This is the sixth and final installment in a series co-produced by Occupy.com and Popular Resistance leading up to the Climate Convergence and People's Climate March, happening this Saturday and Sunday, Sept. 20-21, in New York City. Read the first article here, the second article here, the third article here, the fourth article here, and the fifth article here.

The recent Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change and National Climate Assessment reports make it clear: the climate crisis is here. In fact, a current study out of Princeton about the yearly carbon budget we must adhere to in order to keep temperature rise below 2°C recommends that within four years, or by 2018, we cannot produce any more gas-fueled cars or build new power plants or buildings unless they are replacing old ones or are carbon-neutral.

This is a big lift in a short time frame. As we have written, the United Nations and U.S. government are so corrupted by big business and finance that they have become conduits for greater corporate rights, false market-based solutions and increasing privatization of land, water and other essential commons. Considering that over the past several decades the amount of globally released greenhouse gases (GHGs) has increased considerably, this is the time not only for specific demands but for urgent action.

There will be thousands of people in New York around the climate talks and summit next week. This is our opportunity to advance the building of a broad climate justice movement that lays a path to real climate solutions coming from the grassroots level. That path will necessarily include resistance to harmful policies and practices as well as constructive work to build alternative systems and practices that replace them.

The impacts of the climate crisis are broad, and the work to mitigate and adapt to them must also be broad – changing the systems that are causing the crises we face into systems that are more just and equitable. There is work for each of us to do.

Fortunately, at the same time that those in power are making plans to profiteer from the climate crisis, civil society groups around the world have been meeting and publishing statements on real solutions based on the rights of nature and ‘Buen Vivir’ (Good Living). These and recent reports will help to steer our course toward climate justice and sustainability.

Laying the Groundwork for Real Solutions

In Copenhagen in 2009, an alternative summit called the Klimaforum09 was organized by scientists, academics, activists, artists and people from more than 100 countries. Unlike the UN climate meeting, Klimaforum09 was free and open to the public. In addition to exhibitions, there were presentations, cultural events and debates.

At the end of this summit, participants issued a statement that called for a “just and sustainable transition of our societies to a form that will ensure the rights of life and dignity of all peoples and deliver a more fertile planet and more fulfilling lives to future generations.” It outlined the causes of the climate crisis within a global economic system that creates unequal access to and ownership of resources, a culture of patriarchy, and a failure to “recognize that the human species is part of both nature and society and cannot exist without either.”

It also outlined clear demands for the UN that included moving rapidly away from fossil fuels, providing reparations and compensation to Southern countries in energy transition, taxing carbon, avoiding false market-based solutions, reigning in transnational corporate power and forcing institutions like the World Bank to respect sovereignty and promote cooperation and genuine, sustainable development.

At the same time that it listed these demands, the Klimaforum09's statement reflected people's unwillingness to wait for change from above – and called for a global movement of movements to work together and implement the just transition.

Four months after that event, the World Peoples’ Conference on Climate Change and the Rights of Mother Earth was held in Cochabamba, Bolivia – the site of the 2000 Water War that forced Bechtel Corporation out of the Bolivian water market and marked an early, major victory in the global movement of people defending themselves against corporations. The 2010 conference concluded with the Peoples’ Agreement of Cochabamba. Similar to the Klimaforum09 statement, the Cochabamba statement pointed to capitalism as a system at odds with addressing the climate crisis.

This is because capitalism is an economic system that requires constant growth – something that is not possible on a finite planet. The world’s population is already consuming resources at a level greater than capacity. We are now in a lag period between current over-consumption and its endpoint – a lack of resources – and we're already starting to feel some of the effects.

The Cochabamba statement read: “Humanity confronts a great dilemma: to continue on the path of capitalism, depredation, and death, or to choose the path of harmony with nature and respect for life.” Where capitalism places profit as the highest priority, even at the cost of exploiting people's health and harming the Earth – the statement described a new and more harmonious system based on specific community and planetary principles and rights. Held on Earth Day, the conference delineated this system in a Universal Declaration of Rights of Mother Earth.

The new economic system proposed in Bolivia reflected the growing concept of “Buen Vivir,” or Good Living, which Eduardo Gudynas describes as “a way of doing things that is community-centric, ecologically-balanced and culturally-sensitive.” It is in line with the rising global social solidarity economy that we call a democratized economy, in which people exercise more control over and benefit from the economy through greater participation in the decisions that affect their lives.

Buen Vivir is congruent with the ideas of the "wellbeing economy" and "economics of happiness," both of which are steadily entering public dialogue. Research shows that money enhances wellbeing to a certain point, after which more money brings less happiness. Once people are able to meet their basic needs, more material goods do not increase their wellbeing. In fact, they harm it. Perhaps this is why many Indigenous cultures view people who accumulate excessive goods as mentally ill.

The climate crisis does force us to make a choice about what future we want to have – but that future can be a better one, for everyone, than what we're currently experiencing. Out of this crisis comes the opportunity to think boldly and restructure our society, and our ways of living in it, so that we and the people around us are healthier, happier and more secure.

How Do We Get There?

The path out of the climate crisis is the same as the path for all of the crises that we face. Whether you are concerned about water, food security, housing, education, health care, the environment or worker rights, these issues share common obstacles: namely, a plutocratic government that cannot respond to the public’s needs and a global economy that is based on predatory financial capitalism, also called neo-liberalism.

The solution is to build a mass movement of movements in which we all see that our issues are connected and work together to be more effective in addressing the common crises we face. This movement of movements features two responsibilities that go hand-in-hand: stop harmful policies and practices, and build alternative systems based on common values to replace the current dysfunctional systems.

Research looking at the past century of resistance shows that no government of any form has been able to endure with the status quo when a mere 3.5% of the population is mobilized, reflecting majority consensus on the change that people desire. We have written more about this in “History Teaches We Have the Power to Transform the Nation, and Here’s How.” Meanwhile, studies show that the global population is becoming increasingly mobilized, as numbers of protests are rising.

Protests are necessary at multiple levels, from the community to the state, national and international policies and institutions. Many communities are actively resisting new fossil fuel and nuclear power plants, mountaintop removal for coal, oil and gas extraction, and uranium and other mining. Others are organizing to stop privatization of water and infrastructure, corporations that pollute, and the financial institutions that fund them.

There are also ongoing protests and campaigns to change public policy so there is greater accountability and transparency in government, international institutions like the World Bank and World Trade Organization, and transnational corporations such as Chevron and Monsanto. In addition to protest, other forms of resistance include using the courts and economic tactics such as boycotts, divestment and strikes. The Albert Einstein Institute lists nearly 200 nonviolent tactics.

As we bring a stop to harmful policies and practices, we also need alternative policies and institutions that serve the values and principles of the new society we are creating to replace the old ones. This creative work, known as constructive program, is very broad because the climate crisis has such far-reaching impacts. Constructive program needs to occur at every level, from the individual to global society. There is something for every person to contribute.

Our tasks include steps to both mitigate and adapt to the climate crisis. A recent article by David Roberts points out that mitigation is something that we do for which the whole world benefits. For example, our cities' reductions in carbon emissions are critical not just for our communities but will impact other regions on Earth and future generations. Adaptations, such as creating local food networks, are actions that primarily affect us personally or our communities – so it is tempting to focus more on these types of changes. But to truly achieve climate justice, we will need to put an emphasis on mitigation as well.

The statements from the Klimaforum09 and World Conference in Cochabamba list real solutions for a just and sustainable transition. They range from obligations facing developed countries, which are the biggest consumers and polluters, to developing nations that are bearing the brunt of the climate crisis, to new systems ready to be put in place at various levels. These include renewable energy, changes in agricultural practices, food sovereignty, urban and rural land use planning, buildings, transportation, handling waste, developing new economies and more.

The range of work being done to develop these alternative institutions and practices is too vast to be covered here, as all over the world people are working together to develop and test new ways of living and meeting our needs sustainably. The Internet aids this by allowing people to collaborate and share information across great distances.

One big change involves moving rapidly to a carbon-free, nuclear-free energy economy. Nuclear engineer Arjun Makhijani has outlined a roadmap to accomplish this within several decades. And a recent report from Stanford provides detailed information on ways each U.S. state can move to 100% renewable energy by 2050. The city of Burlington, VT, for example, just announced its complete transition to renewables this week.

The new Trade Unions for Energy Democracy is a large international coalition of unions dedicated not only to the transition to renewable energy but also to democratizing energy resources and addressing energy equity. While some countries or regions consume too much energy and will need to cut back, others lack access to sufficient energy to meet people's basic needs, and they will need more. The coalition's plan is discussed in “Resist, Reclaim, Restructure: Unions and the Struggle for Energy Democracy.”.

Strengthening the "Movement of Movements"

There are many websites you can visit to read more about what people are doing to make the just energy transition. Articles and links are listed on our site PopularResistance.org under “Create”. More immediately, thousands of people from across the United States and around the world will be in New York this week for the United Nations climate meetings. Many groups are using the opportunity to build and strengthen the necessary Movement of Movements for climate justice.

Our organization is part of the Global Climate Convergence, which is partnering with System Change not Climate Change to organize the New York Climate Convergence (http://convergeforclimate.org/) on Sept. 19 and 20. It will consist of plenaries and more than 100 workshops and skill shares focused on real solutions to the climate crisis and discussion on how to work together more strategically. Speakers include frontline organizers, activists who are part of the global climate justice movement, scientists, academics, artists and more. Click here for the full schedule of events and names of speakers.

The next day, everyone will come together for the Peoples’ Climate March on Sunday, Sept. 21. Then, on Monday, Sept. 22, there will be a mass direct action against the climate profiteers on Wall Street under the banner of #FloodWallStreet. Additionally on Monday and Tuesday, the Climate Justice Alliance is holding a People’s Summit. Here is a list of even more events, as many who cannot travel to New York are organizing solidarity events locally.

Our tasks after this climate justice week will be to continue working together to make the just transition real. That work must take place in our neighborhoods and communities and through networks of organizations. Our window of opportunity for action to mitigate the climate crisis is narrow. And while it sometimes feels like an impossible burden, the reality is that people-powered movements have succeeded in making great changes before us. We can and must act now for climate justice.

Margaret Flowers and Kevin Zeese are organizers with Popular Resistance, which provides daily movement news and resources. Follow them @PopResistance.

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