Chandra Clarke

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It’s the System, Man

January 12, 2022 By Chandra Clarke 1 Comment

 

One’s got to change the system, or one changes nothing. 

— George Orwell, Keep the Aspidistra Flying

Not long ago, The Guardian⁠1 reported on a study that suggested that just 100 companies were responsible for 71 percent of greenhouse gas emissions.

100 companies. 71 percent.

Which sounds like an actionable bit of knowledge. Just boycott those 100 and we’re good to go, right?

Except that it turns out those companies are coal, oil, and gas producers that, in general, you and I don’t buy from directly. 

So, that means we have to take a two-pronged approach:

  1. We need to make systemic changes.
  2. We need to make personal changes.

Systemic changes are up first, because while we can definitely influence things by making small personal changes, we must really kick the system hard to get the actions we want as fast as we need them.

Let me use a real world example to illustrate what I mean.

You probably already recycle your plastic bottles, right? Or maybe you don’t even use them. That’s awesome, and you should be congratulated. It’s important that you keep doing that.

But … as long as the system continues to produce plastic bottles and also doesn’t account for the hundreds of thousands of people who either can’t or won’t recycle them, and also doesn’t account for the bad actor companies that just dump what they’re supposed to recycle, we still have a huge problem.

Well, I hear you say, we just need to get more people to recycle. Education! Awareness!

To which I say: hogsnarfle.

For one thing, we’ve been running education and awareness programs for decades. They only work if people are receptive to the message and can act on it. (Spoiler alert: The system makes it really, really hard to act on it.)

But more to the point, there’s just too many of us!!

Let’s do some math. Don’t worry, I’ll do all the heavy lifting here.

Coca-Cola⁠2 says that they sell 1.9 billion servings of their drinks in 200 countries every day. 

Now, let’s assume we do such a great job of recycling that a whopping 90% of those serving containers are recycled.

That still leaves one hundred and ninety million containers in our landfills, oceans, and by the side of the road.

190,000,000. 

Every. Single. Day.

(And yes, you could argue that not all of those servings are individually packaged, what with bigger bottles and fountain drinks, but even if you slash that number in half or by two thirds, it’s still mind-boggingly huge. It’s also just the drinks from one company. Think how many other products there are out there?!)

Now let’s be honest with ourselves here. You’ve seen the comments on any social media post. You know what your co-workers and the people in your community can be like. 

Can you really see any future in which we have 90% of people doing the right thing 100% of the time?

No, me neither. And I’m an optimist!

So that’s why we need to tackle the systems first. We must have systems that account for real human behaviours, both good and bad. 

This is the last explanatory/introductory post. In our next section, we’re going to start kicking the system, beginning with your local government.

Today’s action? Subscribe to this blog so you don’t miss a post. There’s a Newsletter Subscribe form at the right.

1 https://www.theguardian.com/sustainable-business/2017/jul/10/100-fossil-fuel-companies-investors-responsible-71-global-emissions-cdp-study-climate-change

2 https://www.coca-cola.co.uk/our-business/faqs/how-many-cans-of-coca-cola-are-sold-worldwide-in-a-day

 

 

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It’s Time For Action

June 22, 2021 By Chandra Clarke 2 Comments

‘I wish it need not have happened in my time,’ said Frodo.’

‘So do I,’ said Gandalf, ‘and so do all who live to see such times. But that is not for them to decide. All we have to decide is what to do with the time that is given us.’”

– JRR Tolkein, Lord of the Rings

 

The headlines are full of scary images and statistics. Wildfires. Hurricanes. Collapsing ice shelves. Uprisings and protests. All made worse by the surreality of the pandemic.

I don’t know about you, but I haven’t been sleeping well. Or, you know, at all.

Our governments sit on their collective hands and do nothing, or worse, actively roll back progress. Social media has become a doomscroll; a toxic soup of negativity, conspiracy theories, and snark. The future seems uncertain.

The problems seem so BIG. It’s hard to know where to even start. What can I do? Is there any hope?

In my heart of hearts, I believe there is. Here’s why: When I started actively looking for the little glimmers of light in the darkness, looking beyond the headlines, I discovered that there are people trying to fix this.

Hundreds of thousands of people all around the world, just like you and me, who have rolled up their sleeves and are doing something. Taking action in their homes. In their places of work. In their communities.

But they can’t do it alone. None of us can. It’s time for all us to link up and start pushing hard in the same direction.

This isn’t about activism anymore. It’s about action. On this blog I’ve called it ecoaction, but it’s really about All The Problems. Because they’re all interconnected of course.

You. Can. Make. A. Difference.

Let’s find out how, together.

This series will be a set of posts about practical actions you can take right now, today, tomorrow, and the next day. Some of them will be easy, some of them will be harder, some will be free, and some of them will take money. But they will all be things you can do. We’ll take it one step at a time.

Your first action? Share this post. On Facebook, on Twitter, by email. Share it everywhere you can think of. Encourage them to subscribe to the blog. Let’s get as many people as possible on board. And do please share your comments below!

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Ecoactionists

March 3, 2020 By Chandra Clarke Leave a Comment

Project: Ecoactionists.com

A new site is promising to unite action-oriented environmentalists around the world.

Ecoactionists.com, billing itself as a Facebook for greens, currently features a series of forums, a blog focussed on member success stories and more positive environmental news, and a recommended book list. In development are a course marketplace for learning green skills, and a product marketplace for environmentally sustainable or regenerative products.

“[This is…] A better world umbrella group. A really big tent for everyone that wants progress,” says the site description. “Think of it as a way to channel your energy into something positive and proactive.”

To participate, you can register here for free, participate in the forums, and the site especially would love to have a guest blog about a successful project you might have completed at home, work, or in your community.

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Knock on Wood

August 3, 2018 By Chandra Clarke Leave a Comment

Trees: We grow them, we depend on them, we even hug them. But have you ever wondered why? This short, humorous, fantasy story will make you see them in a whole new light.

Available at Amazon and other book retailers:

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