- Who we are — and why are we here?
- Who this site is for
- How to become a crew member on Spaceship Earth
- How to become a subscriber
- How to become a contributor
- How to use this site to its full potential
Who we are — and why are we here?
A year ago we never expected to be here. In the midst of the worst pandemic since the 1918 Spanish Flu, we’re launching a “Road Trip for a Possible Planet,” to bring regenerative solutions to communities in America where they are most urgently needed.
Americans are responsible for the greatest cumulative share of global warming emissions, and while we have reduced some emissions in the past, “largely due to switching to less carbon-intensive fuels like natural gas,”
US energy consumption hit a record high last year, and emissions are on the rise again after years of decline. (2019, Source)
On a per-capita basis, Americans are also still the largest of the large emitters — at 16.5 metric tonnes, more than three times higher than the global average. So here’s where we need to do the work, and where we can achieve the greatest gains.
It’s also not just global warming. The world is facing a series of converging crises that are increasingly dire existential emergencies. Biodiversity loss, which “will alter the functioning of ecosystems and their ability to provide society with the goods and services needed to prosper.” (2012, Source) Toxic chemicals in the air, water, and soil; depletion of scarce minerals; the accumulation of wastes; and increasing levels of human conflict, oppression, and refugee migration. Etc. Unless we set ourselves on the path to a different future, our children and grandchildren will face the bleak reality of ecological, social, and ultimately psychological collapse.
So there’s a lot of work to do. This is, as they say, an “all-hands-on-deck” emergency. It’s not too late to change course, but there are a series of looming “tipping points” that will make doing so increasingly difficult. Sea level rise, ocean acidification, disruption of oceanic and atmospheric currents, soil depletion and erosion, methane release from thawing permafrost, increased flooding, heatwaves, forest fires, and so on. We need to make systemic changes on virtually every level, and we need to correct longstanding injustices and persistent ignorance, prejudice, and the tendency to resort to violence in regulating human affairs.
As Victoria puts in, in more down-to-earth terms,
We’ll be traveling the state and the country, promoting regenerative community solutions. Primarily, we’ll be catalyzing the work in energy efficiency and renewable energy that we’ve been championing for the last 8 years (our PACE bill in the NJ Legislature should be signed this year, finally). Also, we’ll be encouraging the formation of agrihoods and ecovillages, organic agriculture, forest management, etc. that watersheds and bioregions can foster to become more economically, socially and environmentally resilient. Climate change necessitates the development of local resources, as evidenced in the pandemic.
Who this site is for
Our goal is to build a virtual community who are along on the ride with us — fellow crew members of Spaceship Earth, with who we can exchange information, knowledge, and opportunities for action in regenerating the planet.
[More to come…]