Get a Fire Extinguisher

Bioneers´underlying theme seems to be… politics. Social movements and politics. Many speakers today emphasized the fact that we already have the technology necessary to improve the situation and save ourselves. It just takes… just what? Concern? Action? A better-functioning democracy? We definitely need to get involved. Join a movement or start a movement. Talk to people. At least talk to people. My friends already know that I can be annoying like that: for instance, I tell them how they should reuse their beer pong cups rather than waste so much plastic. Not now, they say, what the hell, it´s Friday night, we had a rough week. But no, we need to talk about this. There is no bad time to talk about nature and climate change and about being involved. There are things we can prevent. It seems no big deal – until it´s too late.
Two moments today blew my mind. The first was when Kenny Ausubel, the CEO of the conference, spoke. He talked about people who find phrases like “civilization´s fast-forward collapse” and “runaway climate change destabilization” depressing. They find it too gloomy. Kenny Ausubel had a great analogy. He said it´s as if seeing your kitchen is on fire and sitting on the sofa in the living room and getting totally depressed. And then you wait until the fire moves to the living room and you are all down and melancholic. No! You should jump up and reach for a fire extinguisher! Yes, it is bad. But it is not depressing. It is alarming. We need to stand up and act. Now. I am urging you. And I won´t be apologetic about it.
The second great moment was when Kari Fulton was speaking. She is a beautiful young Black girl with an afro and red stilettos. She showed up together with a DJ. Her talk was as much a talk as a hip-hop jam. Real hip-hop, I mean: the biting, socially active kind. At one point, she was speaking about Hurricane Katrina; and she said: here we are, about 2,000 people in this hall. Imagine what it would be if we all died this moment. That many people died in the hurricane. Because of greenhouse gases that we all emit, you, and you, and you. We didn´t have to do this. We could have prevented it. Is this the fate of our generation? Neglect and pointless death? No, this is not our fate, she said. But we gotta act. Now. Kari Fulton had a great slogan. “Not in my back yard! And not in anyone else´s.” We`re a global community and we`re all in this together. And there ain`t no way out.
Am I depressing you? Well, good. Now go get yourself a fire extinguisher.