As we travel city to city on the 2020 or Bust world tour, it’s good I think to keep in front of us what we are actually inviting people to attend. What are these events for, really? What are we out to accomplish, really? What is the ask of these convenings? What is it that we want people to walk away with?
Clearly, one aspect of these offerings is to let people know about the work of 2020 or Bust in such a way that they see not only the opportunity to end the climate crisis, but also the role that they can play in its ending. That, in and of itself, would be quite an accomplishment, and it is the crux of what we promote as what these events are all about. However, if that is all that is accomplished, then I think we will have missed the big picture of the opportunity these gatherings present.
2020 or Bust gives people something to deal with, something central to the campaign: their own complacency, resignation and lack of any real power to effect significant and lasting change in the world. That lack of power, real power, is what 2020 or Bust is out to disrupt.
For this campaign to provoke the kind of civilization-altering power that it was designed to provoke, we need to be darn clear that at the core of this campaign is the profound opportunity for people to explore and confront their own bullshit. It is only from that kind of “getting straight with oneself” as to the real deal of their own powerlessness that the new context for dealing with climate change becomes available, not only for climate change but for all of what there is to deal with in the world. The context that is, “This is mine.”
This offering of what we give people to deal with—and offering it in a way that is engaging and inspiring—is central to this campaign. Not there in the foreground of our promotion and inviting, but absolutely there in the foreground for ourselves as we create these convenings. Convenings not merely of individuals but of humanity itself, where people leave with at least the beginnings of a say in the matter of the human condition, and not merely with the latest solution to the latest crisis.
Thank you for the incredible opportunity of our partnership.