We have a new member!

Richard Knight

25d (edited) • 🌱 Introductions

Please welcome

@Suki Zoe

Suki is a fellow Green Party member and our social media Director for the East Hampshire Green Party.

But she is also my girlfriend.

So I am a very biased. All members are equal, but some are a little bit more... special. Sorry, but it is true.

We live in a world of individuals, some of whom have close family, but even they may be scattered across a nation or even across continents.

One of the greatest challenges facing us as we try to reduce the impact of the Climate Crisis is the need to connect with others, build alliances and friendships, build communities, and work together. Village life, for most of us, is not even a memory. So our understanding of what community looks like may be sketchy at best.

I have found recently that even when ideals overlap, you can have conflict. The sense of urgency battles with the concept of the right or wrong way to do things. Even when I feel our efforts are minuscule and will have no impact at all, I still want to do the right thing, say the right thing, treat others with respect, and yet I want to move forward quickly. We are in an emergency; tipping points loom on the horizon.

When my efforts seem thwarted by my colleagues, I feel panicked. We can battle over the minutiae of wording and intent, or we can do the best we can and keep moving. But the cost of haste can result in weeks of delay. The need to align efforts, again and again, is vital in order to avoid the kind of conflict that can tear nascent communities apart.

I find this requirement agonisingly frustrating, but I have found this last month even more painful as I see the results of pushing for speed, rather than understanding, have set us back.

The broken nature of our modern lives means that trust is low. Intention is doubted and tested. We are willing to offer some leeway, but we seek the proof that the other is genuine.

We are ready to pounce at the slightest hint that ill will is intended. It is understandable; there are so many examples of deviousness and self-serving actions all around us. The only way to overcome this is self-reflection, owning our own actions, then seeking to understand the other. When a conflict occurs, time is needed for this process to run its course.

When I see this happen within a group of just 11 people who all want "the same thing", I understand why it takes decades to get the world to believe that the Climate Crisis is real and to agree on what action to take to mitigate it. We need millions of people from many countries around the world to believe the data, learn to trust each other and collaborate to take action.

I feel that the more I do this work, two things happen. A quiet determination to continue learning and to share what I have found, and a strong pull to give up and have the best life whilst there is still so much to enjoy on the planet.

What I read makes me fearful of what we are forecast to experience. But that is a forecast - the future can still be changed.

The desire to go and live the best life with Suki, leaving all this behind, is strong. But so is the desire to do what I can to help shape what happens next - for my children, for Suki, for my friends, for my fellow members here. And for myself.

There is no reason why both cannot be pursued.

Back to work. Back to connecting with others, trusting, aligning, communicating - building community.

Welcome Suki!

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We have a new member!