It’s about everyone
We are powerful
We look to the powerful to bring about change for us. To the person in the White House, the Prime minister’s office or to the corporate CEO. But real, deep change has never originated with a prime minister or a board room. History shows that massive change always happened when enough people stopped believing in an old story and embraced a better story. That’s our power! It just takes enough of us to show up.
Everyone is needed…
To overcome a crisis of this magnitude, we truly need everyone’s contribution. The rightful anger of the younger ones among us and the stamina of the older ones. The hard-learned lessons of the most vulnerable and already affected. As well as the financial and political resources of the better-heeled. Whatever our age, our background, our skin color, we are all needed to turn this around.
… and there is wisdom everywhere
We listen to science and experts. But we know there is also vast untapped knowledge and wisdom with urban and rural folks, with elders and with indigenous people who've worked the land and cared for it for thousands of years. All these perspectives are needed to break through the current crisis.
From blame to invitation
When there is a crisis, our first instinct is to figure out who to blame. Blame can feel good, but it’s not always effective. Those we accuse are the very people who need to be part of the change. When we blame them, they often dig their heels in even deeper. Instead of blaming, let’s extend an invitation: "You can stay in an old, dying story, for which your children are likely to blame you. Or you join a better story and be celebrated for your leadership. Come and join us."
We have different perspectives
We know we are moving to a better story, but we don’t know yet exactly how that story will shape up. Is nuclear energy helpful or a problem? Will we be able to replace all the current energy use with renewable energy or not, and is that even desirable? If the answers to these questions and many others were obvious, we would not be debating them. Let's focus on how united we are about the goal, and accept that people can look at these issues in good faith and can come to different conclusions.
It’s about a new story
Sacred awe
We live in times where everything seems to be a means to an end. Where nothing is sacred and everything is disposable - the living world, natural resources, even human beings. But deep inside, we yearn to reconnect with our built-in sense of awe. Everything is precious, everything is a miracle. Our children, our neighbors, the food we eat, the woods we walk in, the fish and reefs in the deepest sea. When we reconnect with this, we’ve turned corners on the old story that created the mess we are in.
Imagination beats cynicism
We live in cynical times where dreaming big is often ridiculed. Our sights are narrowed by relentless advertising that tells us that the most we can aspire to in this life is: buy some stuff. The antidote to cynicism is imagination. If we know where to look, we see millions of people who are imagining a better future, and then creating it. Creating a better future is possible, it’s already happening – we just need to know where to look.
It’s about joy
We choose stubborn optimism
Things can look bleak. A lot has been destroyed on which we can’t turn back the clock. There are times when we are discouraged and what keeps us moving forward is stubborn, scrappy optimism. In those times especially, let’s remember the many leaps forward that happened in human history. It takes time for the soil to be ready, but when it is, things can happen on a scale and speed no one believes is possible.
Joy moves us forward
At times, we may fall into grief when we come to grips with the scale of destruction under way. But when grief leads us to action, we often find unexpected joy. The kind of joy that shows up when we are blessed to do meaningful work, when we contribute our gifts, when we do it with people who share the same values, when we commit to an adventure that’s bigger than ourselves. This isn’t easy work, but what keeps us going is meaning and joy.
