09/02/2023 Action Plans

The purpose of our peer support group is to help each other come to terms with the climate crisis.  It feels much more natural to say “crisis” now. The casualness of using that term isn’t to do with undermining the situation, but more accepting it is a crisis. By forming this group, I have been able to think more clearly about what’s going on with our planet and us idiots who are sucking out its life. Here is a list of how to go on in a peer support group:

• Say as much or as little as you want
• Listen to each other
• Avoid giving advice
• Keep on topic
• What’s said in the room stays in the room.

Hmm, maybe if we had more conversations and they had these rules we might not be in the state we’re in now.  In fact, if you’re reading this but not in a peer group setting, try applying them to your next conversation.

Our first activity/ task/undertaking /project was not to find a synonym for activity, but to create an action plan. Jo took us through the process of goal setting based on a book, not about living with the climate crisis but rather about living with long-term health conditions.

In both situations there is living with uncertainty. How does that make you feel? It makes me feel that it is hard to plan and a bit disorientated. I’ve also never put a word like “uncertainty” to my life before.

Living with the climate crisis and a long-term health condition means not being able to have what you want. We rely so much on “good health” to be able to do what we want. We constantly feel restricted, but talk to someone with a chronic health condition and you will realise how much you take for granted. You are even free to jeopardise that body and mind you use so freely.  How similar to the current situation.  Since the Industrial Revolution, the wealthy and powerful countries have able to enjoy the benefits of fossil fuel and new discoveries and inventions, but if we are to bring down the global temperature to a point where we are not going to destroy habitats and cause chaos, we are going to have to accept lifestyle changes.  That will mean sacrifice.

Action Plans

We had a talk about what we want to see in our world to reduce the carbon footprint. Jo explained that we should think big and then bring it down to a manageable level.

No more cars. 

Is that crazy? We rely so much on personal motorised transport and now we see the telly full of adverts saying how great and sexy electric cars are. People want to convert their front gardens to concrete car ports so that they can plug in their new e-cars from their house. How do you think that people should travel?

Free public transport.

Makes total sense, right? This will immediately get most people out of their cars and because there would be so much demand, more transport would be available.  If the majority do something it has a chance to become zeitgeist and shame even more people into following the trend.

So these are some dreams that the people at the meeting agreed would be good so the next step was to write down some of the ideas that we would like to see implemented.

1. No private cars
2. A multilateral, non-proliferation treaty for fossil fuel
3. To have a life that more or less fits my principals
4. To have a one track life

Person 1

1. No more cars
2. Work on home energy efficiency
3. Look back on the last 5 years of bills to see what has changed
4. Find the energy efficiency survey that was done a while ago
5. Find out about retrofitting energy efficient changes to the house
6. Look into the carbon co-op. It seemed complicated last time they looked, it’s about trying to find a model that’s the same as their house.

Person 2

1. No more cars
2. No parking on the pavement
3. Free public transport. This means that public transport shouldn’t cost the end user rather than a statement about releasing the bus
4. Spend an hour a day reading about climate change
5. Try to get to London for the XR event at the end of April
6. Stop using the wood-burner.

Person 3

Next we talked about our choice – which one we were going to pick and implement in our action plans.

• Person 1 went for the International agreement about fossil fuels
• Person 2 chose to look at energy bills to start to construct a plan around home energy efficiency
• Person 3 decided to spend an hour a day reading about climate change

Now we learnt more about constructing an action plan. An action plan says specifically what you will do, when, how, for how long. Important points to remember are

• Start slowly
• Give yourself time off, e.g. don’t do it everyday
• Rate yourself on a 0-10 scale anticipating how successful you will be.  If you score less than 7/10 try and work out why and revaluate.

This task is great because it’s about what you can honestly achieve.  It’s not about what your mate, colleague or favourite person is doing.  It’s about you, honestly looking at yourself and going for what is real and then if it doesn’t work just trying again. No self-flagellation (unless it’s for fun). No time-wasting and moaning. Getting on with it.

We all had our plans set down. They are set for a fortnight as we meet bi-weekly.

Here is mine to give you an example:

This fortnight I will read an article on the climate crisis 5 out of 7 days a week.

I will do this in the morning before breakfast or housework or playing on my phone, but after I’ve made a cup of coffee.

I will do this for one hour.

 I will start tomorrow.

I’m probably going to score my plan with a 7/10 and the reasons I think that I might fail is because I might not get up early enough and I might not manage an hour.

Once we had our plans, we talked a bit more and then finished up.

Personally, I felt good about having a thing to do. Of course it’s not going to change things straight away, but I can’t quite let go of the feeling that if we all do a bit maybe things will change and if I am going to try and talk about the climate crisis, I want to show that I am applying it to my own life.

Here is a poem about hope. My friend sent it to me. It’s on her calendar:

In these uncertain times,
Trust the roundel of the day;
That earth turns and dawn comes after night.

Trust the year’s ring;
spring green and bursting seed,
swelling into summer robes
before letting go.

Be sure 
that life beats underground
in wintertide.
The wheel shifts. 
There’ll be rebirth.

Trust the wax and wane,
as your ancestors did.
They’re in your bones.
You walk on ground where they drummed,
silvered by the same moon.

We’re all in this great round.
Trust and be blessed.

by Ali Davenport, 2021
https://www.soulsurvivalguide.co/days-of-grace

Many thanks to Ali who generously allows her work to be shared freely!

Sources:

Lorig, Kate. 2014. Self-Management of Long-Term Health Conditions: A Handbook for People with Chronic Disease. Third edition. Boulder, Colorado: Bull Publishing Company.