Intro

One thing that is often a challenge to communicate about the climate crisis is that it's the greatest threat to -- and crime against -- humanity, most life and most future life ever, RIGHT NOW.

This Valentine's Day 2012, ecoSanity invites you to consider the 100th anniversary of the Titanic disaster (maiden voyage April 6, 1912, sank April 14/15, 1912) through the fictional love story depicted in the 1997 movie (like it or hate it) and the similarities between the circumstances that surrounded the real event then vs. the dire realities of the climate crisis NOW:

Coal (fossil fuel)-powered; was avoidable; multiple unheeded warnings; didn't react fast enough; fate sealed before anyone knew it; denial; tipping point beyond which ship had to break in two, then sink; poorest / lowest class / most vulnerable / least culpable suffered most, and so on.

When you watch the original trailer (above), yup, mega Anglo/white (just one person of colour on board who did not survive and was not depicted in the film). Heterosexual. Classist. Colonial. Symbolic of the limits and excess of our growth and consumption-based economic model, technological hubris, and more than a little bit of a metaphor for the (potential) 'end of the world'.

But with sympathetic characters you may care about / relate to in peril, who love, risk and sacrifice for each other through a tragedy of epic proportion, our intent is to help stir and elucidate the kind of intensity, emotion and sense of imminent danger we all need to connect to in order to get to a mindset that can compel us to confront (with EMERGENCY action at EMERGENCY, world war-time speed) the true scale, scope and urgency (planetary EMERGENCY) of our shared, global predicament.

There's a lot to cover, so below is part 1 and a taste of part 2 (of 5), with the rest to follow between now and the actual April anniversary.

Contents (Bold below. Unbold to follow over the next few weeks.)

Betrayal will be a major theme for ecoSanity in 2012.

The brief excerpt below, from What love looks like: An interview with Tim DeChristopher by Terry Tempest Williams, Orion Magazine, spoke to our belief that the full, hard truth about the EMERGENCY of the climate crisis -- no matter how bad the news may be -- must be told, and most often isn't, even by many of the lead scientists and environmental organizations we trust to keep us informed.

While grief and despair may result in periods of paralysis, DeChristopher considers them to be essential phases in the enlightenment process because they can lead to the outrage and compassion necessary to move us beyond fears about what we could lose, or the supposed need for 'hope', and compel us to take action based on our moral beliefs about what's right, how we should behave and what we should stand for.

Many other points are made in the full version of the interview before and after the segment below, some of which we -- and you -- may agree with / relate to more than others, but several thoughtful insights, regardless.

Above: Post mortem vids. Below: Week 2 vids, week 1 vids, intro, summary, conclusion, resources.

Re-posted from The Guardian's Ultimate Climate Change FAQ. See original source here. Bold to emphasize the most culpable countries + links/resources at bottom under 'MORE' added by ecoSanity.

As you read on, keep in mind that, RIGHT NOW, our shared atmosphere is on an accelerating course to reach a state of potentially unsurvivable, runaway climate extremes during the lives of today's children. Only EMERGENCY international action at EMERGENCY speed *may be* proportional enough to confront the scale, scope and urgency of what is already the greatest crime against humanity, most life and most future life EVER. (See: Climate Change Human Impact Report)