Are we really being honest about what is happening and taking responsibility for choosing our own future?

Many people will find the graph and brief commentary in this tweet sad and scary, especially if they understand the story they tell and accept their implications:

• climate change is harming the earth’s ability to support life as we know it
• the impacts are happening now and are accelerating
• and yet we continue to increase the causes of those impacts.

‘Why do we keep racing headlong towards the cliff, even as we are so close to it (and maybe even going over the edge)?’, they ask.

Some people may prefer to bury their heads in the sand, pretending not to care, or just give up trying to restore our precious Earth’s ability to continue to safely support life as we know it.

Instead, this is really a great opportunity to increase our efforts to stop this madness…because we’re all in this together, sharing our common home

That means engaging everyone we can with positive messages that appeal to intrinsic values that we all share, things like:

• honesty
• responsibility
• caring for those that we love and for the most vulnerable, especially generations into the future
• preserving and caring for nature and the environment that is our life-support system and gives us so much beauty and pleasure
• choosing our own future instead of being shackled to the unfolding wrecking of our world that vested interests like the fossil fuel industry and their cronies are forcing  on us.

Climate change and other environmental destruction threaten – and are already damaging – the people, places and things we love. It is harming people who are poor and vulnerable – especially our children, grandchildren and future generations. Yet these are the very people we need to protect.

If we’re honest, we know should care for them, not worsen their lives. We have a moral obligation to:

• not harm others
• be fair
• care for others that are poor and/or vulnerable
• provide for our children
• respect future generations.

It is our responsibility to take action to stop this damage in order to provide for the future of our children and life on Earth as we know it.

We need to be honest about what is happening to our world and the harm that it is wreaking on those least able to deal with it – and we need to call on our leaders to do the same.

We need to be honest about what is causing these changes and the harm they cause – and we need to call on our leaders to do the same.

And we need to be responsible and take action to deal with the consequences and prevent them getting worse – and we need to call on our leaders to do the same.

When we do that, we will be choosing our own future.

We will be choosing a world that is safer for our children and grand children, for the most vulnerable people and for generations into the future.

We will be casting off the shackles of the dishonest and irresponsible vested interests that are wrecking our world.

We will be choosing a future that we want – not the disaster that the fossil fuel and other industries and their cronies are currently forcing on us.

So, what can you do?

Here are some great ways to get the ball rolling with empowering and effective communication:

• If you are a person of faith, you and your faith community can sign the Interfaith Statement. It’s a call to action from the world’s faiths, urging governments to rapidly ratify and implement the Paris Agreement and to increase pledges to reduce emissions. You’ll need to be quick to sign the Statement because it will be handed over by eminent religious leaders to the President of the UN General Assembly on 18 April 2016 at an official event in New York.
• Let your political representatives know your views: write to them or – even better – meet with them.
• Harness the power of the media.  It’s a great way to influence the opinions, and hopefully the actions, of the community.  For example, you could write a letter to the editor, ring talkback radio, or comment on blogs and social media.  Oxfam Australia has some good guidance to help you make your mark in the media.
• Talk with your family and friends. Family and friends are the people we care most about – and they care about us, so they’re more likely to listen to us.

Let them know that you care about our common home, about the people and places you love, about generations into the future and other vulnerable people – and how you want us to be able to choose our own future instead of being shackled to the unfolding wrecking of our world that vested interests like the coal, gas and oil industries and their cronies are forcing  on us…because we’re all in this together.