On Monday I attended a local community screening of the National Emergency Briefing.
The event was held in a local social club, it was well attended and was pretty well structured and organised.
There was an introduction by the organisers, the film itself, a short break, then some time to talk in small groups with a facilitator about how the film made you feel, and whether you felt it should be televised nationally so everyone can see it. The key points from each group were then fed back to the room.
I’m not here to discuss the event in itself. But I do want to talk about how it made me feel.
In a nutshell; Battered, heavy, frustrated, overwhelmed, very tearful and kind of paralysed.
I am not an un-informed person. I might be more aware than average of the far reaching effects of the climate crisis. I don’t hold statistics and all the scientific facts in my head, but I understand that without meaningful action climate change will detrimentally, perhaps fatally, affect all aspects of what we think of as ‘normal life’.
The film lays these things out plainly and calmly.
To be honest there was little in the film that came as a surprise to me.
But all in one go, in one sitting, it's a lot to hold.
Each expert that speaks in the film also offers a solution; and not the far reaching ‘if we develop this new technology in time we can do this’ kind. But existing, do-able, practical things that can adjust our course and steer us into a liveable human future.
You’d think this element would have given me some relief from my sense of despair.
It did not!
There are people in power who have been told all of this information already, some of them were in the actual emergency briefing that is the basis of this film. The problems have been laid out more times than we can mention, the solutions have been proposed and discussed again and again.
But far too little is actually being done. Lots of words and very little action.
On Monday night that (re)realisation really broke me!
I felt the enormity of the problem, I felt the frustration of solutions not being put into action, I was frozen in a place of uncertainty and not knowing what I am supposed to do next.
I also felt extremely alone.
Even though I’d sat in a space full of people, all keen to learn the facts, discover solutions and make positive changes. Once I had stepped outside of that room I felt like an anomaly. Like I was back in the minority, the odd one out for caring about this stuff, seeing the urgent need for change, wondering why I'm surrounded by people carrying on with business as usual.
I felt as though I am the only person hearing the alarm bell because everyone else is wearing noise cancelling headphones and happily listening to their favourite song.
I cannot speak for others who have seen the National Emergency Briefing; I don't know how many others came away with similar feelings to me. On further reflection I suspect I'm not actually alone at all!
What I do know is that a lack of information isn’t the problem here. Scientists, politicians, and the general public have a wealth of evidence at their disposal.
But people need agency, to see the value in their actions and choices, and to feel the benefit of the changes that we need to make.
They need to be able to start and join conversations about the things that are important to them without worrying about being immediately mocked, criticized or dismissed. They need a chance to be understood and heard, and they absolutely need to not feel alone.
Luckily, Thankfully, I am part of a collective of humans that understand this acutely.
And on Tuesday morning I had a number of message exchanges and phone conversations with the Re-Action community about what I was feeling, and what the heck to do now!
I was able to work through all the thoughts and discuss the whys and hows.
I re-figured out exactly what I think and feel and what needs to happen so that I can un-freeze and get back to ‘the work’.
So here is where I ended up…or perhaps I should say where I have come back to….
Facts and information are important. But for them to be useful they have to be relevant and in context to the person on the receiving end; It’s hard to care about something (that doesn't appear to directly affect you), or even notice a problem, when it’s seemingly far away, or not part of their everyday experience.
Lets make stuff relevant to real people, be sensitive to individual circumstances and start with the shifts that can (positively) impact their day to day lives, their immediate surroundings and the people they care about.
Endlessly outlining the problems doesn't get stuff done. People need action points, and those actions need to be within their skill set and genuinely achievable for them. At the same time recognise that people don't always like being told what to do (or what not to do).
Can we let people consider what they themselves have to offer, let them identify their own strengths, skills and interests and choose which actions they can and want to take themselves?
Behaviour change doesn't happen with information alone. Personal experience, and feeling something for yourself is a pretty essential motivator.
Lets invite others to experience something new (that may lead to a behaviour change) in a safe and unconfrontational way, taking part in a thing is much more powerful than watching a keynote presentation.
Humans are social creatures and feeling alone / isolated is a big barrier to change. Doing things alone is scary. But find one or two other people that share your concerns or want the same thing as you and suddenly it all feels more manageable and a lot less intimidating. Not everyone needs to do the same thing and there's room for everyone to get involved.
So lets connect people, create safe welcoming spaces for humans to gather together, to realise their common interests, concerns and skills so that they can work together on common goals.
Joy is essential for change. Nobody wants to feel they are just making sacrifices, nobody wants to do things that make them miserable. No-one likes to be told they’re doing the wrong thing or feel cajoled into doing something under false pretences.
So let's make the changes needed appealing. Let’s paint a positive joyful desirable picture of how life can be so people genuinely want to get on board.
And so after that initial feeling of despair on Monday night I'm ready to get back to it.
In actual fact perhaps not a whole lot changed for me, not on a day to day basis. My life still looks very much the same as it did on monday morning, But I have reaffirmed my own philosophy, re-established my own kind of manifesto, and renewed my motivation to go back out and as The Re-Action crew would say ‘find (more of) the others’.