The poetry and prose of 100% renewable energy for all
Working on The Leap manifesto over the last few months with a group
of thinkers and activists brought together by Naomi Klein, I alternated
between thinking “Yes – that is what I’ve meant to say all these years”
and “That’s a great idea, wish I’d thought of it.”
The Leap Manifesto
is poetry. As a quasi-professional purveyor of doom and gloom, working
on it reminded me of the wonderful things that can happen if we take the
climate challenge seriously:
We could live in a country powered entirely by truly just
renewable energy, woven together by accessible public transit, in which
the jobs and opportunities of this transition are designed to
systematically eliminate racial and gender inequality. Caring for one
another and caring for the planet could be the economy’s fastest growing
sectors. Many more people could have higher wage jobs with fewer work
hours, leaving us ample time to enjoy our loved ones and flourish in our
communities.
We know that the time for this great transition is short. Climate
scientists have told us that this is the decade to take decisive action
to prevent catastrophic global warming. That means small steps will no
longer get us where we need to go.
