17 Actions to Promote Transition

‘Flipping the script on climate change!

In his new book Climate, A New Story, Charles Eisenstein makes a case for a wholesale reimagining of the framing, tactics, and goals we employ in our journey to heal from ecological destruction.

With research and insight, Charles details how the quantification of the natural world leads to a lack of integration and our “fight” mentality. With an entire chapter unpacking the climate change denier’s point of view, he advocates for expanding our exclusive focus on carbon emissions to see the broader picture beyond our short-sighted and incomplete approach. The rivers, forests, and creatures of the natural and material world are sacred and valuable in their own right, not simply for carbon credits or preventing the extinction of one species versus another. After all, when you ask someone why they first became an environmentalist, they’re likely to point to the river they played in, the ocean they visited, the wild animals they observed, or the trees they climbed when they were a kid. This refocusing away from impending catastrophe and our inevitable doom cultivates meaningful emotional and psychological connections and provides real, actionable steps to caring for the earth. Freeing ourselves from a war mentality and seeing the bigger picture of how everything from prison reform to saving the whales can contribute to our planetary ecological health, we resist reflexive postures of solution and blame and reach toward the deep place where commitment lives.’

Here is his list of recommended actions for mitigating climate change with local links for the Gulf Islands region (not a complete list- please send additions to transitionsaltspringinfo@gmail.com)

  1. Promote land regeneration as a major new category of philanthropy: fund demonstration projects, connect young farmers to land and help farms transition to regenerative practices. Provide public funding and government support for this transition as well as shifting agricultural subsidies away from conventional crops. Local Initiatives:
  1. Institute a global moratorium on logging, mining, drilling and development of all remaining undeveloped ecosystems.
  1. Expand land protected in wildlife refuges and reserves. When possible enlist local and indigenous people in protection efforts to align their livelihood with ecological health.
  1. Establish new ocean marine reserves and expand existing ones, with the goal of placing a third to a half of all oceans, estuaries, and coastline into no-take, no-drill, no-develop sanctuaries.
  1. Establish strict bans on driftnets and bottom trawling.
  1. Ban disposable plastic bags and phase out plastic beverage containers in favour of refillables.
  • SUPER (Single Use Plastic Elimination and Recycling) group (contact Anne Parkinson annepar2@gmail.com for more info.)
  1. Reconstitute the World Bank to serve ecological healing rather than development. Declare Amazon and Congo rainforests as global treasures, purchasing the external debt of countries where rainforests grow.
  1. Promote reforestation projects globally with an emphasis on ecologically appropriate native species.
  1. Establish an “Eco-corps” to address youth unemployment and restore ecological health by planting trees, building water retention landscapes, deconstructing dams, etc.
  1. Change building codes, sanitation codes, and zoning regulations to allow higher density development, tiny homes, composting toilets, aquaculture wastewater treatment, etc. Nullify all land use covenants that prohibit food production.
  1. Reintroduce and protect keystone species such as (in North America) beavers, wolves and cougars.
  1. Carry out water restoration projects through water retention landscapes, regenerative grazing and horticulture, and the strategic removal of dams, canals, and levees.
  1. Relocalise food systems and promote economic localization generally, fist by nullifying free trade treaties and replacing them with fair trade treaties that protect local economic sovereignty.
  1. Institute a negative-interest financial system through international agreement to impose liquidity fees on bank reserves, along with complimentary measures such as Georgist land taxes and other anti-speculative taxes.
  1. Apply pollution taxes to make companies internalize the social and ecological costs of toxic waste, radioactive waste, air pollution and water pollution.
  1. Impose a deposit system for most manufactured goods so that manufacturers have an incentive to create durable, repairable products with easily recoverable materials.
  1. Turn away from pesticides (much more on the insect holocaust in his book).
  • Island Natural Growers (local chapter of Canadian Organic Growers www.cog.ca) 

This is a brief but potent taste of his work. Please check out his website for more information with this article as a great starting point: charleseisenstein.org/essays/initiation-into-a-living-planet

Written by Erinanne Harper