Introduction
Welcome to Climate Hope Together! On this Substack we are finding hope together to overcome climate change by creating a just and prosperous sustainability that enhances wellbeing for everyone and everything.
An excellent place to start on this Substack is the Climate Hope Together Introductory Series.
If you do find hope and community here, I ask that you share it with others by letting them know about this Climate Hope Together Substack. Let’s make hope happen together, our future come faster, and our world more just and beautiful!
For You
If you are looking for hope in relation to climate change, then this Substack is for you. You are my audience. You belong here. Let’s make hope happen together!
Why Needed
Today hope is needed more than ever.
Simply put, without hope we will not overcome climate change, the greatest challenge of our time.
Over 10 years ago I saw that some were becoming bereft of hope. Ever since I have been getting ready to share a message of hope — researching, thinking, organizing my thoughts, drafting, crafting, editing, and framing, and choosing Substack and learning how to use it as my way to communicate and interact with you.
Why has it taken me so long? Because we need a robust, realistic, forward-leaning message of hope, and that has taken time to put together.
I have done all of this because there is more hope than many of us realize we can claim — and claim it we must, because without hope we are lost.
The good news is that together we are the hope we’ve been waiting for.1 Hope is in our hands; hope is in our hearts. Hope shared is exponential. Our hope together will create a better, more beautiful world.
I’m here to encourage those of you who are in the Climate Movement and to help us become the greatest and most long-lasting social change movement in the history of the world.
I don’t have an ulterior motive because I’m saying it flat out: I want everyone who comes to Climate Hope Together to become a part of the Climate Movement! Don’t worry if you don’t think of yourself as a movement-type, or an activist. You don’t have to be one. To be a part of the Climate Movement all you have to do is make a sustained commitment to collective action over time. This is a commitment you must make to all you hold dear. That’s it.
However, making a commitment to the Climate Movement is not necessary for you to find hope from this Substack and be a part of our Climate Hope Together community. Everyone searching for climate hope will find a home here, and that includes you.
Together, we are the hope we’ve been waiting for. You, me, and those who are with us the world over, we are making hope happen. That is what this Substack is all about: how we create climate hope together.
That is why I will be talking a great deal about the Climate Movement — e.g. our values, how we can make a difference on all of our “Fields of Action.” As individuals we need hope. But to find hope we need help. We can’t solve this on our own. We must join together to become the greatest and most long-lasting social change movement in the history of the world — and we will. Together, we are the hope.
About Jim
I come to this as a practitioner, not an expert.
I first became an activist in the mid-80s when I served as coordinator of a local church peacemaker group that was also part of the Nuclear Freeze Campaign. Climate Change became my life’s work in 1992 after reading Al Gore’s Earth in the Balance. Along the way I have been a canvasser and organizer for Environment New Jersey (formerly NJPIRG), the first Climate Change Coordinator for the Union of Concerned Scientists, head of a Christian environmental organization, one of Rolling Stone’s Global Warming Warriors and Heroes, and Founder/Chair of both Evangelicals for Biden and Evangelicals For Harris.
For decades I toiled on the most flinty ground there is for climate action — and I’m still here, still believe there’s hope.
Now my audience is all of you looking for hope that we can overcome climate change. The hope we need is to be found when we join together. Climate Hope Together is not about me. It’s about us.
Supporting Climate Hope Together
You can play your part in making Climate Hope Together a success by:
inviting others to check out this Substack,
sharing specific posts with others, and
supporting Climate Hope Together financially as you are able.
In determining what benefits Free and Paid subscribers receive I have sought to balance two considerations.
First, I work full-time on Climate Hope Together and have put in years of work before the launch. As the saying goes, the laborer is worthy of his wages. Your paid subscription allows me to continue my work.
Second, I want the Climate Hope Together message to go far and wide and not be hindered by financial considerations.
Here is how I am striking this balance.
All written posts and the ability to provide comments on all content will be available to all subscribers and viewers of the website and app.
All podcasts and videos will be available to Paid Subscribers and Benefactors. At times I will make certain podcasts and videos available to everyone. These will be available first to Paid Subscribers and Benefactors.
Climate Hope Together Benefactors are those who recognize the need for this message and community and have the means and desire to support this work financially at a more substantial level. If you think Climate Hope Together has value, then invest in the better future we are working to create.
Speaking Engagements
I’d be happy to discuss speaking to your group, whether in person or via the Internet (e.g. Zoom, Google Meet, etc.). Send an email to climatehopetogether@gmail.com with information about your group, when you would like me to speak, where it would be if in person, and relevant contact information.
Speaking fees and are on a sliding scale based on ability to pay and the time commitment needed. All lodging and travel costs will be covered by those making the request.
Put in the Subject line: “Speaking Request.”
For years now I have been using the phrase “We are the hope we’ve been waiting for.” My memory is that it came into my brain as a seemingly original thought. Recently it was pointed out to me that a similar phrase has been around for awhile: “We are the ones we’ve been waiting for.” The poet June Jordan may have been the first to publish this phrase in 1980. Sweet Honey in the Rock created a song out of it, found on their album Twenty-Five released in 1998. Alice Walker used it in a book title published in 2006. Then-Senator Barack Obama used it in a speech on Super Tuesday in 2008 when campaigning for president. Activist and Leader Lisa Sullivan had her own version, “We are the leaders we’ve been waiting for,” which she often said in many contexts, especially to young people, before she passed away in 2001. Had I heard these versions before? I have no idea. But I’m glad to highlight this earlier usage of a similar phrase.
