Lesson 6: Climate Protection

Objectives:

• Explore and familiarize yourself with case studies of organizations and individuals working on climate protection with nonviolent means

• Think strategically about constructive programme in the context of this sector
  

Introduction

Michael Nagler’s The Third Harmony begins:

“as I write this introduction (in summer 2019), the climate crisis is tightening its noose around our planet. By the time you read this book, 150 million people in India will be without water; in Chennai, the sixth largest city in the country, it’s already gone. We may legitimately ask ourselves, will nonviolence be enough to save us?

My answer is, will anything else?”

Elsewhere in the book Nagler argues that it is too late now to completely reverse the disastrous course that fossil fuel executives (and U.S. presidents) have known about since 1969, but it looks like there’s still time to prevent the worst of the damage it’s causing—with sophisticated, aroused, dogged, and courageous nonviolence. What is needed is both a  plausible strategy and a much greater public outpouring of demand for action. When people see a glimmer of hope, a path to success they can believe in, they come to life and take needed action. With the examples in this section we hope to give you some inspiration that can move you forward in efforts to reverse climate change. Not moving forward would be disastrous. 

Some environmentalists say that the planet can do without us humans, but wouldn’t that be an enormous setback? Nagler writes that we need to shed our arrogance, but not our responsibility. We need to get over what activists sometimes call our “human supremacy,” not by putting aside our unique responsibility for the care of life, but through our higher intelligence and potential for moral awareness.

Recall the Two Hands of Nonviolence. The model applies very well to this issue, as we’ll illustrate below.  A good example of the “I’m open to you” hand is a neighbor of Michael’s who has designed and installed digesters to turn his cows’ methane into electricity for his trucks and cars. He is saying, in effect “No, we will not let you keep on mining the dirtiest fossil fuel, but yes, we will show you how to build alternatives, for what we really need.” The two hands together are more potent than the sum of each one happening separately. 

Safe, renewable energy

Home-made energy eliminates the reliance on power companies to source electricity to the home and allows for the more cost efficient usage of natural energy in its place. It is often also cheaper. 

Solar panels are the most popular home-made energy product. These can be purchased or the homeowner can construct them for their own usage following DIY instructions or with kits. Most require very little technical ability. A solar battery will be needed. Usually a standard sized rechargeable solar battery is enough to meet the needs of most homes. Solar panels can be installed or purchased for any size home and can be used to power a variety of devices in the home.

Another option are wind turbines. We’ve seen those massive wind turbines, and some of us have seen vast wind farms, but it's also possible to use wind energy on a smaller scale to power your home. Small wind energy is renewable, clean, and cost-effective. With a handful of inexpensive and easy-to-source materials, you can build a homemade wind generator, making electricity yours for the taking for as long as the wind is blowing. The power is stored in batteries. You can build a simple generator in two days: one day for chasing down parts, and one day for assembling the components. On various websites you can find all the instructions you need. If off-grid living is your ideal scenario, many renewable energy experts recommend a hybrid system of wind and solar energy. Hybrid systems feature both wind turbines and solar panels to double up on the generative power. These systems are the most efficient and reliable, as wind and solar energy tend to be most available at different times. 

Lesser known options are:

• A geothermal heat pump: Geothermal energy is derived from the heat below the earth’s surface. This clean energy source supplies renewable power around the clock and emits little to no greenhouse gases—all while requiring a small environmental footprint to develop.Moreover, a geothermal heat pump doesn't have a condensing unit like an air conditioner, so noise outside the home isn't a factor. 

• A microhydropower system: a waterwheel, turbine, or pump to convert the power of water into electricity. First, water is diverted to a water conveyance—usually a pipeline—that delivers it to a waterwheel (or another similar component). The moving water rotates the wheel, and this motion powers the alternator or generator to create electricity. The system can be on- or off-grid and should be able to power a typical large house. 

• A biogas generator: another cost effective and environmentally sustainable way to generate power for household consumption, that works by breaking down biomass (plant based material, like vegetables, wood, or animal based material), organic waste, manure, sewage, and other green waste through a process called anaerobic digestion. Biogas can also be produced through another process called fermentation. The breakdown of the biodegradable organic material takes place in a biogas digester tank. This process produces biogas which is then used as the biofuel to generate power for cooking, heating, lights, electronics, and even for transportation purposes. 

However, there is some controversy around biofuel. Some analysts have found that the atmospheric carbon (CO and CO2) released when biomass fuels are burned is roughly equal to the carbon stored in trees and plants grown on biomass "plantations", making biomass energy essentially carbon neutral and environmentally friendly. Other experts, however, have found that industrial-scale biomass energy development is wreaking havoc on the natural environment and on air quality. Greenpeace has published a report, "Fueling a Biomess," that finds large-scale growth in biomass energy has extended beyond waste sources like sawdust and paper mill waste, and whole trees and other important forest habitats are now being destroyed.

Are you not really a DIY person? You can also start by saving energy on air conditioning and refrigerators, which are very consuming devices. Or turn down your heating and put on more clothes. Another option is to explore implementing renewable energy devices as a community and sharing the power. Consider the example below.

The Island Where Everyone Owns the Wind

For the past 20 years, Samsø, a Danish island, has been a world-leading green energy community. All of Samsø’s electricity comes from massive community-owned wind turbines, while biomass boilers burning local straw meet 70 percent of the island’s heating needs. Each of Samsø’s 3,724 residents now emits an average of negative-3.7 tons of greenhouse gas per year.

The success of Samsø Island is indicative of broader efforts in Denmark to address climate change. It ranks second in the world (behind Sweden) on the Climate Change Performance Index, and it has succeeded in halving its per capita greenhouse gas emissions over a relatively short time frame. It shows that local communities, with the right leadership and supported by national policy, can drive real change.

The Danish government, looking for a showcase opportunity to demonstrate that the 21 percent emissions reduction target in the Kyoto Protocol was possible, launched a national competition to find a Danish Renewable Energy Island. And the Danish Energy Authority would provide funding to aid the transition. Samsø’s municipal government submitted an application, and in 1998 it won.

The plan was to quickly transition the island to wind power. By 2000 — just two years after winning the competition — 11 wind turbines were due to be installed, each with capacity to generate one megawatt of power. 11 turbines generate enough power to make each of the island’s 22 villages self-sufficient.

The idea was not universally beloved. Residents had concerns about the potential noise and visual impact of the turbines. The challenge for Hermansen and his team was to bring around the local community. They undertook extensive public negotiations over the location of each turbine. A crucial step in gaining community support was to invite locals to own the turbines. A decentralized structure was created, with cooperatives being formed, or shares being sold in each turbine.

Two of Samsø’s offshore turbines are cooperatively owned. The municipality owns a further five turbines, which generate income that the local government can reinvest in sustainability measures. This includes smarter methods of heating and incentives for the purchase of electric cars.

The Samsø municipality recently bought a large new ferry, capable of transporting 600 passengers and 140 cars. In a first for Denmark, it has a dual-fuel engine, which makes it possible to run on liquefied natural gas rather than heavy fuel oil, reducing carbon emissions significantly. However, it can also run on locally produced biogas. It’s quite possible that if you visit Samsø in future, you’ll arrive on a ferry powered by methane produced from household waste or pig manure.

This small rural community has shown that with leadership and commitment, climate change is a challenge that we can take on. It has inspired community efforts across the world, such as Hepburn Wind, a community-owned wind farm in Australia, and Sustainable Molokai, a community-based sustainable energy group in Hawaii.

Adapted and shortened from The Island Where Everyone Owns the Wind, Reasons to be Cheerful

Finally, food production is also an important factor that can contribute to climate protection, especially switching to a plant-based diet, but we will look at it in more detail in the next section, the environment. 

Alternative transport

Perhaps this is self-evident, but there are other options to move around than fossil fuelled vehicles. One could take a bike. In the Netherlands the bike is the most common means of transportation, and there are more bikes than people. In other countries bike coops make it easier for people to take a bike, without owning one. Also companies offer bike rentals, to enable tourists for example who may just visit a city for a few days to get around in an environmentally friendly way. In many cities in Sweden there are busses that run on biofuels. And Greenpeace Netherlands has campaigned in the last two years or so, to increase airport taxes and decrease train fares. Electric cars are also becoming more affordable. Of course their environmental impact also depends on how the electricity they use was generated though. And the same goes for the increasingly more popular electric bikes or so-called e-scooters. 

Consider for example the case of Milan, that is to introduce one of Europe’s most ambitious schemes reallocating street space from cars to cycling and walking, in response to the coronavirus crisis.The city has announced that 35km (22 miles) of streets will be transformed over the summer, with a rapid, experimental citywide expansion of cycling and walking space. Milan is a small, dense city, 15km from end to end with 1.4 million inhabitants, 55% of whom use public transport to get to work. The average commute is less than 4km, making a switch from cars to active modes of travel potentially possible for many residents. (see more in this piece from the Guardian)

Reforestation

All around the world, trees are either being cut down for commercial reasons, for agriculture, burned down from fires, or taken out by natural disasters. Trees are important to our ecosystem: not only do they purify the air, water and soil, but we as humans could not exist without trees. A mature leafy tree produces as much oxygen in a season as 10 people inhale in a year. This is why reforestation is so important. We need trees to live and breath. Some of the effects of deforestation are soil erosion, soil destruction, flooding, loss of biodiversity and species extinction, endangering the livelihoods of native people, global warming and climate change.

You may remember the example of the Greenbelt movement in Lesson 2 about nonviolence. Kenyan women started planting trees, thereby addressing community needs and growing their independence. It’s an excellent example of nonviolent methods applied to climate protection goals.  Let’s now consider some others.

For example, the “Inga alley-cropping”, named for the tree, Inga edulis or “ice cream bean” is used in 15 countries, including Honduras, with training and seeds given to farmers at no cost.  Through the implementation of this model families achieve “land for life,” the ability to remain on the same plot of land indefinitely–regenerating steep, degraded land that has been abandoned as “sterile” for over 50 years. Hands and a team of Honduran foresters, agronomists and field and nursery staff have facilitated native Inga alleys. crops planted between the alleys produced modest yields,providing a basic source of food at a precarious time. The farmers observed that their plot treated with swidden techniques produced nothing and the soil washed away, while their first alley produced a yield. The native, fast growing Inga edulis is the main tree species, but other Indigenous species are also used. The method thus provided food security, as well as watershed protection and eliminated herbicides, pesticides and chemical fertilizers. (For more information see this piece from resilience stories).

In Brazil native women started a seed collective. For more than 10 years, the 65 members of the Yarang Women’s Movement have steadfastly and meticulously combed the dense forest surrounding their villages for native seeds. The group’s name, yarang, means leafcutter ant in the local language and was chosen by Airé Ikpeng, a leader in the community. “We work like the leafcutter ants who work together, relish seeds, go into the forest, do the collecting. They work with seeds, always as a group,” one of the leaders explained. The women sell the collected seeds to nurseries, rural landowners, and other people and organizations for reforesting degraded land at the headwaters of the Xingu River. Some of these people also seek advice from the indigenous people about which seeds to use and how to plant them. Another woman said: “The white people who have caused the deforestation no longer have anywhere to gather seeds. So, they use our seeds to make their forests grow again.”

The Yarang Women’s Movement has collected 3.2 tons of seeds as part of the Xingu Seed Network Association, a community development network established in 2007. The network manages and markets the seeds collected by 568 collectors in 15 groups. About a million trees (approximately 300 hectares, or 740 acres) have been replanted as a direct result of the seeds collected by the Yarang Women’s Movement. The purpose of the Yarang Movement is to reforest the riparian forests of the Xingu River Basin and recover forest resources important to them by improving water and soil quality, protecting the river from silting, bringing more fruit to fish and animals, and fighting against climate change. (Read more at Mongabay.com)

According to the “Global Citizens” website, educating girls is also one of the ten most important strategies for climate protection. They write: “When girls receive a full education, they have fewer and healthier kids, contribute more to economic growth, and are better stewards of the environment, among other benefits.” Examples of women at the forefront of climate change, in different roles from government to activists, can be found here.

We could also highlight other examples. At tree-nation, for example, there are dozens of different tree-planting initiatives you can look into. 

Obstructive Nonviolence and Climate Protection

All the above are encouraging examples of CP applied to the reversal of climate change, but of course in this sector, where the problem is so urgent, OP must also be practiced -- hopefully with the guideline in view of “CP wherever possible, OP wherever still necessary.”

Extinction Rebellion is a well-known international movement that uses nonviolent civil disobedience in an attempt to halt mass extinction and minimize the risk of social collapse. They write:

“We rise in the name of truth and withdraw our consent for ecocide, oppression and patriarchy. We rise up for a world where power is shared for regeneration, repair and reconciliation. We rise for love in its ultimate wisdom. Our vision stretches beyond our own lifespan, to a horizon dedicated to future generations and the restoration of our planet’s integrity.”

“We are promoting mass “above the ground” civil disobedience – in full public view. This means economic disruption to shake the current political system and civil disruption to raise awareness. We are deeply sorry for any inconvenience that this causes. [...]Our actions are done in full public view and we take responsibility for them.”

XR is exemplary in their organizational model and training practices.  

The movement originated in the UK, but has spread to many other countries; the U.S. equivalent is called the Sunshine Movement. For more information visit Extinction Rebellion's global website or your local Extinction Rebellion “XR” group. 

Reflection & discussion

• How can you contribute to climate protection? Is there a particular method that speaks to you?  Where and how would you apply it?

• Identify what principles of nonviolence are present in the examples of this section.

• Add one or two examples of constructive or obstructive nonviolent action and share it with the group. You can also think of something that you think should happen, but hasn’t yet.

• Consider how your example, if carried out successfully, may eliminate the need for some or all resistance or obstructive actions in that area and explain this to others. 

Additional Resources

Check out our animation and stories from Buzz, Worker 108 in a hive near you. 

Add your own links in the comments!