Recorded 2/13/2024
Dana R. Fisher is a renowned climate researcher and a self-proclaimed ‘apocalyptic optimist’ who believes that we can no longer wait for governments to pass the laws we need, for businesses to do the right thing, or for technological silver bullets to maintain a livable planet. Each of us, Fisher says, must take action to save ourselves and save the planet.
“After 28 years of failed climate negotiations, scientifically informed emissions reductions set by governments have languished. Consequently, the pace at which the world is mitigating and adapting to the threat of climate change is far too slow to meet the challenge. Carbon concentrations in the atmosphere continue to rise quickly, as the ice sheets melt and climate shocks—like droughts, floods, and heatwaves—increase in frequency and intensity.
Adapted from Saving Ourselves
Meanwhile, leadership of the climate negotiations at this late hour has been relegated to petro-states and former fossil fuel executives, which has helped make it impossible to agree upon, let alone implement, policies that could save us from the worst of the climate crisis. The writing is on the wall: the only way for things to get better is after they get much worse. Lives will be lost, and social conflict driven by climate migration and competition for increasingly scarce resources will proliferate. These look like insurmountable odds, and in many ways they are. But there is a slim chance that we can slow climate change enough to preserve our planet and minimize the catastrophe that is just around the corner.”
Dana R. Fisher is Director of the Center for Environment, Community & Equity and a Professor in the School of International Service at American University. She has written several books and her latest is Saving Ourselves: From Climate Shocks to Climate Action.
PENNIE OPAL PLANT (Yaqui, undocumented Cherokee and Choctaw) is a lifelong activist whose focus is on ensuring that the sacred system of life continues in a manner that is safe, sustainable and healthy. In 1980, she began working on nuclear issues, including uranium mining, nuclear energy, and weapons. She is co-founder of several grassroots actions groups including No More SF Bay; Movement Rights, an Indigenous women-led organization aligning human law with the laws of Mother Earth; and founder of The Society of Fearless Grandmothers which trains people in non-violent direct action.
KATHLEEN SULLIVAN says she really “woke up” to climate activism two years ago when she joined Bill McKibben’s organization, Third Act and helped found the Maine chapter. She has subsequently formed Freeport Climate Action Now which now has 1,000 members.
“It is about much more than my own grandchildren, it has to do with the deeper question of how we think of ourselves as human beings in relation to the earth. We have a moral responsibility to do the right thing.”
