Daniel Pinchbeck: I want to let you know about a new activist movement I am supporting, Extinction Rebellion. Our movement is using large-scale direct actions to pressure governments to move faster on climate change.

We have three immediate demands. One is that governments tell the truth about the ecological emergency we are facing as a species. The second is we move to carbon neutral by 2025. This is, obviously, an extreme position but it accords with what the hundreds of scientists who compiled the UN’s 2018 IPCC Report have told us: Without rapid collective action, global civilization will collapse in the next decades. We may in fact face our extinction as a species. The third demand is for a global citizen’s council, a participatory and democratic process that oversees governments in fulfilling the first two goals. 

Extinction Rebellion (XR) also has a set of principles. One of these is that the movement is decentralized and autonomous. This means anyone can start their own local offshoot if they support XR’s demands and abide by the principles. XR recently shut down a number of bridges in London. A few months later, the City of London declared a climate emergency and accelerated its timeframe for going carbon neutral significantly. Sustained public pressure can have a powerful impact, if people are willing to risk themselves for a greater cause. Governments need us to act. 

We have our first XR Mass Meeting in New York this Saturday afternoon. All the information is here. If you live locally, please come. If you don’t live locally, please start your own group and start mobilizing. 

We are out of time and we must act forcefully and quickly, or there will be no Earth for our children to inhabit. Please message me with questions or offers of support for the movement. 

The post Daniel Pinchbeck on why we need Extinction Rebellion appeared first on P2P Foundation.

An open farm day tour in Zsambok’s Organic Garden, Cargonomia’s organic farming partner. Credit – Logan Strenchock

The cooperative supplies more than 3,000 food boxes per year, with messengers cycling nearly 18,000 km while servicing a 27 km2 section of the city annually. This directly reduces the environmental impact of food production and distribution that at a global level accounts for about a quarter of global greenhouse gas emissions as well as an alarming amount of food waste.

Cargonomia operates from a hub that serves as the messenger dispatch centre; food box pickup point; do-it-yourself repair workshop for bicycles, clothing and electronics; and logistics centre for sustainable urban transport solutions where community members can borrow locally manufactured cargo-bikes. The site also serves as a space for community activities that focus on sustainable transitions, community building and ways to find alternatives to limitless, consumerist growth.

Cargonomia illustrates that prioritizing relationship-building, direct interaction and community development can trigger substantial reductions in carbon emissions while delivering important positive social impacts. By lending its cargobikes to neighbours, music bands, non-governmental organisations and artists, it has helped generate a growing interest in alternatives to motorized vehicles in Budapest. The wider impact of this localized network is felt most within the community through regular activities offering citizens open spaces for learning and exchange, creating conditions for meaningful dialogues between neighbours, craftspeople and volunteers.

Vincze with a cargobike loaded with organic vegetables and bread on a delivery day. Photo Credit: Stefan Roch

“What inspires me most about this initiative is the systems thinking that underpins the initiative bridges urban/rural livelihoods, and attempts to orientate the solidarity economy towards concrete political activity.”

– Bertie Russell

Would you like to learn more about this initiative? Please contact us.

Or visit cargonomia.hu

Transformative Cities’ Atlas of Utopias is being serialized on the P2P Foundation Blog. Go to TransformativeCities.org for updates.

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