‘There is enough for everyone's need but not for everyone's greed".Gandhi.

When we think about positive solutions to climate change we have to think about its root causes. We have to face up to the fact that climate change is about resource use and is largely the result of consumerist values and lifestyles in the developed North. True solutions therefore don’t allow for the continuation of high-consumption lifestyles, but relate to profound changes in what we consume and in how we organise our daily lives. No one is saying that this will be easy. We can start by accepting that change must come from us. It's no good waiting for governments to enforce radical change - they simply won't do it. By taking the initiative, we actually reclaim power as inhabitants of our planet and can then begin to create a new world in the here and now.

And why isn't it going to be easy? We live in a system where we are repeatedly told from the day we're born that buying things will make us happy. We're told that we 'need' things which are in reality not needs but wants (and in a time of climate crisis many are actually luxuries). Corporations spend billions upon billions reiterating the message that we will be happy if we just find the right product. And all the time industry continues to exploit and destroy the planet (and its people) to keep churning out the plastic trash that we do not need. And when we buy the advertised entertainment goods, or clothes or even food, so much of which is made and grown on the other side of the world, rather than creating and growing these things ourselves (which is possible), we use a huge amount of resources in transportation. Not to mention losing the joy of creating and providing for ourselves! Instead, we buy, we use, we throw away - forgetting that there is no "away". And while recycling and composting are good and necessary, they are in no way enough as solutions to climate chaos.

So how do we go about changing our high consumption lifestyles? Obviously it would be great if society en masse decided to re-localise agriculture, seriously invest in public transport or pull the plug on the advertising industry - but that's not currently looking too likely, is it? And therefore, as well as struggling to bring about these systemic changes as we do in our campaigning work, we also need to look to our own lifestyles. Look around and see how you live, how you can reduce your resource use in your home, slowly expanding your new ways of living into your local neighbourhoods, communities and places of work. Yes, we've all become attached to things that are not sustainable, and some changes will take grit and determination but on our side is the fact that we can work collectively to create and embrace new lifestyles, and in so doing re-create the hugely valuable sense of community that is being lost from our modern lives.

Below we have created a list of links to various websites that relate to positive solutions. Some will suit you down to the ground, others will not. There is no one answer and all we hope is, given that most of our website is given over to facing up to and confronting corporate climate criminals (something we highly recommend), that some of these sites will help you to think about how you want to start changing your lifestyle too.

There is a global climate justice movement rising up, and it's not just about confronting the root causes of climate change, it's also about creating a new world in the ruins of the old.

If there has ever been a time to do that, that time is now.
3ºarticle:

risingtide.org.uk/resources/positivesolutions