Climate Action: Santa Marta — Vision Hope & Action Hope
First Take: The First Conference on Transitioning Away From Fossil Fuels
Santa Marta, the first international conference by nearly 60 countries to begin the process of phasing out fossil fuels, is now in the books. Here are some of my initial thoughts, my first take. (See my earlier post pre-conference putting Santa Marta in context.)
One of the outcomes of Santa Marta was a sense of hope by veterans of international climate efforts.
As The Guardian reported:
“The mood here in Santa Marta is euphoric,” said Tzeporah Berman, the founder and chair of the fossil fuel non-proliferation treaty initiative. “After years stuck in endless debates about whether to phase out fossil fuels, finally we are focusing on the how. We are no longer fighting for recognition of the problem, but creating solutions. It’s like watching a dam break – all that pent-up experience, knowledge and passion suddenly flowing into concrete ways to phase out dirty fuels. The hope is contagious.”
Yes — hope is contagious. It is a renewable resource for action. But it is also birthed by action. Hope gives us emotional fuel to keep moving forward. But hope dies when such momentum is not maintained.
Thankfully, this was not a one-off meeting. A second is now planned, co-hosted by Tuvalu and Ireland. With those two countries taking the lead, my sense is that the second conference will be another meaningful one.
Two Kinds of Hope
As I have said, for us there are two kinds of hope: vision-hope and action-hope.
Vision Hope: At Santa Marta, people began to see how countries might start coming together to end the corrupt, deadly reign of the fossils and really get us going on climate action.
Action Hope: If there was one word that rose to the top of the discussions it was “roadmap,” a ubiquitous term in climate talks.
I’ll be honest. “Roadmap” doesn’t send our hearts aflutter.
“Roadmap … oooh … aaah …”
Ah, No.
But what it stands for, well, that’s something to get excited about.
We’ve got this vision, we’ve got people hungry for action to make this vision a reality.
But doing so is, frankly, complicated and messy. Our problem is a systematic aggregate problem that can’t be solved by individuals. To change the system requires government action. To untangle the government-fossil entanglement requires The Climate Movement’s three forms of power: moral power, people power, staying power. But it also requires careful plans by governments to untangle each society from fossil’s deadly grasp.
And that’s what is meant by “roadmap”: how to untangle your country from fossil’s death grip. How we get from here to there: Action Hope.
During the conference France put forward their roadmap for dumping coal by 2030, oil by 2045, and gas by 2050.
Fast enough? No. But it’s a start.
Going Forward: Workstreams
The final report from the co-chairs of Santa Marta highlighted that the conference created three main areas, or what they called “workstreams,” where countries will work together with relevant experts to help each nation create and implement its roadmap. These workstreams are:
Creating country roadmaps.
Getting rid of fossil subsidies and other needed changes to the financial system.
Creating “a fossil fuel-free trade system … this workstream will consider how to make transitions people-centered and territorially grounded, therefore tackling the revenue exchange problem, while advancing energy sovereignty.” In other words, help fossil consuming countries kick their addiction to the product of the fossil pushers by helping them create homegrown clean energy.
Our Job Remains The Same
As I said in my earlier post, for us in The Climate Movement, our job remains the same. We are to be the catalyst of the catalysts, leading the other three of The Catalytic-4 to help make all of this politically possible in every country on Earth. Our goal is to become 5% of every nation, 400 million worldwide, by 2030.
We are to encourage those 80+% who already say they are in favor of climate action in polls to intensify their commitment and claim it as a top priority, becoming Climate Action Supporters, our Second Catalytic Source of Transformation. When we combine Climate Action Supporters with Climate Movement Artist-Athletes we can supply the moral power, people power, and staying power needed for each country to play its part.
Santa Marta is good news. And so are we. Nothing less than greatness is our calling. We are making hope happen as we pull our destiny into the present, becoming the greatest and most long-lasting social change movement in the history of the world. Together we are making the impossible possible and the possible actual and the actual beautiful, our world more just, and our future come faster. Join us!
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