A Shift in the Game

Young People Rising — What‘s Your Endgame?

Rezwan Razani

Published in

Zero Carbon Playbook

6 min readJan 14, 2019

The #ClimateBreakdown Game is in progress…

Team Doom is dancing in civilization’s end zone. Totally dominating.

But, wait! Can it be? It looks like Team Earth is preparing to DO SOMETHING! Check out the uptick in action:

There’s a Green New Deal (“GND”) taking shape, very much youth driven; [Update: Here’s the official GND Resolution].
The new Energy Innovation and Carbon Dividend Act is in motion, as of Dec. 19 (Thanks & Congratulations to Citizens Climate Lobby!);
There’s an #ExtinctionRebellion in progress;
The children’s climate lawsuit against the government is…pending an interlocutary appeal? Not sure what that means. Maybe they need more pro bono lawyers.
School kids, inspired by @GretaThunberg are engaged in the #FridaysForFuture #SchoolStrike. If you haven’t yet, you MUST watch Greta Thunberg’s TEDx talk:

Great to see so much action by youth. Kids are starting to seize the moment. As they should. It’s their future.

Adults seem slower on the uptake.

Like there was this one grandma…

This Grandma I met at a dinner party. She was telling me she understood climate change was a problem, but couldn’t be bothered to take action if it would cost her more money: “Sure, I’ll stop using plastic bags, but I won’t pay an extra cent for paper bags. Because I’m too cheap. Ha ha ha!” She laughed, amused by her own thrift.

It’s not funny, lady! Also, what a weirdly specific and peripheral scenario.

A few minutes later, she takes out a picture of her granddaughter.

To show off what an adorable granddaughter she has, of course.

Never mind that her inaction and attitude are condemning that dear child to unimaginable horrors.

So.

Where does that leave us?

With some questions.

Will Grandma mend her ways and face this problem at the scale required?
Will the granddaughter end up joining the class-action lawsuit of young v. old?
And aside from blaming old people and suing the government, are young people going to come up with a viable solution set to get us out of this predicament?

Old People, Young People: What’s Your Endgame?

GK Chesterton once said:

I believe what really happens in history is this: the old man is always wrong; and the young people are always wrong about what is wrong with him. The practical form it takes is this: that, while the old man may stand by some stupid custom, the young man always attacks it with some theory that turns out to be equally stupid.

OK, sorry. That sounded insulting.

The point is — do you want to solve this thing or what?

Time is of the essence. We’re up against Team Doom. While it is exciting to see young people rising up for action — heads up! Your action could turn out as misguided as your action-avoiding elders.

Let’s take a look at the action plan.

What Is Your Plan?

Good news! A key function of the Green New Deal (GND) is to “develop a detailed national, industrial economic mobilization plan” (Hereinafter the “Plan”).

Lord knows, we need a plan. CEOs don’t have a plan. Not just CEOs. Al Gore Doesn’t have a plan.

But the Green New Deal is gearing up to supply a plan.

A Plan…

…for the transition of the United States economy to become greenhouse gas emissions neutral and to significantly draw down greenhouse gases from the atmosphere and oceans and to promote economic and environmental justice and equality. In furtherance of the foregoing, the Plan shall: (a) be prepared in consultation with experts and leaders from business, labor, state and local governments, tribal nations, academia and broadly representative civil society groups and communities; (b) be driven by the federal government, in collaboration, co-creation and partnership with business, labor, state and local governments, tribal nations, research institutions and civil society groups and communities; © be executed in no longer than 10 years from the start of execution of such Plan;

And they are giving themselves…

One Year To Complete The Plan

The select committee shall complete the Plan for a Green New Deal by a date no later than January 1, 2020.

This is Awesome!

At last! People are gearing up to decarbonize the economy! Fleshing out the plays in the playbook THIS YEAR! How will they do it? What’s the process?

Per the VOX article:

The first and thus far only serious effort to fill out the policy side came in a report from Greg Carlock at the upstart think tank Data For Progress.

But getting to a concrete policy platform..

…is largely going to fall on the shoulders of a young policy analyst whose name I suspect you will be hearing much more of: Rhiana Gunn-Wright…who…works for a relatively new policy shop called…New Consensus.

That’s a lot for one person to shoulder. Oh, wait! There’s also this:

The GND is, at its heart, a form of social-democratic populism. Its intent is to involve the entire citizenry in the shared project of adapting to the 21st century, and in so doing materially improve the quality of life of the poor and middle class.

Now They’re playing our song!

Did someone say, “involve the entire citizenry”? That’s what the Zero Carbon Coaching Clinic is all about!

To help every community, city and State develop their zero carbon game plan to win the race to zero carbon. That’s what the meeting on January 26 is for — a planning meeting to get this process up and running.

Now you may be thinking, well, why bother with a clinic? That sounds like a lot of work. Why not let the Green New Deal organizers take care of it! What we have to do as citizens is just vote the right people in, and they will hammer out the Green New Deal, and we can just sit back and…

NO!!!!

That’s a lame excuse for inaction. Another square in Climate Endgame Avoidance Bingo.

Leaving the Green New Deal to policy makers on the federal level is a bad idea.

This is a job for Zero Carbon Coaching Clinics in every locale.

You may not realize it yet, but all roads will eventually lead you to the zero carbon coaching clinic, so you may as well get on board already. At least watch the video (Coming to an eco film festival near you soon!)

We are way ahead of most in candid assessment of the options. Really. Watch the video. Then sign up for the workshop. Math, maps and open-eyed decision time!

It’s your planet. Own the process.

A few more distinctions between the Zero Carbon Coaching Clinic (ZC4) approach and the Green New Deal (GND):

ZC4 uses the term “Endgame” rather than “Plan”. ZC4 helps you think your plan through all the way to the endgame. We begin with the endgame in mind.
ZC4 is organized around States rather than the federal government. State focus allows for a more decentralized, organic, grass roots approach, to better reflect the character and preferences of that state. (This isn’t either or. Vital to have movement on the federal level as well.)
ZC4 is organized around a voluntary 50 state race rather than an imposed, top down, federal plan. This allows for a variety of plans to be deployed in parallel; red state, blue state and wild card solutions. Leveraging competition.

Are You Ready For Some Candid Conversations?

I am thrilled to hear that the Green New Deal starts with putting a plan on the table. Yes! Show us your plan! Show us your endgame! Play by Play! Step by Step! From A to Z-ro carbon.

We are very excited to facilitate the process and witness the unfolding discoveries. We’re all in for a wild ride! Green New Dealers, get ready to grapple with what it really takes to get to zero carbon. Be prepared for some surprises. Be prepared to be candid and bold!

If we want to win this game, this serious life and death game, this Race to Zero Carbon — we can’t blow this off. We need to play our best.

To zero Carbon and Beyond!