Climate Movement Cliff Notes — Part Four on CATS
An Annotated Table of Contents of my posts on The Climate Movement
This post — focused on CATS! — is the fourth in a 5-part Series designed to provide something akin to a photo album of my 40 posts on The Climate Movement thus far, a narrative of snapshots. Or, switching metaphors, Climate Movement Cliff Notes or Spark Notes, if you will. In this Series I will summarize each post in the order in which they were published, an annotated Table of Contents. (Check out the previous posts, Part One, Part Two and Part Three.)
16.0 Climate Action Teams or CATS — Introduction
Climate Action Teams or CATS are volunteer groups or teams ideally made up of 5-10 members organized based on many factors, but usually revolving around things CAT members have in common: school, job/profession, organizational affiliation, faith community, where you live, shared interests, age.
With CATS we can be all that we need to be: big and broad and active enough, passionate enough, deep enough, dynamic enough, organic and strategic enough, together enough, and long enough. Without CATS, we won’t. It’s that simple.
To stop bad stuff, set wrong right, and make things better, to make the impossible possible and the possible actual and the actual beautiful and our future come faster, we need CATS.
CATS meet regularly to support each other in our sustained commitment to collective action over time to achieve our Major Goal.
As such, CATS do three basic things:
We meet.
We support.
We act.
Just like Olympic athletes have family, coaches, trainers, backers, and teammates to support them, we need encouragement and help and cooperation from others we see regularly.
We must help one another to use all that we are in service of something greater than ourselves as we live in and live out our Ten Movement Values: love, justice, beauty, freedom, creativity, wisdom, pragmatism, non-violence, sustainability, and success.
We meet so we can join our gifts and abilities with the gifts of others to do more than we could alone. And in the doing and becoming we need support to see it through.
16.1 Climate Action Teams (CATS) Will Make Us Big and Broad and Active Enough
Social science research tells us that 3.5% of a population can create social change. But to create the needed speed and scale of change, by 2030 we’re going to need more:
5% of the world’s population, or
400 million worldwide.
This means we need to get big fast to match the scale and speed of the challenge and make our future come faster.
Growing and improving The Climate Movement is our top priority because we are essential to having the other three of The Catalytic-4 play their parts. Being big and broad and active enough will give us the people power needed to make things happen — and CATS are key to our growth.
Everyone on the planet can start or join a CAT. You don’t need anyone’s permission. You were born with permission! It is part of your birthright as a human being.
Climate Action Teams are one of the greatest expressions of freedom of our time. We are using our freedom to fight for freedom.
16.2 CATS Must Be Passionate & Deep Enough
CATS are places where you have permission to be passionate; even more so, where you need to be passionate, our second Climate Movement characteristic. CATS are where you can let your passion out and tap into the deep places that sustain your passion. Passion helps you to be your fullest self, to be fully alive by faithfully living in and living out your values. Climate Action Teams are where you can let your passion and those of your teammates motivate you towards consistent bold action.
Ours is the greatest moral cause of our time; our Major Goal is profoundly ambitious, even audacious; our Movement will be the greatest and most long-lasting social change movement in the history of the world; our cause is just — deeply so.
But all of this does not make us morally superior. In fact, to really own all of this is to become chastened in the face of the challenge, in the recognition of our complete and total inability as individuals to do anything about the climate crisis on our own; becoming a part of this great worldwide movement should humble us to our very depths.
We achieve greatness through humility. It is one of the keys to our attaining greatness together. CATS keep us passionate, grounded, and humble, preventing our moral passion from devolving into arrogant self-righteousness or, even worse, prophetic narcissism.
CATS: Passion + Humility => Greatness
CATS also help us to be deep enough, our third characteristic/imperative/goal.
Only with depth of commitment will we get ourselves out of this mess. It is the L-word and our other Movement Values that will provide the depth we need. And it is in our CATS where we can say these words out loud, where we can intentionally tap into and claim their power. As CATS we are together because of who and what we love, and love is the heart from which justice springs.
16.3 Dynamic CATS
CATS are vital to helping us be dynamic enough, our fourth Movement characteristic/imperative/goal, which involves a forward-driving tension created by the relationships between the (1)tried-and-true, (2) discipline, and two of our Movement Values, (3) freedom, and (4) creativity.
Part of our freedom is the freedom to do things differently than was done in the past. We must learn from the past and benefit from the tried-and-true. But we must also let our Movement Values of wisdom, pragmatism, and creativity help us see that past lessons may not fit present realities. We must have the discipline to stay true to achieving our vision, purpose, and Major Goal even if that means doing things differently, even if it means transforming or even abandoning long cherished and comfortable traditions and approaches. Needed change takes discipline, a discipline driven by love.
16.4 CATS Must Be Organic & Strategic
Because we are in kairos-climate-time, to make our future come faster we need to be organic and strategic enough, our fifth characteristic/imperative/goal of The Climate Movement.
Out of all of our social forms, all the ways we can be together enough, CATS are where the combination of organic and strategic change will be — must be — the most powerful. Messy and non-linear must be combined with efficient and targeted to achieve something stronger and more effective than either alone. That’s hard. It’s also glorious.
CATS are organic precisely because each one is sui generis. In contrast to existing organizations and campaigns, there has never been a group like yours before, nor will there be one like yours ever again. You don’t have to think outside the box because you were never in the box. You make your own box — and it doesn’t have to be a box!
All choices are yours — choices your CAT makes together and choices each individual Artist-Athlete makes within the group. You can choose to exercise gifts and talents and take on roles that no other group has provided the opportunity before.
For us to overcome climate change by creating a just and prosperous sustainability that enhances wellbeing for everyone and everything we must have a plethora of CATS the world over who are being organic and strategic enough.
16.5 The Nine Lives of CATS
CATS can help with the long enough dimension of climate action, our seventh characteristic/imperative/goal of the Climate Movement, by helping individuals increase their length of active engagement.
However, if there is one Achilles heel of Climate Action Teams it is their longevity. To be honest, some CATS may not fulfill their potential on this score.
The Climate Movement, just like all social change movements, is and will be a bit of a mess. But it’s our mess. Organic messes are fine. Toxic dysfunctional ones are not. It can take wisdom and patience — but not too much patience — to know the difference. If you are in a toxic CAT, find another one.
Even healthy, well-functioning CATS may last just a few years, but in that time they kept their Artist-Athletes at it. And as one CAT’s season comes and goes, you are free to join another one! CATS may not last as long as organizations, but they still can increase the time individuals devote to organic and strategic climate action. They can also forge friendships that last a lifetime, friendships that can help our Movement in a future we cannot yet see.
16.6 CAT Meetings
You are free to determine how you will structure your time, rules, roles, and decision-making.
Time: Meeting regularly and consistently for an angreed upon length of time is best. Consider creating a standard agenda that can be modified.
Rules: Articulate some basic ground rules that everyone affirms, e.g., that meetings begin and end on time, that everyone is treated with respect, that everyone honors the agenda and agrees to any modifications of the agenda.
Roles: All roles (see examples) should be designated and agreed upon by the CAT.
Decision-making: Agree on how decisions will be made. Consensus? Majority? A designated member? You could use all three and more. I would suggest consensus for major decisions, and designated roles for smaller ones.
16.7 Self-Herding CATS
If all individual CATS do is their own thing, if the moral and people power of CATS are not brought to bear in strategic efforts that help create national policies in keeping with our vision, purpose, and Major Goal and bring about speed and scale, then our power and our efforts will be squandered.
That’s why CATS must look for ways to be a part of larger strategic efforts. Such efforts can be created by organizations and coalitions.
But with CATS I see something more. I see the potential for something ever greater still. I see a miracle of sorts — CATS herding themselves!
CATS don’t have to wait for someone or something to organize them into larger strategic efforts. You don’t need to ask for permission. You were born with permission!
Your CAT is free to join with other CATS! Here are some initial thoughts on how ever larger circles of CATS might be organized.
CATS Communities: They have something in common (geography, school, trade, profession).
All participating CATS in a country, or “CATS United!” Within a country there could be a CATS Council made up of representatives of CAT Communities.
CATS Worldwide, made up of all participating CATS around the globe. Its leadership could be made up of all of the CATS Councils from individual nations — a Council of Councils.
Whatever organized structures we end up creating, our job as individuals and as CATS is to help The Climate Movement become the greatest and most long-lasting social change movement in the history of the world as together we overcome climate change by creating a just and prosperous sustainability that enhances wellbeing for everyone and everything. Join us!
If you are new here, check out our Intro Series, as well as other posts in the Fields of Action Series. If you like this post, please “like,” comment, and share. And thanks for all you’re doing.
“ Whatever organized structures we end up creating, our job as individuals and as CATS (Climate Action Teams” is to help The Climate Movement become the greatest and most long-lasting social change movement in the history of the world as together we overcome climate change by creating a just and prosperous sustainability that enhances wellbeing for everyone and everything.”