Note: My goal in writing this diary is to promote discussion if nothing else. Please comment if you agree. Comment if you disagree. Above all, comment if you have ideas! What I'm really after here, is brainstorming on a community level.
In a recent diary, Reverend Billy asked why anti-climate change or "earth" activism seems to have no associated culture. Where are the Bob Dylans, John Lennons and Joni Mitchells of our own day and our own protest movement? Where are the songs, the poems, the art that could move and inspire people to action on behalf of our environment?
I'm not a songwriter, but I am a poet, classical musician and writer, and this question got my attention. The more I thought about it, the more I found myself concluding that -- though the lack of a protest culture for climate change activism is certainly a sign of something wrong -- it is only a symptom; the cause lies deeper. More specifically, the climate movement is lacking three essential things, all necessary both to create a vibrant protest culture, to unify those active in the movement, and to inspire others to join and take action.
It lacks a recognizable, iconic symbol. It lacks a name. And it lacks a vision.
More beneath the Orange Symbol of Many Names.
To explain what I mean, I'll go back to the peace movements of the 1960-1980's. Though the bulk of these took place before my time, as a young child growing up in 1980's Canada and attending an "experimental"/"progressive" school, I was certainly exposed to "peace movement" culture. Quite specifically, I remember parent helpers at my school coming into the classroom to teach a unit on peace.
Now, I remember not one iota of what they said about peace: how to create peace, the consequences of war, international organizations working toward peace, and so on. But I do, very vividly, remember three things.
I remember being told that we were going to be learning about "peace". I remember drawing a picture of a white dove, flying over various obstacles to a "Land of Peace". And I remember listening to and singing songs about what a world of "peace" would look like: a memory so vivid that several, like "Vine and Fig Tree", remain in my mind's ear today (though I have not heard it in the twenty-plus years since.)
And these same three things that I found iconic -- a name, a symbol and a vision for the future -- are the same things that resonated with millions of people and made the peace movement so ubiquitous, so well-known, that the peace sign is recognized everywhere in the world today.
Now, historians can argue about whether the peace movement truly achieved its goals (or whether other factors, like MAD or the collapse of the Soviet Union, were equally/more central to preventing another world war.) However, the peace movement was very successful in one respect. It inspired people to take part, to join and act towards a common goal.
In other words, it took a broad, vague and abstract mission -- ending war -- and encapsulated it into a recognizable, identifiable and inspiring name (peace), symbol (the peace dove/peace sign) and vision (a world without war).
And this is exactly what climate activism has -- so far -- failed miserably at doing.
I'm going to be looking at these three aspects in three diaries to come, as each of them is quite in-depth. However, I'd like to touch on each one briefly here, as an introduction.
1) We Need A Name.
I began my research for this diary by sitting down to Google for climate activism symbols. Within a few minutes, I found myself at a loss.
Forget about poetry -- we don't have a freaking name for this movement.
Environmentalism, or conservationism? Too broad. Green energy movement? Too narrow? The climate movement? Too vague. Anti-climate change activism? Too wordy -- besides, who wants to be "anti-" anything?
There's also a huge problem with using a term like "climate" in our name -- it's far too abstract. Everyone knows what "peace" is. Everyone wants "peace" in their own lives and in their own society. Even people who, for one reason or another, disagreed with the peace movement's methods (for example, people who argued that MAD, not nuclear disarmament, was the best mechanism to prevent a nuclear war) would hardly state that they wanted more war in the world, or that peace was a bad thing.
But climate?? What percentage of the population has a coherent mental image of what that means? Even to a scientist the term is rather nebulous and fuzzy (after all, where does "weather" end and "climate" begin?)
Even worse, to allow ourselves to be defined by "climate" or "climate change" is a negative identification. Imagine if the peace movement had allowed themselves to be dubbed the "anti-war" movement. Ugh.
We are trying to prevent climate change. But what are we trying to promote?
Whatever it is, it needs to be part of our name.
(Maybe just the "Earth Movement"?)
2) We Need A Symbol
The white dove is the perfect symbol for the peace movement, for several reasons.
- It is instantly recognizable.
- It is a positive image, representing gentleness and purity (just imagine if the peace movement had chosen a mushroom cloud with a big X through it…)
- It is simple to draw, and highly adaptable.
- It is symbolic; centuries of tradition (religious and otherwise) have given the "white dove" a widespread association with the concept "peace".
- It is sufficiently abstract that it can represent a wide variety of initiatives, yet sufficiently concrete that people can relate to it psychologically.
We need a symbol for the climate movement (or whatever the heck we decide to call it) that is at least this powerful, if not more so.
We don't have a symbol. We have several iconic images, like the hockey-stick graph, melting ice in the Arctic, and stranded polar bears, but these are not symbols. Worse, they portray exactly what we want to prevent.
We need a symbol that sums up, in a single iconic image, what we are working to achieve.
- It needs to be easily recognizable.
- It should carry overwhelmingly positive connotations (for example, "snow" would be a poor choice because many people -- though they may recognize that a stable climate requires it -- dislike winter on an emotional level.)
- It should be simple and adaptable to many situations.
- Its symbolism should, if possible, draw on other sources/traditions in our culture.
- It should be abstract enough that it can represent a wide variety of actions and initatives (i.e. something like a solar panel would be far too specific).
Two possibilities come to mind immediately; however, I'm not sure either of them is workable. First of all, there is the planet Earth, as seen from space. That beautiful blue and green orb. Simple, universal and iconic, right? Unfortunately, I suspect the image may have been used too widely already, in too many situations, to effectively represent one particular movement.
Another is the image of a tree. Again, simple, holds positive connotations (who would argue that we need fewer trees, or that trees are bad things?) Reflects various religious/cultural traditions (the Garden of Eden, the World Tree in Norse mythology, etc). Clearly identifiable as a symbol of the environment and sustainability (there's also that green color.)
…But progressives already tend to get labelled as "tree-huggers", and to embrace this symbol might play directly into the extreme right's hands.
Ideas?
3) We Need A Vision
I've already mentioned the "Vine and Fig Tree" song from the peace movement:
"And every one 'neath their vine and fig tree
Shall live in peace and unafraid
And into plowshares beat their swords,
Nations shall learn war no more."
Another vivid memory from childhood was listening to my mother's record collection. There were several peace songs that she would often play, but the one I remember best is this:
"Last night I had the strangest dream
I'd ever dreamed before
I dreamed the world had all agreed
To put an end to war
I dreamed I saw a mighty room
Filled with women and men
And the paper they were signing said
They'd never fight again
And when the paper was all signed
And a million copies made
They all joined hands and bowed their heads
And grateful pray'rs were prayed
And the people in the streets below
Were dancing 'round and 'round
And swords and guns and uniforms
Were scattered on the ground."
Again, simple yet highly evocative. What do we want the world to look like? Like this. A place where swords are beaten into ploughshares. Where "guns and swords and uniforms" are "scattered on the ground", and people dance for joy in the streets.
That was the peace movement. But what about us?
What is our vision? What sort of world are we trying to create?
It is not enough to have visions of nightmare. We need a dream as well. Martin Luther King's "I Have a Dream" speech was replayed and quoted over and over, not because it portrayed doom and gloom, but because it portrayed a dream. Something that people could aspire to. Something that drew them to action.
A better world that -- even if they never saw -- perhaps their children would. Or their grandchildren.
It is not enough to be against fossil fuels, and melting sea ice, and droughts and storms and heatwaves. We need to be for something.
What is our dream? What is our vision? If we were to write a song about a world where we had finally ended the threat of climate change, what would this world look like? What would it be like to live in? If we do manage to achieve this amazing, incredible dream, what will life be like for our children and grandchildren?
Again, as I said, I don't pretend to have the answers. I think, though, that in this community filled with incredibly creative people, we can definitely come up with some.
I welcome your thoughts and ideas below -- thank you all in advance!
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