Change the narrative from the bottom up, focus on the local / the people in front of you
The local birders community have already been working together across party lines. I choose this narrative right in front of me to define my world rather than the division imposed on us by the r
I received a newsletter from the Nature Conservancy about how Americans are actually pretty united on climate solutions at the local and state level.
I heard a similar story recently on the BBC; Democratic President Biden’s Inflation Reduction Act and Republican Governor Kemp's policies have promoted clean technology in the state of Georgia, creating tens of thousands of jobs in solar power plants and EV factories in rural areas. What I found interesting is that the facilitators of this development are mostly Republicans, and they don’t use the word climate change because it turns people off and that wouldn’t help the work. But they believe that these positive changes are irreversible, because the locals are already benefiting tremendously from them.
In the same report, members of the Georgia Interfaith Power and Light also said that they don’t use the word climate change for the same reason. Instead they talk about the importance of caring for the environment because it is God’s creation. These Christians said that working together in this effort is more important than political identities, and that it’s time for us to start pushing from the bottom up instead of the politicians at the top pushing their agenda down on us.
I found this interesting because I had just interviewed George Steele, an environmental educator from Amsterdam NY, for my bird-themed radio show Beakuency, and he told me about a program he organized with a Christian group that was based on this same idea. George said that as long as people care about nature, no matter where they think it came from, they can work together.
I’m not obsessed with facades either. I find hope in pragmatism. It lies in the local community, where things are personal rather than conceptual. When I look at the local birders community here in Columbia County, I see people who have already been working together across party lines. I choose this narrative right here in front of me to define my world rather than the division imposed on us by the rich and powerful. I’ve been developing an art project that explores this theme based on materials I’ve collected over the past two years through Beakuency, and I look forward to continuing it into 2025.
