Rebels are organizing. We are witnessing a growing global student protest movement around climate change. In episode nine our host, Peterson Toscano, chatted with Quaker author, speaker, and activist, Eileen Flanagan. She described the four different roles change agents take—Helper, Organizer, Advocate, and Rebel. This month we dig deeper into the role of the rebels—groups and individuals who disrupt business as usual in order to bring about systems change. 

In addition to capturing voices of protesters from the recent student walk-out in Honolulu, Hawaii, which was part of similar actions around the world, Peterson chats with Robin Boardman, from the British group Extinction Rebellion. Robin and his friends are planning major disruptive actions in London and other parts of the UK in mid-April. What are their goals, values, and methods? Join us for this insightful and moving conversation. 

The Art House

Returning to the Art House is Hope Clark. She is a dancer concerned about climate change. In episode 18 she told us how she decided to engage her community in the Washington DC area through a public art project. To do so, she used giant parachutes. 

Creating an art piece can help us process our thoughts and feelings about a topic as large and challenging as climate change. No surprise then, once she completed the Make a Movement Parachute Community Project, Hope began to go deeper into her own feelings. She found herself returning to an old comfort—an addiction to cigarette smoking. Hope is making powerful connections between her own addictions and society's addiction to fossil fuels. Through spoken word and dance, she is exploring the comforts we seek that have failed us. 

Puzzler Question

We have been getting excellent answers to our puzzler question. We want to hold this one out for another month. We look forward to hearing from you. 

Puzzler Question

You are at a family dinner when you mention your excitement about more and more people becoming concerned about climate change. Your Uncle Ralph interrupts, “Global warming? Seriously? What about all this record cold weather we have had? It doesn’t seem its warming at all?”

 

So what do you say? How can you open up a conversation about climate change that doesn’t just turn into a debate?

Send Peterson your answers by April 15, 2019, along with your name, contact info, and where you are from. You can email your answers to radio @ citizensclimate.org or leave a voicemail of three minutes or less at 518.595.9414 (+1 if calling from outside the USA).

 

Dig Deeper

Extinction Rebellion on Twitter @ExtinctionR

Erica Chenoweth, author of Civil Action and the Dynamics of Violence, inspiration to Extinction Rebellion

Gandhi's Civil Disobedience 

Environmental Organizations Outreach Training

Addiction as a Metaphor for Climate Change: An Interview with Charles Eisenstein(The Fix)

You can hear Citizens’ Climate Radio on iTunes, Spotify, Stitcher Radio, SoundCloud, Podbean, Northern Spirit Radio, Google Play, PlayerFM, and TuneIn Radio. Also, feel free to connect with other listeners, suggest program ideas, and respond to programs in the Citizens’ Climate Radio Facebook group or on Twitter at @CitizensCRadio.

If you listen on iTunes, please consider rating and reviewing us!

 

(Photo from the Extinction Rebellion newsletter #16.)