How do we handle the despair of knowing we may not win this battle with climate change (which is really a battle with ourselves)? Should we keep fighting? And if we do, WHO needs to be making the drastic changes we know are needed to avoid the worst of climate change disaster? Is it you and me? The big corporations? Or is it our elected policymakers? Are we assuming too much personal responsibility for goosing climate change or not enough? Are we in such a dire situation that we shouldn’t even bother “greening” up our lives, because that is so far from enough?

In this episode former UK Guardian columnist and author of All You Need is Less, Madeleine Sommerville, joins host Dave Gardner to ponder these questions.

LINKS:

Spaceship Earth Passenger Safety Briefing  (short GrowthBusters film)

All You Need is Less (Madeleine Sommerville’s Guardian Column)

All You Need is Less: The Eco-Friendly Guide to Guilt-Free Green Living and Stress-Free Simplicity (Madeleine Sommerville’s book)

In our conversation, Madeleine mentioned she felt she could only write so many times about buying green products. Well, what about NOT buying? The next day I read 5 Things You Need (No Purchase Required) To Go Zero Waste by Lindsay Miles (her blog is Treading My Own Path: Steps Toward a Sustainable Lifestyle. She’s written a few e-books, including Enough is Enough: 18 Ideas for Embracing a Life with Less Waste and Less Stuff, and Beginners Guide to Living with Less Plastic). Check it all out.

Sweet Madeleine blog

Neoliberalism has Conned Us into Fighting Climate Change as Individuals  by Martin Lukacs (The article Madeleine mentioned about the danger of assuming a lot of personal responsibility for climate change)

How to Cope with the End of the World by Madeleine Sommerville

You Are Stealing Our Future (15-year-old Greta Thunberg at COP24)

Greta & Svante Thunberg - Straight Talk (Discussion at COP24 with Greta Thunberg)

To brush up on just how long some scientists have been trying to get the world into motion on greenhouse gas reduction, read:

Losing Earth: The Decade We Almost Stopped Climate Change by Nathaniel Rich