The climate change crisis in its current state has infiltrated the lives of every single human being on this planet, whether we are aware of it or not. The power of mother nature threatens to overwhelm us as we face the powers that push us further and further towards a catastrophic future. In the face of such chaos, each citizen of the earth must face their future and ask: what shall we become?
It is not an easy picture to look at, and climate science will make that clear. Violence, death, destruction, and uncontrollable change are at the center of each image of a warmer planet. We do what we can out of fear and shame, but still it has not been enough.
Where do we go from here?
A manifesto of hope; something so difficult to proclaim in the modern world. But human ambition that is driven by fear merely drives itself into its own grave, beaten hopeless and shredded by war. To look only into the terrifying future that we are capable of creating is to accept that what could be, will be.
With hope comes care, with care comes passion, with passion comes action, and with action comes change. To understand the roots of modern climate change and come out with a solution and the drive to see it through, finding our own hope is necessary. For each person it is different. But we all find ourselves linked back to that same central location: we need this planet, and it needs us. And to save both of our futures, we must choose to want that. Not because we have driven ourselves so far as to finally face the dire consequences of our actions, but because we have decided for ourselves what planet we want to live on and how we are going to create it. There is no last resort; there is only our better tomorrow.
The five phases of this declaration lay out the goals for creating a movement to end climate change based in optimism rather than pessimism: