Climate Justice Fast – Change is now!

Change is now, change is now BPSDB
Things that seemed to be solid are not
All is now, all is now
The time that we have to live

Williams College Joins Worldwide Climate Hunger Strike

“At Williams College we have 45 students signed up for a relay fast.”

Jen Rowe

Canberra, Day 3

Truth is real, truth is real
That which is not real does not exist
In and out roundabout
Dance to the day when fear it is gone

Fast handed to Stewart

So I took the first shift in our rolling solidarity fast and last night at midnight it passed to Stewart. I have done a myriad types of political action, as well as times of going without food for one reason or another, but this was my first Fast as political action. Some quick points.

Curious. The mind is a funny thing. Circumstance means that it is not unusual for me to not eat until noon, or 6 PM, or even later, and it is nothing I particularly notice. I’m busy and I eat when I start to feel hungry. No big deal, and certainly nothing I even think about generally.

Day 1 of the Fast I woke up hungry. Clearly my mind was focused no the fact that ‘I could not have food’, and hence wanted it. By Day 2 that had subsided and was not an issue, but it was curious to experience it.

Hard. Circumstance had me in a few locations where there were snack type foods around me. While I did not particularly crave them, I did catch myself unconciously reaching for them. I think it is best to stand well away from such opportunities to acciddently break the Fast in a moments inattention.

Harder. The last couple of hours. As with ‘curious’ I was overly aware that ‘soon I could eat’ and became focused on it like watching the clock in a boring class. I think next time I will arrange to break fast at breakfast.

Hardest: Starting to eat again knowing that the core Fasters were not. The food was good, but every bite I have had since has me very conscious of the core Fasters and all of the people who are not eating because they have no food. It gave the act of eating a new reverance and I think when this is all over I will try to do a monthly Fast of at least a couple of days.

Sara Svensson’s Barcelona Statement

Why I’m Fasting for Climate Justice You can still watch both her statement and Anna Keenan’s here.

What’s going to happen in Copenhagen?

Rabett Run has an excellent, highly readable summary of what the options are and what is likely. For those who do not know him, ‘the Bunny’ is a highly respected climate science blogger. I’d quibble with him about how many people are already affected by climate, which I suspect is due to his background in tech sciences vs mine in life sciences. Regardless, it is well worth your time for a quick run down presented in an interesting context.

Other actions

“Hi all, this is Satya in Portland, Oregon.  I’m on my second day of a four day solidarity fast, and I’ve been joined by my friend Sara Monial … we’ve had two one-day fasters join us so far.  We’re fasting at a public spot on the Willamette river in central Portland.” Satya

How you can help

i) There are the suggestions discussed in “Climate Justice Fast begins Nov 6th, how will you be helping?“, (slots still open in our rolling Fast)

ii) Jess (one of our Fasters and the voice of “Openly Balanced: Practicing the Art of Conscious Living”) has offered us this about the importance of supporting the Fasters and those promoting the Fast with your comments:

—-

Being an activist on the internet can be hard.  The internet has tremendous potential to unify, enabling the formation of communities and uniting groups of people around common goals and interests with no regard for geographical separation.

Yet it often ends up feeling like you’re talking to yourself, or yelling out into a void where no one hears you.  That is bad enough.  It’s hard to keep writing and speaking out when you are met with silence.  Part of what sustains your impossible struggle is connecting with other impassioned people who share your convictions and your hopes for a brighter future.

But even worse than being met with silence is being met with hecklers and trolls.  I’m not talking about those who offer meaningful criticism, or voice thoughtful and intelligent disagreement.  I’m talking about comments like this comment on one of the videos from Climate Justice Fast.

This video makes me hungry. I think I might drive my SUV down to McDonalds and get a dirty great big mac! Mmmm big mac with lots of fries, then I’ll buy some petrol and plastic bags.

Not helpful.  Not constructive.  Not a conversation.

Which is why it is even more important to leave helpful, thoughtful, and considerate comments when you find something interesting and worth talking about.  Remember that there are real human beings behind everything you read on the internet, and those willing to take a stand on anything are faced by a daily stream of hate and vitriol.

So please, help us out by raising the level of discourse about the important issues we are trying to address.  If you read something you like, or about an action you support, leave a comment.  Start or contribute to a meaningful discussion.  And don’t feed the trolls or, where possible, vote down their comments so they will go away.  The internet still is what we choose to make of it.  Lend a hand and help it live up to its potential.

Jess

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The only thing I would add is the same applies to commenting on media who cover the story.  When you see a media piece, post your thoughts … it let’s the media know that this is the type of story they should be covering.

The Fast in the News

CLIMA: BARCELLONA, GREENPEACE SCALA STATUA COLOMBO {CLIMATE: BARCELONA, GREENPEACE SCALE STATUE COLOMBO}

Barcelona, Nov. 6 – There are growing protests from activists in the closing days of the Climate Summit in Barcelona, with Greenpeace unfurled several banners that has the statue of Christopher Columbus in Barcelona and Climate Justice Fast! ‘ (CJF!) Which has launched a hunger strike until the Copenhagen summit in ‘December.

Greenpeace activists have hung a sign reading ironic’ Climate Chaos, who is to blame? ‘ on the statue of Columbus, who with the right arm indicates just the new world, a metaphor to indicate that the most responsible for climate change is the United States, said a spokesman‘.

• Huelga de hambre contra el cambio climático {Hunger strike against climate change}
• Climate Justice Fast: un jeûne pour la Justice climatique {Fast Climate Justice: fasting for Climate Justice}
• En huelga de hambre contra el cambio climático {On hunger strike against climate change}
• Inician una huelga de hambre internacional en favor del clima {Start a hunger strike in support of international climate}

Posts at ‘It’s Getting Hot In Here‘

• Fasting for Justice on Climate Change
• Hunger Strike: Climate Justice Fast!
• Are U.S. students ready to take a moral stand on climate change?

And on Greenfyre

• Climate Justice Fast is to be … indefinite
• Climate Justice Fast begins Nov 6th, how will you be helping? (list of ways you can help)
  

Change is now, change is now
Things that seemed to be solid are not
In and out roundabout
Dance to the day when fear it is gone
Fear it is gone
Fear it is gone

Tip of the hat to Hot Topic for reminding me

“Since 1982, spring in East Asia (defined here as the eastern third of China and the Korean Peninsula) has been warming at a rate of one degree Fahrenheit per decade.”  Earth Gauge

We give our consent every moment that we do not resist.

Comment Policy

Comments that are not relevant to the post that they appear under or the evolving discussion will simply be deleted, as will links to Denier spam known to be scientific gibberish

• The “Mostly” Open Thread is for general climate discussion that is not relevant to a particular post. Spam and abuse rules still apply;
• The “Challenging the Core Science” Comment Thread is for comments that purport to challenge the core science of anthropogenic climate change.

i)

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