Ten Climate Movement Values
Introductory Series Post #10.0
Note: This is the first in a series of posts that are a series within a series, or a sub-series. This sub-series is focused on Values, which is the tenth topic of my Introductory Series.
What are the values of the Climate Movement and Climate Action Supporters?
No one is the “Pope” of the Climate Movement, lest of all me. In other words, no one person — or collective entity, for that matter — can authoritatively say what our values are.
That doesn’t mean we don’t have any! We are a moral movement, a moral cause, because we know that something is wrong that needs to be set right. That’s why we’re in this fight.
All Climate Movement Members and Climate Action Supporters have values that guide and motivate them as individuals, some of which they live out through the Climate Movement. So we all have values we bring with us into the Movement and our efforts to support climate action. We are a moral movement, a values-based movement.
As I’ve just suggested, these values do two basic things: inspire us to action, and guide us in our action.
They inspire us to act, and they guide us in how to act. Some of our values do both; others, just one or mainly one.
How to act includes how not to act. We are to act this way, but not that way. Acting one way excludes acting another way — if we are to be morally consistent. Of course, none of us are consistent. But that doesn’t invalidate the values. It just says we’re human.
Not all values are articulated, and much of human behavior is determined by gut feelings about what is right and wrong. That doesn’t mean those gut feelings are right, but for that individual at that moment they are, regardless of what others might think.
Finally, values mean something to us; they are worth striving for. Simply put: values are valuable.
So our values have three distinguishing characteristics.
They inspire.
They guide.
They are valuable to us and worth striving for.
Values inspire, guide, and are valuable to us and worth striving for.
As much as I recognize that no one person or group can say authoritatively what our Movement values are, I think it is vital for us to be very up front about what we think they should be.
It’s good to try to get our values out on the table. To articulate them. To discuss and even argue over them. If we’re going to be honest, if we’re going to have a meaningful conversation about our values, that discussion will probably never end. It can be beautiful. It can be hard. But how we converse should be guided by the very values we hold.
In this sub-series I’m going to share with you what I think are our Ten Movement Values. Consider them to be like a working draft, a conversation-starter.
Love, Justice, Beauty, Freedom, Creativity, Wisdom, Pragmatism, Non-Violence, Sustainability, Success
They are:
Love
Justice
Beauty
Freedom
Creativity
Wisdom
Pragmatism
Non-Violence
Sustainability
Success
All of them create hope, because they are either what we hope for — vision-hope — or they help us create what we hope for through action-hope. As we live in and live out our values they make hope happen and our future come faster as we make the impossible possible and the possible actual and the actual beautiful.
Remember to check out the other posts in this Introductory Series.