and mine, consider getting involved. To quote them, “We are facing an unprecedented global emergency. The government has failed to protect us. To survive, it’s going to take everything we’ve got.”
