"Are we going to be OK?"

Against an ever-expanding backdrop of record-breaking floods, heatwaves, and fires, this question was asked by a listener in the final episode (starting at 46:18) of the 2023 season of Outrage + Optimism, hosted by three veterans of the climate movement including Christiana Figueres. Christiana was the primary personality behind the landmark COP21 Paris Agreement, the standing international agreement guiding the world's response to the climate crisis. Her's is a voice worth listening to.

Her co-hosts rushed to offer reassurances:

Tom Rivett-Carnac: I think that's a simple "Yes"?

Paul Dickenson: Yes, we're going to do what we need to do to get this to turn out right.

Rivett-Carnac then related what he tells his children when they ask that question:

"You have the biggest opportunity in all of human history to live an incredibly meaningful life. And the actions that you take, because of the accident of the time your birth, are of an order of magnitude in importance compared to most people who have lived before, because you are going to affect the future of life on Earth in 50, 500, and 500,000 years by what you do in the next couple of decades. So, no one is asking for an easy life, but really, deep down, we are asking for a meaningful life. And living now is an incredible gift towards that end because we have this incredible chance to turn things around and be the generation that does that. Are we going to be OK? Uncertainty is always difficult to live with, and we're just going to have to get used to that and do what we can do to try and make that turn out in a positive way. But for ourselves and our children that's going to have to be enough certainty for us to keep moving."

Christiana Figueres went straight to the heart:

"To the question "Are we going to be OK?" the answer is, we just don't know. We don't know. That is probably the mega-uncertainty of humanity. We don't know if we're going to be OK in 100, 200 or 300 years. And, that uncertainty is precisely the reason why we have to give it our all while we are here. Why we have to live meaningful lives, and ... we have this incredible opportunity because we're right there, at the moment in which so much of the future is being decided. So it is up to us to put everything that we have into the right basket, to get us onto the right path, to go through the portal that we choose, and not the portal that we would go through by default. But even so, there is no guarantee. And that makes it difficult, but also invites us to work from a deeper space inside ourselves."

Listen to the entire conversation (starting at 46:18).

We leave you with these final observations:

Climate change is terrifying and nobody wants to deal with it, but it's on our doorstep. It is the job of our time. We either step up now and deal with it, or let the worst come and be overwhelmed by it.
Every little bit you do now will lessen future harm by some amount.
People are constantly observing other people to hear what they say and see what they do. This is how decisions are made. So what you say and what you do matters. It is noticed, and it has ripple effects. But ripples only happen if you drop the pebble in the pond.
Public opinion is the only effective counterweight to the immense power of the fossil fuel industry. The industry knows this, which is why it spends so much time and money trying to shape public opinion with disinformation. The industry is terrified of public opinion. Even dictators like Putin and Xi Jinping fear public opinion, which is why they go to extreme lengths to suppress free speech and control the flow of information. Public opinion can sweep everything in its path.
So your opinion matters. But it doesn't count for anything unless you express it. The CAN app is your opinion-multiplier. It is your megaphone. We hope you will use it every day.

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This week, we're trying something new. Instead of our usual strategy of advocating for legislation or policy, we'll ask our political leaders and Fortune 100 CEOs a simple, heartfelt question: Are we going to be okay?

Since their actions will disproportionately determine the answer to that question, it's vital that they not only understand what's at stake, but feel it. That's the point of this week's actions: to share our vulnerability and ask our leaders to respond to us as fellow human beings.

Check the Action of the Day this week for another opportunity to move our leaders to action!

ATTENTION NEW YORKERS! This year the New York State legislature passed the first noenicitinoid-covered seed ban in the nation! Neonicotinoids have been described as the worst pesticide since DDT.

But to go into effect it still needs to be signed into law by the governor. If it passes it will be a major environmental milestone protecting human health and the environment.

Join us on August 30 at 7 pm (ET). We’ll hear from Dr. Kathy Nolan from Physicians for Social Responsibility, the Sierra Club Atlantic Chapter’s Caitlan Ferrante, and Dan Raichel from the NRDC about the dangers posed by these “treated” seeds. AND we’ll all take substantive actions using the Climate Action Now App to ensure the Governor does the right thing.

Date: Wednesday, August 30, 2023
Time: 7:00 pm ET
Location: Zoom, registration required

Youth to Power! In a truly historic decision, a Montana judge ruled that the state's enthusiastic support for fossil fuels violates 16 youth plaintiffs' right, enshrined in the state's constitution, to a "clean and healthful environment". This long-awaited, first-of-its-kind ruling establishes legal protection against broad harms caused by climate change and enshrines a state right to a world free from those harms, creating a potential foundation for future lawsuits across the country. (Grist)

Go Away, AGA! New England's largest energy utility, Eversource, has parted ways with the American Gas Association — a powerful industry group that has been instrumental in blocking efforts to address climate change around the country. The utility canceled its membership with the AGA as part of a broader, strategic effort to prioritize “decarbonization” and reduce emissions. (WBUR)

An Even Grander Canyon Biden has formally designated the Baaj Nwaavjo I’tah Kukveni Grand Canyon National Monument, the fifth national monument of his presidency. The designation protects just under 1 million acres of sacred tribal land, permanently extending a 20-year ban on uranium mining established in 2012 under the Obama administration. (The Hill)