Dr. Gail Bradbrook, PhD Molecular Biophysics gave a talk on YouTube for Extinction Rebellion.
When I signed up to help with Extinction Rebellion they wanted me to watch this video and sent me the email quoted below. I like their promotion of a Regenerative Culture.
Dr. Bradbrook is known for her activism in Rising Up a “non-violent direct action and civil disobedience as proven ways to elicit change.” Extinction Rebellion is a global organization also dedicated to non-violent action to elicit change. The following is a brief synopsis of her talk.
She goes through the information on the climate crisis. This has been well summarized by articles on this site. It was interesting to hear what information hedge fund billionaires wanted from her. She details conversations with hedge fund billionaires who wanted to pick her brain about where they should live (Alaska or New Zealand) and how to protect their possessions by keeping a loyal army or have robotic protection.
Anyone who sees or feels the pains of the climate crisis will grieve. Grief is the cost of being alive. We are never worth less with grief in our lives. Grief is “an emotional, physical and spiritual necessity, the price you pay for love. The only cure for grief is to grieve.” Earl Grolliman.
We all want hope in the face of this crisis. The opposite of hope is grief, not despair. The swiftness of the scale of change will bind us together in our grief. We are bound into one by the worldwide crisis. But what we really need is courage, not hope.
“Courage is the resolve to do well without the assurance of a happy ending.”
Similar to RiseUp, Dr. Bradbrook encourages total non-violence and sacrificial acts to help promote awareness of Extinction Rebellion. They often just need a few hundred people to go on a march to pressure for changes to be made. “You can choose to be an upstander. Climate change is not political; it is a moral issue. Immoral actions must be challenged. The actions have to be disruptive.” There needs to be non-violent and sacrificial act, like a hunger strike for a more sympathetic response. The rebellion needs non-violent civil disobedience.
Besides social activism, they also ask for help in other arenas. This is their email for volunteers:
‘Thanks so much for stepping up to apply to join the XR US National Coordinating team! The National Coordination team has six primary working groups:
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Outreach and Training – promoting the movement, recruiting new people, training them and integrating them into the movement
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Media and Messaging – help craft XRs vision into media messaging, promoting the movement to national reporters, managing XR’s online presence
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Finance – fundraising, management of budget, distribution of funds to local chapters in need when possible
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Regenerative culture – checking in on people (particularly new people) to make sure they feel valued and welcome, maintaining a health work environment that encourages connection on the national team, ensuring meetings are participatory and inclusive, developing a conflict resolution process
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Action and Logistics – designing the strategy of XR US, supporting and sometimes coordinating local direct actions
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Infrastructure - managing the technology of XR US, including the website, communications platforms, security protocol, legal issues
If you feel you have skills that can contribute to any of those working groups, and you have at least 15 hours a week to devote to XR, please
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Check out the XR Demands and Principles, which reflects what unites everyone in XR. Please read here in the demands and principles tabs.
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Next, watch this video Heading for Extinction and What to Do About It, which outlines the fundamental justification for Extinction Rebellion and its focus on using mass civil disobedience to force governments to meet our demands
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Please also watch this Global Briefing, which covers the basics of XR as an organization and a movement.
If after you read the XR Demands & Principles, you feel in agreement; and if after you’ve watched the Global Briefing and Heading for Extinction you feel certain about, and feel passionate for, XR’s focus on using mass civil disobedience to pressure the government to meet the three demands, please reply to this email with
- your name
- which working group you would like to volunteer with
- two references from within the activist movement to verify your identity
Someone will get back to you about setting up a one-on-one call. Please make sure to read the XR demands and principles and watch the two videos linked above before applying.
Thank you all for your interest in working with XR.
Solidarity,
XR US National Coordination Team
Dr. Bradbrook ends this video with these questions: “What does it mean to be human? Will you be able to look your grandchild in the eye and say you did what you could?”
rebellion.earth