Originally posted on turn21.org
Just as we once thought our parents could always protect us, as we grow up we realize we must take personal responsibility for our own well-being. So it is with our relationships to natural systems. For too long, people have acted childishly with the land – its carrying capacity, water resources, fossil fuels and more. The stakes are too high for humankind to refuse to grow up.
Part of growing up is realizing that we are in a dire situation on a planetary scale, a tipping point. The combination of exponential population growth coupled with climate change and ocean acidification are just three of the coalescing impacts that mathematically make our chances of success smaller than one would hope. Growing up is not easy.
The other part of growing up is not throwing a temper tantrum every time something doesn’t go our way. Instead, solutions to problems must be sought. One works to survive, and often for the benefit of more than just oneself. A grown up looks down the road to plan for what must be done, going to the university in preparation for a career, saving money for a home, planting a fruit tree to eat well in the future, etc.
The growing up we talk about at Turn21 has to do with shedding old, unsustainable ways and realizing that it is too late to merely be sustainable, an achievement of numerous native cultures, which lived in relative harmony with nature for thousands of years. We have ruined the earth to such a great extent that we must become a regenerative society, one that plants more trees than it cuts, sinks more carbon than it burns, builds more soil than it erodes, and sinks more clean water than it extracts.
This is the conversation, the conversation that must be had, continuously. And if you are not having such conversations every day, then start by making the 21st of each month your personal reminder that it will take all of us, acting in unison, to turn this massive “earth ship” around.
But we can and must do more!
What does it mean to take action on the 21st? In the past, we have asked you to tell a friend about Turn21. To commit to staying awake and joining those in the know who see these as truly transformational times, for good or for ill. And to share how society as we know it cannot continue on its current trajectory without correction. And while this is still a great action to take, we can and must do more.
So Turn21 is stepping up the game, and has a “challenge” for you. Challenge is in quotes because what we really want is for you to throw a party, a Turn21 party!
Here is how it works: Host a dinner, a coffee, a dance party, you name it, on this February 21. Invite your friends and future friends on our rallying day and get the conversation going about what Turn21 means to you. Talk about the problems, talk about the solutions, and see what action you can inspire in your community. Send us your pictures, ideas, actions taken, post it to social media, and let’s create a global network of celebrating our way to success!
Imagine a world where every month, on the 21st, we come together as local communities and underscore the importance of everyone growing up together, of making the shift we all know must be made, and reminding ourselves of not only what must be done, but what great things have already been done.
Join the team! The only costs are your time and willingness to take a step or two out of your comfort zone! It’ll be a helluva party! Come as you are! Join us!
Evolution is the revolution! For ideas on specific actions visit turn21.org.