Leading the public into emergency mode – a new strategy for the climate movement

WWII metaphors used to
 illustrate climate emergency.

What should we do, how do we respond what is an unrelenting difficulty – do we panic and so be frozen into inaction or do we drop into “emergency mode”?

The founding director of The Climate Mobilization, Margaret Klein Salamon, writes here about the importance of all of us being honest about the threats settling upon us because of climate change and subsequently adopting the emergency mode.

Simply understanding and adopting the emergency mode is not individually  sufficient for those of us more fully informed about the human damage to Earth’s climate system, need to engage with the public and bring them along as well.

Ms Salamon frequently employs war metaphors to reinforce her arguments, in particular the hitherto unseen, and never seen since changes made to American society as World War Two ignited world-wide conflagration.

Discussing what is needed to counter climate change she said: “Emergency mobilization on this scale is precisely what we need if we are to prevent a global cataclysm and restore a safe and stable climate.

“We need to transition away from fossil fuels and carbon-intensive agriculture as soon as possible, draw down all the excess CO2 and cool the planet below present levels.

“This will happen only with public planning coordinated by the federal government, global cooperation, massive public investment, forceful regulations and economic controls, and full societal participation,” she wrote.

Read the piece by Margaret Klein Salamon - “Leading the public into emergency mode – a new strategy for the climate movement.”