![[Green Flame] Extreme Weather Around the Planet](https://dgrnewsservice.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/18/2020/09/green-flame-NS.jpg)
For this episode of The Green Flame, Jennifer Murnan and Max Wilbert discuss extreme weather around the world. As the Arctic is experiencing catastrophic low ice formation, wildfires have swept western Turtle Island this summer and fall, and storms have pounded southeast Asia and the Caribbean. We include excerpts from a January podcast covering the megafires in Australia, discuss the rise of extreme weather under global warming, the basic science of why this occurs, and more.
Max Wilbert: It’s not too late. This can be a really heavy topic, but I want to emphasize for people that any change that we can make right now, any reduction in greenhouse gas emissions, is going to make the future less grim.
Any natural habitats that we can protect will be a reserve of biodiversity, will be a potential climate corridor, to help adaptation, to help the natural world, both non-humans and humans, to to to be more resilient in the face of what is coming.
I personally will not give up until every last living thing on this planet is dead, and that’s because I love this living world and it’s so important that we keep fighting no matter what.
Jennifer Murnan: Thank you, Max. I’d like to offer some insights too from from what I’ve observed. I can’t help but realize the immensity of what we are gifted by life. As you strip away the biological communities then you’re faced with the raw elements and one of the things that struck me is that the fires are creating their own weather.
That strikes me in a kind of poetic sense. Yes, you take away the mitigating forces of life and the balancing forces of life in this beautiful symphony of beings and what can be created, and you strip that away, and then you’re faced with the raw elements.
So what’s the reaction? I want to put all of my all of my belief all of my effort all of my energy all of my courage all of my fight into my fellow beings and into protecting and defending and loving the life that’s around me because i just got this massive lesson in what life is capable of. I’ve also read about mass extinctions that the planet has gone through before. I know that you can get through, and that life is part of getting through all of this. Much of the brilliance is in the smallest beings that are here. That’s where I find my courage and my strength right now, is from from life itself.
Max: I couldn’t agree more that life on this planet is so incredibly resilient and wants to live so badly. I’m always astounded at life’s capacity to hang on, whether it is plants growing out of the cracks in the sidewalk, or whether it’s in the Chernobyl irradiated zone where wildlife is flourishing despite some of the most toxic conditions on the planet, whether it is the salmon who are hanging on despite their streams having been dammed for 50, 60, 70 years, whether it is the trees who are ;osing their ability to reproduce in their home ranges but human beings are helping them migrate northwards to adapt to global warming. That’s already taking place. The natural world wants to live and is incredibly adaptive to varying natural conditions which are often pretty extreme throughout the Earth’s history. The world can survive a great deal. All we have to do is get industrial civilization out of the way, and help in that adaptation process.
Our music for this episode comes by the hand of DENNI.
The Green Flame is a Deep Green Resistance podcast offering revolutionary analysis, skill sharing, and inspiration for the movement to save the planet by any means necessary. Our hosts are Max Wilbert and Jennifer Murnan.
What will it take to save the living planet? What will turn the tide of climate change and lead to forests rising again? What will defeat or transform the empire that is consuming our living world?
How can we win?
These are the largest and most important questions we face, and they are our mission here at Deep Green Resistance. We dedicate ourselves, relentlessly, to pursuing answers to these questions. And answers we have found—some of them. History and analysis teaches us that transformative, revolutionary political movements rise and fall with cultures of resistance: the people and communities that provide support, material aid, and solidarity to fuel movements.
You are part of this culture of resistance, and we salute you. We thank you for your solidarity, your material aid, and your support. We are humbled by our community: your dedication, your work ethic, your experience, your power, your passion.
Last Sunday, November 22nd, we hosted a 4-hour live streaming event called “Drawing The Line: Stopping the Murder of the Planet,” and we received an outpouring of support. We have raised over $5,000 USD, which for a small grassroots organization like us is a significant portion of our budget. If you didn’t have a chance to donate yet, it’s not too late, and we still very much need support. We hoped to raise $15k, and are still operating in the red. If you can support us, please visit this link to donate, or this link to sign up for monthly contributions. As always, you can contact us to discuss other options.
You can watch the recording of the event here:
We want to thank everyone who contributed to us last week, and over all the years. We are so grateful for the support we receive from our readers, friends, family, donors, and allies. Our work is truly a group effort, and support is truly an essential part of this.
Image: Mother bear and cubs in the redwoods, photographed by Derrick Jensen.
REMINDER: This Sunday, November 22nd, join us for a live streaming event—Drawing the Line: Stopping the Murder of the Planet—featuring Derrick Jensen, Lierre Keith, Chris Hedges, and grassroots activists from around the world.
The event will begin at 1pm Pacific (2100 UTC) and will be live streamed at https://givebutter.com/deepgreen.
For this episode, we speak with Laura Cunningham of Basin and Range Watch about dozens of large solar energy projects threatening the Mojave and Great Basin deserts in Nevada and eastern California. We explore why utility-scale solar built on habitat is not a solution.
From this episode:
Now that I have seen ten years of solar build out. I was opposing the giant Ivanpah solar power towers in Eastern California deserts. That was a beautiful sloping desert next to the Mojave national preserve, full of Mojave yuccas, rare plants, wild flower blooms. We’d find horn lizards, black throated sparrows. cactus rinds, beautiful little slidewater snakes, harmless, just wanting to live in this area. Tortoises, a lot of tortoises. And it all got flattened, graded, run over by heavy machinery. Now it’s just a disturbed weed field with a giant fence around it. I looked about it. The whole of project – I think it was about 400 MW of energy, but it had a natural gas backup. Then we saw others, and others, still others. Tens of thousands of acres of deserts going under the blades of solar panels. I have not noticed a decline in carbon emissions. Of course, this is just one part of the world: the Mojave desert.
But it does make me think more recently: how much solar will it take to cover the desert before we see that downturn in carbon emissions? I think never. It’s this never ending scenario of needing more and more land, but we are not going to reduce our standard of living. I’ve heard different numbers regarding the pandemic: 17% decline in carbon emissions, maybe it was 12. A sort of a gigantic lowering of carbon emission, what we’d been wanting to have. But it took us really lowering our standard of living. Being much more efficient. Not burning a lot of fossil fuels. That’s actually, maybe, what we have to do in a non-pandemic situation: alter our whole way of living on the globe. And it’s a daunting task. Here we are going to build 60,000 acres of photovoltaic projects. Some of them will have Lithium-ion battery bank storage on protected Joshua tree habitats. That, I predict, will not lower carbon emissions one iota.
Our music for this episode is Melodi från Vest-Agder by Tim Eastwood of Dic Penderyn.
This article examines a few things we all can do to enhance our leadership skills.
By Max Wilbert
A friend of mine defines leadership as taking responsibility not just for yourself, but for a larger group or community. As she explains it, a leader tries to ensure things go well.
In general, activists are not very concerned with leadership. We tend to have an understandable mistrust of leaders. This is no surprise, as most leaders in the dominant culture abuse their power for profit and exploitation. But there is another type of leadership that is wise and moral and just. Leadership is extremely important, and we should learn basic principles from those who study leadership most seriously—often businesses and military. We can learn principles from these organizations, even if we disagree with their entire foundation.
This article shares 18 tips for leadership.
Study those who came before, as well as present leaders you admire. Learn from their mistakes, as well as their successes – their weaknesses, as well as their strengths. Be a student of the past.
Writing, research, direct action, strategic thinking, fundraising, organizing, relationship building, outdoor skills, first aid, tactical skills—all these things can be learned. Study hard and apply your knowledge.
You will never step up without self-believe. If you believe you are destined to never be a leader, you will not work to apply yourself and study. Step up with confidence, but not arrogance. Recognize your own weaknesses, as well as strengths, and build a team to shore up your weaknesses.
Leaders should not sit back and wait for others to do the work. Lead from the front, and be an example for others.
Even if you don’t know how to solve a given issue, use your intelligence to bring the group together, facilitate discussion, gathering insight, and so on. Learn to ask the right questions and share your thoughts when you have them. Speak up.
Leaders need to listen to other people. Listen more than you speak. Learn from everyone.
Build trust with your community and team, and delegate. One person has a limited capacity. Therefore, we have to build skills in other people to expand our capacity. This requires trust, and investing in people’s education and learning. People are the most valuable asset we have. Invest in people, even if it takes time for them to learn and adapt.
Leaders who abuse power are not and should not be respected. As a leader, you must earn respect, and one way to do so is by respecting others. People should be given respect as a default, unless they do something to lose your respect. Even then, you should be forgiving of those alongside you in the struggle.
Some are loud, some are quiet. Some lead by planning and writing, others by action and speech. Some lead in private, others in public. Some lead while others rest. This is a strength. Cultivate all types of leaders.
People will not trust or follow a leader who is not willing to take the same risks as them, and get their hands dirty. Set an example for others with your action. Like the lead goose in a flying-V, the leader should do the most work, not the least (and when the time comes, the leader should cycle to the back, allow another to take the lead, and take a rest).
Be prepared to do what is right. Understand consequences, and be prepared to accept them, if it is the right thing to do. When you act cowardly, reflect on why, and what you could do better next time. Commit to excellence and growth.
Leaders should be prepared to take action in the physical world. Practice, prepare, and train in controlled situations to be ready for uncontrolled situations that will arise. Visualize yourself intervening in various scenarios. When opportunities arise, challenge your physical courage.
A team is a fragile, unstable creation. Leaders must constantly work to stabilize the team, encourage people, and foster a shared strategic vision. Aligning people as individuals and the group as a whole pays major dividends.
As a leader you have a duty to be as physically and mentally fit as possible so that your decision making is as good as possible in stressful and challenging situations. Also, training yourself hard physically ensures you are familiar with the feeling of exhaustion and burnout, and know when you do need a break. Physical health and mental health are closely inter-related. The healthy person can think, act, and fight harder and most effectively.
Success in any endeavor entails risk taking. You can never control all factors. Seek to control and understand a situation as much as possible before acting—do not act rashly. But action is almost always better than inaction.
Often, the wrong decision made quickly is better than the correct decision made too late. Rushing can be a path to failure, however, as well. Remember the saying: “Slow is smooth, smooth is fast.” Be methodical. Move as slowly as you have to in order to get the job done, and no slower. Move as quickly as you can, safely and intelligently.
Failures are inevitable. Prepare for them. Plan for them. Expect them. Then keep going. You will face setbacks, betrayals, losses and more. Organizing is not an easy path. Take care of your mind, spirit, and heart, so you can be in the fight for the long time.
Self-discipline is the foundational skill. Be gentle with yourself, but allow yourself no excuses.
Max Wilbert is a writer, organizer, and wilderness guide. A third-generation dissident, he came of age in a family of anti-war and undoing racism activists in post-WTO Seattle. He is the author of two books, most recently Bright Green Lies: How the Environmental Movement Lost Its Way and What We Can Do About It (Monkfish, 2021 – co-authored with Derrick Jensen and Lierre Keith). He has been part of grassroots political work for nearly 20 years.
REMINDER: This Sunday, November 22nd, join us for a live streaming event—Drawing the Line: Stopping the Murder of the Planet—featuring Derrick Jensen, Lierre Keith, Chris Hedges, and grassroots activists from around the world.
The event will begin at 1pm Pacific (2100 UTC) and will be live streamed at https://givebutter.com/deepgreen.
This Sunday, we ask: where do you draw the line? What is the threshold at which you will fight for the living planet? And how shall we fight?
This event will introduce you to on-the-ground campaigns being waged around the planet, introduce various strategies for effective organizing, rebut false solutions through readings of the forthcoming book Bright Green Lies: How the Environmental Movement Lost Its Way and What We Can Do About It, and discuss philosophy of resistance. There will be opportunities to ask questions and participate in dialogue during the event.
The mainstream environmental movement is funded mainly by foundations which don’t want foundational or revolutionary change. Radical organizations like Deep Green Resistance therefore rely on individual donors to support activism around the world, which is why Drawing the Line is also a fundraiser. We’re trying to raise funds to support global community organizing via our chapters, fund mutual aid and direct action campaigns, and make our core outreach and organizational work possible.
Whether or not you are in a financial position to donate, we hope you will join us on November 22nd for this event! There will be a chance to ask questions and participate in dialogue. We hope to see you on Sunday.