Isn't it messed up that we have to persuade politicians to restore nature?
Anyway, here's how you do it before tomorrow's vote.
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Lately all I want to do is swim.
My town has a lake with an open beach in the summer. You can picture it, full of families and noise and cigarette butts and discarded beer bottles. And water, everywhere.
Last week - shit maybe it was the week before, already? - I was at a training on sustainable leadership. I do these kinds of things. It was interesting, really. I couldn’t pay attention. I wanted to swim.
Then I was working, as one does. I abruptly packed up my stuff and took my laptop, took everything, cycled to the lake - I don’t have time to do this, the newsletter is already late - and stripped and headed straight into the cold water.
Anonymous and offline.
See there’s a lot of new subscribers and that makes me kind of self-conscious. Because sure, this is a newsletter about climate action and bullshit-free ways to make a fairer world. So yeah, it’s an email. Not to me though.
You can’t devote yourself to changing the world without it changing you. The more I learn about how deep the fractures in our human society are, the less I know.
Seems there is always more to unlearn, more to unravel, seems that everything we are taught to know is wrong and I don’t even know that for sure either.
But shit is that hard to put into words when we want some clarity in the noise.
About once a week someone asks me What’s the one thing I could do for the climate? or So tell me, are we too late?
Yes and no. You can do everything and nothing. The climate movement is full of contradictions and diversity. There are no ‘good guys’ and ‘bad guys.’ When we are all interconnected in a hyperglobalised and digital world, there is no clean answer and we are all complicit both in planetary destruction and its survival. Every solar panel creates more waste. Every law we support is imperfect.
It’s kind of intense. Kind of makes you want to flee your laptop and dunk yourself in a cold lake.
Perfectionism and pursuit of absolute truth traps us in paralysis. Do you think only perfect activists can topple governments?
Letting go of certainty and perfection is one of the hardest shifts I have made. There will always be more work, there will always be more chapters to this neverending story. I don’t know what the ‘one thing’ anyone should do is, myself included.
But we try things - we try petitions and hosting trainings, we try disrupting fossil fuel company AGMs and we try marching on the streets, we try posting on Twitter and ditching meat, we try changing the system, we try escaping to the mountains and live off-grid - and we see what takes us forward, erratically.
And in the process of trying, we learn a bit, change a lot, we meet people and new ideas, and we find some measure of strength and connection among the contradictions.
That much is certain.
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What’s Going On?
Army of fake social media accounts are defending the United Arab Emirate’s controversial hosting of UN climate conference.
Related: The UN climate conference president is also head of an oil firm.How journalists from 10 countries investigated organised crime in the Amazon in memory of the murdered Dom Phillips and Bruno Pereira.
Related: 7 steps to save the Amazon.‘Safe and just’ climate boundary has already been breached, says contested study.
Useful: What are the planetary boundaries?Countries negotiate new global plastics treaty to tackle plastic pollution.
Related: Why recycling your plastics is not going to work.Wind and solar were top electricity sources in EU in 2022.
Related: Fossil fuel company net-zero plans are ‘largely meaningless.’
Focus On… Saving the Nature Restoration Law
Because somehow politicians managed to make nature restoration controversial and now we need to speak out to defend it.
On Thursday 15th June, the members of the European Parliament’s Environment Committee will vote on a new EU law to better protect and restore nature.
The proposed law is the first European-wide law to set binding requirements to restore damaged ecosystems. It aims to restore at least 20% of the EU’s land and sea areas by 2030 and restore damaged ecosystems by 2050.
To protect biodiversity and meet the climate goals set out by the Paris Agreement and other international climate acts, it’s not enough to protect existing natural areas. Governments must also restore damaged and destroyed ecosystems and bring them back to life.
Why does the Law need saving?
Last month, a majority of politicians from right-wing Parliamentary groups EPP and Renew rejected the proposed law in earlier negotiation rounds, claiming that a law with stricter nature restoration regulations would put pressure on farmers and food security. Last week, they walked out of negotiations entirely.
Their rejection comes after a growing alliance between far-right and right-wing parties in the European Parliament and intense lobbying by the agrifood industry.
What are the benefits of restoring nature?
Restoring nature means restoring our greatest ally in tackling the climate crisis and its severe impact, restoring our own health and wellbeing, and restoring our livelihoods and economies. Nature restoration is one of the best investments our society can make.
Open letter by 207 civil society organisations to EU Member States, Members of the European Parliament and the European Commission.
80% of habitats in Europe are in bad condition.
1 out of 5 bird species in Europe is at risk of extinction and 72% of other species are also endangered.
The 2022 IPCC report tells us that without large-scale nature restoration, Europe will experience more floods, droughts and other threats to our daily livelihoods.
The science on nature restoration says it will:
Improve public health and well-being (WWF study).
Create economic benefits including more jobs (WWF study).
Bring a value of approximately 1.8 trillion euros (European Commission).
Contribute to achieving the Paris Agreement and UN Convention on Biodiversity.
What can I do to stop this law getting voted down?
Tell your local policymaker to defend the Nature Restoration Law in Parliament. You can do this by joining the #RestoreNature campaign:
Fill in this form to send an email to MEPs ahead of the major vote on Thursday.
The Greens Party also have a petition showing support for the law to support food security. Sign here.
You can also read more about the proposed law and a full FAQ on the Restore Nature EU campaign website.
So Now What Do I Do?
LEARN SOMETHING
Brussels folk: Join Idealists Quarterly on the 22 June for a night of discussing the intersection of technology, sustainability and policy.
Tune into this online webinar on the climate gap: opportunities for black people in the green economy. 23 June at 19 CEST.
TRY SOMETHING NEW
Tune into this webinar on imagining positive future through climate-fiction. 21 June.
Join The Green Fix and Generation Climate Europe in Brussels for a youth activist networking social! 24 June.
SDSN Youth are looking for SDG Coordinators to promote action for sustainability in universities around the world. Apply here.
CHANGE THE SYSTEM
Join the next EU Youth Climate Lab on the 15 June to discuss how to advocate for sustainable fashion.
IUCN are looking for young changemakers to join them in October in Geneva to discuss biodiversity protection measures. Deadline 16 June.
The Federation of Young European Greens are looking for volunteers to join their campaign digital base in the run-up to the next EU elections.
By the way…
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Stay in the loop
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Interesting to come across other activist writers. The problem with persuading politicians is many of them especially at the higher level are elected by a minority group. Unless you can convince other citizens to both stand for elections as someone different and vote for someone new it stays the same. Until then we have to convince politicians with evidence and generally that means something that is also a win for them and their voters.
Your swimming escape is similar to my walk escape. I know I should be writing but I go for a nice long walk at any opportunitiy. This post also got me thinking about when my grandma used to tell me about attending school during bomb raids in WW2, or when my mom spoke about nuclear drill at her office job in the 1980s I never used to be able to understand how they could live a normal live when all this shit was going on around them, but now going through our own kind of shit that the thing about the human brain is that you literally can't focus on one thing at all times. My climate fear comes in waves, but as long as I know my action is consistent then I can allow myself to relax at times by reminding myself I am not(!!!) solely gonna solve all the world's problems, and I do as much as I can within my abilities right now. Helps... most of the time.