Sustainability workshop

Sustainability and its related environmental aspects are one of the most important issues facing all of us and planet earth. The world is facing a sustainability and climate change crisis. I applaud and support the youth movement called the extinction rebellion. It is focused on man-made destructive climate change. It is trying to overcome the inertia, downright denial and counter misinformation put out by impure profit focused commercial enterprises and governments in obeyence to them.

The extinction rebellion (XR) arose because youth saw the threat that most commercial enterprises and governments are ignoring.

In summary, the extinction rebellion states:

Life on Earth is in crisis. Our climate is changing faster than scientists predicted and the stakes are high. Biodiversity loss. Crop failure. Social and ecological collapse. Mass extinction. We are running out of time, and our governments have failed to act. Extinction Rebellion was formed to fix this.

1. Tell the truth.

Governments must tell the truth by declaring a climate and ecological emergency, working with other institutions to communicate the urgency for change.

2. Act now.

Governments must act now to halt biodiversity loss and reduce greenhouse gas emissions to net zero by 2025.

3. Beyond politics.

Governments must create and be led by the decisions of a Citizens’ Assembly on climate and ecological justice.

The science is clear. Our future is not.

We are on the brink of a global catastrophe. Life on Earth is in danger, with scientists agreeing we are entering a period of climate and ecological breakdown. From wildfires to heatwaves, droughts to rising sea levels, the symptoms of our inaction will only worsen, the longer we take to address the causes of this crisis.

What Makes XR Different?

We are paving a different path. The world we want to live in requires a culture that is healthy, creative, resilient and adaptable. We are facing tough choices and so far, these catastrophes have been met with little effort from governments and institutions to change the trajectory we are on.

The way to the answer

The answer lies in sustainability. This means changing the current economic growth model and resource use scenario to a balanced approach. But that is a big challenge - after all most enterprises are based on a growth economic model, that consumes the earth's resources without replenishment.

STARS provides an environmental theme with suggestions on how to achieve sustainability. This theme explains the climate change science. Remember science is based on FACTS, but opinion and misinformation are based upon beliefs (which are very often not factual). Sustainability reaches beyond just the climate change issue, to cover:

overconsumption
overpollution
overpopulation
over use of resources

To support youth initiatives in areas like sustainability and the extinction rebellion, the STARS Sustainability workshop provides participants with:

An introduction to the science of climate change
An overview of how commercial enterprise and governments are spreading misinformation and in some cases outright lies on how man-made climate change is a fabrication
An introduction to how to personally live more sustainably
What can be done as a community
An overview of how to help the XR movement change the government and commerical enterprise agendas

Participants are encouraged to share their own experiences.