The author in front of Independence Hall, Philadelphia — preparing to be a Climate Voice

🔊 Listen to This Story

We are in a cataclysmic battle between those who want to destroy the planet for profit, and those who want to preserve the climate for our children and future generations.

The problem with this battle is that only one side has shown up — the bad guys. Now, I don’t mean to criticize or diminish the many heroes of the climate movement: Just Stop Oil, Extinction Rebellion, Fridays for Future, The Sunrise Movement and many, many more. But their numbers are way too small. They need help. This planet needs help. WE need to help.

The size of the climate movement — even including the millions of child activists in Fridays for Future — is simply too small. We aren’t (yet) in a position to change anything.

A Movement that Matches the Scope of the Crisis

As a percentage of the Earth’s human population, the leading climate abusers are a very small number. Maybe a few thousand. But they control things. They have money. They buy influence. Governments of every form and ideology serve them. Every economic system is built on extracting wealth from the planet, and ignoring the damage.

Meanwhile, nearly everybody else on the planet recognizes the destruction, cares about the health of the planet and the future of their children. But those people are busy trying to take care of themselves and their families. Some are paralyzed by anxiety and distracting themselves with trivial entertainments. Or they are numbing themselves with drugs and alcohol.

They are fearful or depressed or have simply given up. Nobody has listened to them. A few thousand people seem to have handily defeated more than a billion. This is absurd, but appears to be true.

It doesn’t need to be that way.

Think about this: one billion latent activists. That’s a conservative number. One billion people who care enough about the climate to actually ACT — well, that implies that seven out of eight don’t want to bother. But one billion people is still a LOT of people and would be the most gigantic force for change in history. They — WE — would be unstoppable.

JOB #1: To find these billion people, to empower them to easily participate and be heard in a worldwide climate revolution.

A Story To Match the Truth

Those few thousand climate abusers — the people who are rendering the Earth uninhabitable — have the microphone. These are telling their story — conveniently constructed lies. The truth of their cruelty, selfishness, stupidity and folly is being ignored, downplayed and/or ridiculed.

We need to reverse this. We can reverse this. Because we can choose to ignore their lies, choose to never repeat or acknowledge them. We can, instead, state the truth in forceful and memorable ways. Repeatedly. Until it is impossible to ignore.

The truth WILL ultimately resonate with people because it is the truth.

Here’s our story. Learn it. Memorize it. Understand it so well that you can easily tell it in your own words.

A few thousand people are extracting fossil fuels from the Earth for personal profit. The have acquired substantial wealth and decisive power over authorities. They are destroying the habitability of the Earth and dooming your children and all future generations.

They seem powerful and unstoppable but this is an illusion. A few thousand of them have no chance whatsoever against a billion of us. Their so-called power is wholly dependent on the cooperation and obedience of billions of others.

Once we withdraw our consent, refuse to cooperate, stonewall their leadership, and sabotage their actions, their reign is over and WE can begin to repair the Earth. Once WE SHOW UP, the contest is over. We win.

Yes. It’s that easy. Look at the sudden and unexpected end of the Soviet Union. Look at the ousting of Romanian dictator Nicolae Ceaușescu. Ordinary people have saved themselves many, many times in history. THIS is OUR historic moment.

But ONLY if we choose to seize this moment. Let’s make that choice.

JOB #2: To speak up repeatedly and clearly and change the narrative by telling the truth.

A Group — YOUR Group — and Some Tactics

There is a tiny group called EarthRebirth Team. We are dedicated to rescue the planet from those who are destroying it. We are building a community — actually a series of communities — of ordinary people working together to save the planet.

We will make it easy and emotionally rewarding for everyone who cares to join and participate. It will take just a tiny bit of time and, ultimately, have an outsized positive impact. We intend to make this group the embryonic core of a gigantic grass roots worldwide climate movement.

There are many ways to participate — as little or as much as you’d like. You can start NOW. Here’s some steps you can take. If you are ready, do one or more of them, and post about it in the comments section below.

1. Sign up for the email list at EarthRebirth.Team (Click “Join” to see the sign up form.)
2. Attend an online meeting, called a Virtual Climate Party. This is where we build community and develop tactics.
3. Hold a Landmark Protest. These are simple photogenic one-person protests that are posted and marked with hashtags online. (Please include the hashtag #EarthRebirthTeam.)
4. Print and distribute climate samizdat — small guerilla publications promoting a mass-movement to end fossil fuel extraction, build a better civilization and rescue our children’s future.
5. Recruit people who are already inclined to act — but don’t know where to go or what to do — to join the EarthRebirth Team
6. Download and distribute the picture at the top of this story on social media — as a meme to promote EarthRebirth Team.

Thanks for reading.