A Climate Moment in Every RC Class
Humanity must make unprecedented and dramatic changes in the next few years to avert consequences of climate change much more catastrophic than what we are already seeing. One of our International RC Community goals calls on RCers to “decide, discharge, and act against any distress that inhibits us from determining immediate steps, as large and radical as necessary, to end this [climate change] damage and from organizing and agitating for their adoption by governments and industries.”
Climate change is a huge moral crisis and the biggest threat to survival our species has faced in the last seventy thousand years. Yet most of us in RC still find it difficult to focus on. We know that this can change if we discharge consistently on it, but many of us haven’t been able to do so. There is no blame here, but what do we do about it?
We need some way to be reminded and supported to put our attention regularly on climate change. Fortunately, in RC we have a structure that can provide exactly that—a structure that reminds us regularly to put our attention where we want it, reminds us of reality, and supports us to discharge—the RC class! So I’ve proposed the following for my Region:
1) That every RC class, every time it meets, have a “Climate Moment” in between “news and goods” and the first mini-session. The teacher can briefly share something related to climate change—something hopeful, a statistic that helps people be aware of “the continually growing damage to the environment,” a direction for discharge, a helpful perspective. This will not be a substitute for the deep discharging people need to do, but it will repeatedly put people’s attention on climate change and help them become more knowledgeable about it.
2) That every fourth class in any class series be focused on climate change. There are good resources on the RC website and in Present Time for planning these classes, and in participating in them we will all become better counselors and clients on the topic. Teachers can ask people, “What feelings come up when you consider getting more engaged in reversing climate change?” and then, “How are these feelings rooted in your early life?” Then they can counsel people on their early hurts. Working on early hurts from any angle is useful, but approaching them from the perspective of climate change can open up new possibilities.
3) That RCers who have smart phones put the 2017 RC Care of the Environment goal on their phones so that they can look at it in sessions. They can also put on the links to important RC documents. I sent my class the links to “Why We Prioritize Addressing Climate Change,” “Draft Policy on Care of the Environment,” and “Draft Program on Climate Change.”
The RC teachers in our Region are willing to try this and have asked for support. So each week I will e-mail them a suggested “Climate Moment,” and occasionally I will offer an evening of discharge on the topic.
I want to do whatever it takes to move us on our powerful climate-change goal. I’m convinced that if we put attention on climate change, and discharge, we’ll be able to figure out what to do.
Amherst, Massachusetts, USA
Reprinted from the RC e-mail discussion list
for leaders in the care of the environment