ThinkPint2

No doubt about it, I was being changed by writing about Greta, a person who may never exist. I had written about ancestors before, and was changed by that experience, but now I was being changed by a prospective descendant. Researching for every piece left me more informed, some would say wrongly, but I was informed. I was probably better versed than many, and got more concerned about the future Greta would inhabit.

But what could one person do?

Very little, I knew that. If you talk too much you are tuned out, if not immediately, at least soon enough by those who are patient or kind enough to listen for a while. I redoubled efforts. Watched more videos, read hundreds of articles, liked more pages on Facebook, and followed more scientists and journalists. On one level that made me feel like I was doing something, but I knew it did not make much of a difference. Paraphrasing one environmental leader, Bill McKibben, it’s time to do more than change light bulbs.

Thus, I kept on. If not changing light bulbs, at least changing myself by trying to know more. In July 2014 the city where I live, Eugene, Oregon, passed a Climate Recovery Ordinance, the first in the nation to do so with such specific requirements. I was there with Scholar Duck at many of the city council meetings and hearings. Here is how Our Children’s Trust made the announcement on July 29, 2014.

“Last night, with a vote of 6-2, the Eugene City Council adopted a powerful Climate Recovery Ordinance that was promoted by the city’s young people, and backed by a scientific prescription for climate recovery. The Ordinance is the first in the country to require carbon neutrality, fossil fuel use reductions, and the development of a carbon budget based on the best available science.

“At a public hearing on July 21, over 100 community members showed up to testify or stand in support of Eugene adopting the Climate Recovery Ordinance. Eugene’s faith community, scientists, lawyers, business owners, children, parents, and students all spoke in favor of the Ordinance.”

Here is SD at one of many city council meetings attended in 2014 with the city’s mayor.

Thus, on one level things were going better, the local community was responding. This was more than changing light bulbs, but how could more light bulbs be changed elsewhere?

As I was researching the Inuit people I had a dream about them one night. Then the next day I watched a video on methane and the Arctic and wondered, Holy S#%t, can this really happen. Ironically, the very next day I saw this report from Motherboard on August 1, 2014, one of my many climate-related likes I followed on Facebook.

“This week, scientists made a disturbing discovery in the Arctic Ocean: They saw ‘vast methane plumes escaping from the seafloor,’ as the Stockholm University put it in a release disclosing the observations. The plume of methane—a potent greenhouse gas that traps heat more powerfully than carbon dioxide, the chief driver of climate change—was unsettling to the scientists.”

But it was even more unnerving to Dr. Jason Box, a widely published climatologist, who had been following the expedition. As I was digging into the new development, I stumbled upon his tweet, which, coming from a scientist, was downright chilling: “If even a small fraction of Arctic sea floor carbon is released to the atmosphere, we’re f’d.”

I signed up immediately to follow Box’s project in the Arctic on facebook. What else to do? I tried to learn about methane and get contrary opinions, which there are. Novice indeed I was, I knew that; but I was trying to make sense of it in the best way I could.

I began following the Arctic Council Organization as well as the Inuit Circumpolar Council, “Founded in 1977 by the late Eben Hopson of Barrow, Alaska, the Inuit Circumpolar Council (ICC) has flourished and grown into a major international non-government organization representing approximately 155,000 Inuit of Alaska, Canada, Greenland, and Chukotka (Russia). The organization holds Consultative Status II at the United Nations.

“To thrive in their circumpolar homeland, Inuit had the vision to realize they must speak with a united voice on issues of common concern and combine their energies and talents towards protecting and promoting their way of life.”

Then came the day when tears came for Greta during a meditation. Tears are not uncommon in my meditations, but they had usually been for family and friends who were gone, now they were for someone who may never exist; and if she does exist, I will not meet her.

Is this being an elder?

I did not know. What I did know is I wanted to continue to understand, put my oar in, and try to involve others in understanding these issues; and, if they so desired, do what action they deemed appropriate in their situation. I did know I had been influenced by the President of Kiribati and Shelia Watt-Cloutier of the Inuit nation. They were elders and they were talking. I was listening.

I began talking to friends about this project. They seemed interested in what was going to happen next to Greta. I facemailed with my great niece, Erin, the potential grandmother of Greta. We wondered if writing children’s books, which would in reality reach parents, was a good idea. I knew with two very young children she had little time, which was true of all my friends in that age range with many life responsibilities.

I contacted a couple of Eugene 21-year-olds friends who expressed an interest in going to the People’s Climate March in NYC on September 20-21, 2014. I knew the world’s attention on this event was key. The Climate March preceded the UN Climate Summit on September 23, 2014, a day before my birthday. By August 2014 both Obama and Xi Jinping, President of China, said they would attend. Good, that was key.

The September 2014 Summit had to go well for the Lima Climate Change Conference to go well in December, 2014. All that was the build up to the 21st Conference Of the Parties (COP) on Climate Change 2015 in Paris. This had to go better than Copenhagen in 2009. I thought Paris 2015 was our last best chance to do something that would be key and helpful in mitigation and really help the future Gretas of the world. I knew the importance of all these dates and what needed to happen when, but did I know anyone else listening to this? In reality, not many in my world.

So, back to me, what to do? I decided what else I could do is try to understand more and engage others if possible.

Next, Greta would meet more people. The Alberta Tar Sands were calling as wildfires were ramping up in the West in August of 2014. Thus far I was learning indigenous people knew a lot, but were we listening to them. That was my question as I would turn to the First Nation people in Canada.