Environment 3-Pack

Includes:

Extinction Rebellion, the Climate Crisis & Civil Resistance

Extinction Rebellion, also simply known as XR, is a global environmental movement. It was founded in the UK with the explicit aim of using nonviolent civil resistance to compel government action to avoid ecological collapse. The latest UN IPCC report paints a dire picture of what the future will bring. By 2050, a billion people will face coastal flooding from rising seas. Using radical tactics, Extinction Rebellion draws inspiration from grassroots movements such as the civil rights movement.  XR aims to instill a sense of urgency to prevent further climate breakdown and the ongoing sixth mass extinction. A number of XR activists accept arrest and imprisonment. The movement’s symbol is a stylized, circled hourglass to serve as a warning that time is running out for us.

Our Planetary Existential Crisis

Our planet and humankind are in danger. The warnings coming from UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres could not be more unambiguous. He says we are heading “towards an unlivable world. We are on a fast track to climate disaster. Major cities under water. Unprecedented heatwaves. Terrifying storms. Widespread water shortages. The extinction of a million species of plants and animals. This is not fiction or exaggeration,” he continues. “It is what science tells us will result from our current energy policies. We are on a pathway to global warming of more than double the 1.5-degree limit agreed in Paris. If you care about justice, and our children’s future, I am appealing directly to you. Climate promises and plans must be turned into reality and action, now. It is time to stop burning our planet, and start investing in the abundant renewable energy all around us.”

The Future of Civilization

When it comes to climate change the operative word is “hot” with “record” and "unprecedented" closely following. UN conferences on climate do little beyond the powerful issuing grandiose proclamations about how green they are and then it’s back to their destructive policies. The Guardian, captures the hypocrisy,  “governments turned their backs on the living planet, demonstrating that no chronic problem, however grave, will take priority.” Rome is burning. The eco-crisis includes rising temperatures and sea levels, deforestation and species extinction, drought and soil erosion, and water and food shortages. In the not so distant future the ecological crimes against the Earth will come home to roost. Rex Weyler in EcoWatch warns,  “A great reckoning awaits humanity if we fail to awaken from our delusions. Earth’s delicately balanced systems can reach tipping points and collapse.”

Speakers

David Korten

David Korten is a philosopher and visionary. For several decades he was an insider in the development establishment. He worked for the Ford Foundation and USAID and taught at Harvard’s Graduate School of Business. Having severed his ties to the past, today he is a leading voice for economic and social justice. He is a co-founder of YES! magazine and author of When Corporations Rule the World, The Great Turning, Agenda for a New Economy and Change the Story, Change the Future. 

Lester Brown

Lester Brown is the president of the Earth Policy Institute. The Washington Post calls him “one of the world’s most influential thinkers.” In 1974 he founded the Worldwatch Institute, the first research institute devoted to the analysis of global environmental issues. He is the recipient of many awards including the UN Environment Prize. He is the author of numerous books including Plan B 4.0: Mobilizing to Save Civilization, World on the Edge, Full Planet, Empty Plates and Breaking New Ground.

Roger Hallam

Roger Hallam is a Welsh organic farmer and environmental activist. He is co-founder of Extinction Rebellion, the cooperative federation Radical Routes and the political party Burning Pink.