November 6
Dear USers and allies,
This is not the news we wanted to wake up to. We fought hard and didn’t win this battle. We aren’t done. We are better prepared to face this reality because of all the work we’ve done together. But for now, let’s all get together with people in our various circles and discharge.
Sending much love to you all. We’ll be in touch again soon.
Diane Shisk
November 9
Hello all,
Iliria Unzueta (RRP Mexico) is currently leading a delegation of 12 Latin Americans at the AntiCOP in Oaxaca, Mexico. Janet Kabue is on her way to Baku, Azerbaijan to lead a small six person SAL/UER delegation at COP29. More details here: www.rc.org/sustainingalllife<http://www.rc.org/sustainingalllife> (scroll down). Good things are happening in hard circumstances.
What a big blow the U.S. election results are, and unfortunately they are felt around the world. I hope you are all getting lots of sessions. My concern about what would happen re: climate change if Trump were elected led me to start both the U.S. Election Support Project and the 2028 Is Too Late project <http://2028istoolate.org/> to distribute “conversation starting” VOTE CLIMATE stickers. The election has been much of my climate work for the last 6 months. And now, my nightmare is here. I’ve been discharging a lot all week, and in the last day or two, starting to think afresh about how to organize our work going forward.
A lot of us worked on the election and we did a great job. Everyone of us gets to be pleased about whatever we did. Our efforts made a big difference for individuals we touched and the people we worked with. We learned a lot and that will be valuable going forward. And thank you for those of us who are still curing ballots—so important.
I’ve encouraged people to feel the pain of the loss deeply, and not try to move forward quickly into thinking and action. Big early material gets stirred up by big events like this—use it for re-emergence while it’s raw! We have time.
I’ve asked people to notice how well we did, how many RCers were involved in the election, and that we didn’t lose because we didn’t do enough. I don’t want us to bring any discouragement from the loss of the election into our climate work. Please work on those early losses and defeats.
We’ll use this next period as we always do in RC—we’ll discharge and face what happened--ready to learn and use that information to better steer our future efforts. We’ll move toward being pleased that we have a better understanding of what we’ve been up against and why we’ve struggled so much to gain traction. We’ll come closer and function better in our unity.
I’m looking forward to our post-election coming together (for those working on climate change) for discharge on Sunday, November 10, from 4 - 7 pm PST / 7 - 10 pm EST. I’ve divided the 3 hours into two 1.5 hour segments (4 - 5:30 and 5:30 - 7 PST / 7 - 8:30 and 8:30 - 10 EST) so more people can fit this in. It’s fine that you come for as much as makes sense for you.
Zoom link: https://us06web.zoom.us/j/83208343910?pwd=UlIwYVl5ejBCSTJ2aDdvSWpIMS9HQT09
Meeting ID: 832 0834 3910
Passcode: 222838
Donald Trump will roll back many gains we’ve made in addressing the climate emergency. And the U.S. climate movement will fight him every step of the way. In preparation for our next steps, I’ve started a new section of resources for USers on the RC website on the main climate change page: Please check it out.
THE CLIMATE EMERGENCY IN THE TRUMP ERA, 2025 (@ www.rc.org/climatechange) <http://www.rc.org/climatechange>
Overview of Project 2025 and Climate Change <https://www.rc.org/publication/environment/Project2025>
Statements from Climate Organizations re: Trump Election <https://www.rc.org/publication/environment/pressreleases>
Articles addressing the impact of a Trump Presidency on the Climate Emergency <https://www.rc.org/publication/environment/trump>
I plan to start study groups in the near future. Janet and I are also meeting with the RRPs, the Climate Coordinators, and those leading groups for people working on climate change. I think we’ll want to look at the draft program again after the first of the year.
Keep discharging, get more connected than ever, and let’s move forward together.
Much love,
Diane