Toni Martin Giles  (ELP 2021) | Midia Lab Coordinator, Unilivre Universidade Livre do Meio Ambiente Curitiba, Brazil

Part I 

We are, in fact, at a very delicate moment when it comes to the issue of climate change and its harmful effects. Perhaps more than ever the Beahrs Environmental Leadership Program (ELP) participants should band together and make this an almost warlike mission. 

Yes, we are at war against climate change. According to the latest IPCC report, extreme weather events caused by climate change manifest themselves more intensely. Intense frosts in Brazil causing damage to agriculture, thawing in the Andes and Arctic, intense heat in Canada, the city of Liton reaching 49.6 ℃, 3 degrees higher than the 44.3 ℃ temperature in Brazil, in Siberia the tundra also burned, Germany faced historic floods leaving more than 200 dead, and there were torrential rains in China. 

If we look for an analogy in medicine I will say that the world suffers from high blood pressure where its biggest enemy to fight is the use of salt in every meal. In the case of our planet Earth, as has been scientifically proven, the enemy to fight is the release of carbon into the atmosphere. The consequences of arterial hypertension lead to a reduction in human life expectancy, doctors indicate a drug treatment associated with dietary reeducation and healthier lifestyle habits. And in the case of our beloved Earth, are we going to remain immobile and watch her pass away? 

I wonder how long the planet and its inhabitants will remain asleep in the face of a devastating picture of climate change. What most needs to happen to generate reactions? More natural catastrophic events? Radical changes in the awareness of the climate problem translate into practical actions at all levels of our human society. More than ever we need to remove salt/carbon from our lives/Planet Earth if we want to survive. And this must be an immediate and lasting action. 

The decade 2020-2030 is considered to be the decade of immediate action: Restore, Conserve and Preserve Ecosystems, and Correcting the Environmental Liability as an Immediate Action Plan. In Brazil, we have watched astonished by the government of President Bolsonaro, just as the Trump administration was an unfortunate moment of self-destructive blindness that took us against what needs to be done in the world. The timid fight against the COVID-19 pandemic has claimed more than 550,000 lives in our beloved Brazil. How long will we remain spectators of our own destruction? Do we have to book tickets to Mars or other galactic destinations to survive? I personally love the Earth, do you? 

Part II 

The participation of all countries, governments, companies, international organizations, and NGOs will be essential. However, let us remember that institutions do not promote actions, but the people associated with these organizations do. So the focus should be on people and not their organizational tools and then we need to work together in a close network, like friendship clubs or family relations usually do. 

Why do friends act more efficiently than strangers? My thesis is to boost the degree of friendship as an essential tool for any emergency issue that requires maximum action. What appears to be a socialization action of lesser importance should be widely implemented in a professional relationship network in any sector, and especially in the areas of climate change mitigation and direct action networks. 

I argue that betting on the quality of a friend’s network is essential to integrate projects with greater engagement and taking effective actions. Since 2001, the Beahrs ELP has built a network of more than 700 leaders located in over 110 countries worldwide. Such a network must be observed with great care and attention and, above all, should reinforce it with periodic investments in the quality of the network. These are keys to this objective of integration into campaigns for the mobilization and transfer of knowledge and information. 

What is the next step? It is not enough to be part of a group of environmental leaders like the Beahrs ELP network in Berkeley if we do not encourage and have the maximum integration of participating nodes, through simple and efficient actions such as exchanges of information about family, interests, hobbies, presentation of way of life, cuisine, music, traditions and human values. 

Conclusion 

The union of people is essential to combat climate change, and the quality of this network is essential to achieving lasting results. Thus, the formation of networks of highly trusted people should be one of our main goals and motivating our networks through growing trust and bringing people together. It's not enough to create a professional network, we need to develop and exercise the greatest possible degree of friendship.