Sad but true - we already have altered the planet.
How many species are gone forever?
Should we cut our losses and just prepare for the worst?
Or is there still a fight left for us to fight?
Consider the Pledge of the Rainbow Warrior (google search)...
You can find it - its just 2 pages...
Everybody loves the underdog - don't give up

And welcome to DU!

Don't underestimate the resolve it will take to keep walking that path as the hard times begin to unfold.

The resolve it will take to keep walking it as your children, lovers, family, friends and neighbors, the poor, the sick and weak of a hundred nations begin to die around you. As they die from cold, hunger, thirst, disease and violence - first in the millions then in the tens and eventually the hundreds of millions - keep this pledge written on your heart. I promise you, this will be the hardest thing any of us has ever, or will ever, do. Do not try to do this alone.

Nobility has its price.

How could anyone survive all the Broadway musicals this will inspire? It's insane.

True - too much fluffy talk is not enough. Al Gore put it nicely when he described the 904 scientific journals published between 1994 and 2004 that described global warming as a crisis caused by human activity. He said that we have the technology to return sustainability to human activity, what we need is the motivation. Any ideas to help motivate the human spirit toward our ecosystems without being overly sentimental?
I found it:
http://www.scribd.com/doc/127701471/The-Pledge-of-the-Rainbow-Warrior

I'm hoping for a more bracing, Brechtian flavor.

I am working on improving on my garden each year.
Planting beans year round like the Hopi used to...
Hoping I recycle and compost enough.
My grandparents lived through the Great Depression - I believe their thriftiness and resourcefulness was a great example...

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Pass it on if....(Pass it on if you can take it....)...
http://www.scribd.com/doc/127701471/The-Pledge-of-the-Rainbow-Warrior

The Pledge of the Rainbow Warrior

I(We) solemnly pledge as a Rainbow Warrior to become a motivating force led by Indigenous elders whooffer a safe passage-rite to weave human identity into the environment of Mother Earth.

As a Rainbow Warrior, I pledge to be motivated to the full extent of the human will, motivated to give upany kind of illicit luxury, motivated to postpone any licit good, and even motivated to die for the primary purpose of transferring the natural earth as an inheritance to the children of future generations.

As a Rainbow Warrior, I pledge to become learned in the knowledge and the stories of the land as itsscience and mysteries instruct humanity and all living systems into an equitable harmony.

As a Rainbow Warrior, I pledge to choose no living enemies, but to embrace the singular conflict with myinner-self for the purpose of curbing my human activities toward this ecological harmony within the Natural Law.

As a Rainbow Warrior, I pledge to become part of a Spiritual Force commissioned by the Creator and able to inspire and heal others, especially those most broken by the world-view of exploitation, with theunderstanding that no wounded warriors, no matter how hopeless their circumstances, are to be left behind.

As a Rainbow Warrior, I pledge to be inspired by the visions and dreams of the Indigenous Elders, fromevery culture of life, especially those cultures maintaining Indigenous values, and I pledge to become familiar with their dreams and prophecies and to become aware of the signs of the times.

As a Rainbow Warrior, I (We) pledge to answer this desperate call at this cross-roads of living history to join in the migration by pulling for Turtle Island, taking only what is necessary to sustain harmony with Mother Earth and leaving behind all things that might harm her capacity to nourish all living things.

As my passage-rite, as a Rainbow Warrior, I solemnly pledge to wear this banner on my heart,representing the Guardian of Ocean Migrations (the Higher Power, our Creator) to remind me to stand for my principles as a guardian and true child of Mother Earth, knowing the only way to ecologicalharmony is to weave human identity back into the natural environment.

I think the Pledge of the Rainbow Warrior is a bit much while we are living in an industrialized society. A hermit would have no problem; someone trying to simply survive in American culture, it's pretty extreme.

I understand the sentiments, but don't think it's really a possibility.

in the Mid-west gives a person the idea that we could do anything if 3/4 of those farmers could...

Anyone who hawks 350ppm when the world is at 396 is a hopium dealer. IMO McKibben is intellectually dishonest and morally bankrupt. 350 is a lie, and McKibben is the head liar. Pure and simple.

There is a very limited market for hard truth in hard times. The fact that Bill McKibben is making money and Alder Stone isn't should be a sign of who is telling the truth and who is hawking bullshit.

In fact, there's a decent chance of it in the May or June numbers.

say it backwards - eeks