Concentration of CO2 in the Atmosphere

Do the next right thing

Rev. Fred Small, former environmental lawyer, climate activist and Policy Director for Massachusetts Interfaith Power and Light. (Photo by John Bos)

We are reaping the consequences of an interpretation of the words set forth in Genesis that God said “Let us make humankind in our image, according to our likeness; and let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the birds of the air, and over the cattle, and over all the wild animals of the earth, and over every creeping thing that creeps upon the earth.” (Gen.1:26 New Revised Standard Revision).

The United Nations’ World Meteorological Organization (WMO) issued yet another grim report about the state of our planet in the third week of May. In 2021, four of the seven major climate indicators – a set of parameters that hold key information about climate change – set alarming new records.

In what the WMO said is a clear sign that humans are causing “harmful and long-lasting” effects across the globe, the report found that greenhouse gas concentrations, sea level rise, ocean heat and ocean acidification all set new records last year. The report also found that the past seven years have been the warmest seven years on record.

In a press conference about the findings, U.N. Secretary-General António Guterres said, “I will give you the bottom line – the global energy system is broken and bringing us ever closer to climate catastrophe. Fossil fuels are a dead end, environmentally and economically. The only sustainable future is a renewable one.”

In the face of the planet’s most defining challenge and a fast-approaching deadline to address it, what can people like us reasonably do? Noted environmentalist Paul Hawken sets out to answer this question in his new book Regeneration: Ending the Climate Crisis in One Generation, to be published in September.

In an interview, Hawken said, “I always suspected that there would not be widespread action until global warming became experiential instead of conceptual. That is increasingly so, and that has changed my thinking about how to communicate. Climate deniers are now completely irrelevant. Political corruption is the key obstacle, and it is a formidable challenge.”

Asked what he means by ‘regeneration,’ Hawken said, “Regeneration means placing life at the center of every action and decision. I was asked to come up with guidelines or principles by a friend and in fifteen minutes this is what I came up with. Others can make their own guidelines. These seem obvious to me, and I think they are common sense to anyone who wants to create a meaningful life on this planet.”

Hawken would have us ask ourselves a dozen questions. 1. Does the action create more life or reduce it? 2. Does it heal the future or steal the future? 3. Does it enhance human well-being or diminish it? 4. Does it prevent disease or profit from it? 5. Does it create livelihoods or eliminate them? 6. Does it restore land or degrade it? 7. Does it increase global warming or decrease it? 8. Does it serve human needs or manufacture human wants? 9. Does it reduce poverty or expand it? 10. Does it promote fundamental human rights or deny them? 11. Does it provide workers with dignity or demean them? 12. In short, is the activity extractive or regenerative?

These questions could all be embraced in five words: “Do the next right thing.” I heard these five words spoken by climate activist, Unitarian Universalist pastor, singer-songwriter, and former environmental lawyer Reverend Fred Small at the All-Souls Unitarian Church in Greenfield, MA. Rev. Small is the Policy Director for Massachusetts Interfaith Power and Light which mobilizes people of faith to become climate activists. I had attended his service on May 8, because I was down in the dumps, not only about our climate crisis, but the abysmal state of our country and the world at large.

Small nailed it for me when he said, “From the coronavirus to the ecological crisis, from structural racism to rising authoritarianism, the obstacles before us can feel overwhelming, and it’s hard to know what to do or ever where to begin.” Amen, I thought to myself.

But then he continued, “Lately, I’ve found comfort and strength in the maxim ‘Do the next right thing.’” Another Amen, this time heartfelt. “Do the next right thing” cleared away the too many actions I felt I should be taking that were cluttering my mind, energy and emotions. Through this lens I find myself very much attracted to Paul Hawken’s twelve questions. Each of his questions can apply to every single action I might take. Just asking one of them – and really listening to that question – can guide what I do.

The next step is to do it.

John Bos is a contributing writer for Green Energy Times. His column Connecting the Dots appears every other Saturday in the Greenfield Recorder. He is the editor of a newly released children’s book After the Race. Questions and comments are invited at john01370@gmail.com.

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