The power of the bleedin’ obvious!

Musings for a Monday morning!

Let me start with this:

A self-affirmation

For today, I am in charge of my life.

Today, I choose my thoughts.

Today, I choose my attitudes.

Today, I choose my actions and behaviours.

With these, I create my life and my destiny

I hasten to add that I am not the author of these wonderful words; just been aware of them for many years.

OK, to the muse!

I subscribe to Christine’s excellent blog 350 or bust.  Last Friday, Christine published a post that she called: Despite Pleas In Doha, Our Governments Have Failed Us & Our Children.

In that post, Christine included this video,

The lead negotiator for the Philippines at the Climate Conference in Doha, Naderev Saño, could not keep back the tears as he made a passionate appeal for real action on climate change.

“I appeal to all, please, no more delays, no more excuses. Please, let Doha be remembered as the place where we found the political will to turn things around…

The outcome of our work is not about what our political masters want. It is about what is demanded of us by 7 billion people…

I ask of all of us here, if not us, then who? If not now, then when? If not here, then where?”

Christine also included a short video of 19-year-old Syrian-American student Munira Sibai addressing the delegates.

“So let me now speak beyond the negotiators in this room to the people who I represent. Your governments are failing you. They are afraid that offering visionary pathways to low-carbon economies will make them look foolish, that taking responsibility will make them look weak, that standing up to the money and power of polluters will cost them political support. Unchecked, this cowardice will cost lives. Here in the halls of the United Nations, the voices of global citizens are limited, regulated and relegated to these short, symbolic statements. Outside these walls, these walls, there is a global movement, growing up from the grassroots, calling for climate justice. Join us.”

So young Munira Sibai offered the answer to Naderev Saño’s plea, “I ask of all of us here, if not us, then who? If not now, then when? If not here, then where?”  That answer being so beautifully encompassed in the opening self-affirmation.  Stay with me a little longer.

Many of you readers know that a little over 5 weeks ago Jean and I and our 11 dogs and 5 cats moved from Payson in Arizona up to Merlin, Southern Oregon.  The reason I refer to Payson is that not long before we left, a group concerned about the environment and climate change decided to form Transition Town Payson.

If you go to the ‘About‘ page of their website, you will see this beautiful photograph.

TTPvista

It’s a view from the Mogollon Rim Trail that would inspire anyone to want to care for our planet.  The trail passes close to Payson and is a very popular walking area.

Back to TTP.  If you go to their website and start browsing the articles and seeing what information is already there, you get a clear idea of what a group of people can do.  That key word ‘DO‘!

Last Thursday, I offered a reflection on Learning from Dogs about what feels like a new world order.  The penultimate paragraph offered this:

I sense that we, as in the peoples on this planet, are well into a period of such change that even by the end of 2013, a little over 50 weeks away, the precipice for humanity will be within sight.  I hold out zero hope that any time soon our leaders and politicians will stop ‘playing games’ and focus on doing what’s right.  The time for truth, for integrity, for sound debate is NOW!

However, all the truth, integrity and debate in the world comes to nothing without ACTION.

It really is the bleedin’ obvious!

4 thoughts on “The power of the bleedin’ obvious!

  1. The 19-year old student spoke with the clarity of an uncorrupted mind. However, in Storms of my Grandchildren, James Hansen is even more blunt; because he says that, in failing us, our goverments are lying to us and themselves.
    http://lackofenvironment.wordpress.com/2011/11/08/our-three-biggest-problems-solved/
    http://lackofenvironment.wordpress.com/2011/11/16/hansen-says-we-should-fart/
    N.B. FART = Fundamentally Alter Resource Trajectories

    Our governments are now down to the last few deckchairs on the sinking Titanic, but still the music plays on and the game of musical chairs continues. They continue to argue about who should act first, when what they should be doing is implementing incentives to change people’s behaviour. This, of course, they cannot do because they are mostly controlled by the power of the fossil fuel industry that has hypnotised them.

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  2. In my latest essay, I mention in passing that Doha decided that 15% of humanity, including the European Union, will make all the efforts to mitigate the rise of heat trapping gases in the atmosphere. In particular, the USA firmly intent to do the exact opposite, and develop its fossil fuels as much as possible. As I explained, the rise of Susan Rice is crucial to this USA objective.
    http://patriceayme.wordpress.com/2012/12/10/no-rice-no-lice-no-dice/

    Action without reflection is only disintegration of civilization.
    PA

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    1. Doha is yet another disgraceful failure; I am hoping to get permission from a third party to publish an interesting perspective on it…

      Forgive me for skipping over your most recent post in order to comment on the one that preceded it…

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      1. Dear Martin: You are welcome, your comment was very interesting, and off the beaten track, I answered it extensively! I’m looking for your comments on Rice The Lice (if you try to forgive the slight hard enough, you will succeed!), and the ecological-genocidal horror she represents…

        The connection between genocide and ecocide is not emphasized enough, and we should be thankful for Ms Rice to help us illustrate it… Right…
        PA

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