The polar views within the climate struggle...

Each of us in the climate movement tends to view the struggle through the prism of our own anxiety.

In one camp, there are direct activists whose message of urgency will drive them to lay their bodies in the path of juggernauts to halt the descent into extinction. I absolutely respect their courage and the fear that drives it.

In the other camp we find patient, often painfully slow dialogue. Again, I have the utmost respect for the inner strength these activists exhibit. They continue with diplomacy while inside they boil with the same frustration and anxiety that drives their direct-action comrades.

Often these two camps misjudge each other. The direct activists feel, with justification, that time is too short for patient dialogue. The diplomats worry that their comrades’ direct-action approach will deepen the ideological divide which they are trying to bridge.

Of course, the Climate Struggle absolutely needs both these camps. And it needs the whole gamut in between. Between these two camps stand thousands - globally, millions - of citizens who struggle because of climate change. They struggle to live with it, they struggle to understand its vocabulary; given their personal obligations and commitments, they struggle to find any way they can avert the global catastrophe. They need a platform where they can quickly and unambiguously improve their understanding, and also where their urge to ‘do something’ can be directed towards the course of action best suited to their circumstances.

We acknowledge that there is a minority of people who will never take action. They cynically value their lifestyle over the lives of others, remote from them in geography or wealth.

That these people exist should not blind us to the huge majority who do not share their inhumanity. Our job is to empower the good majority in the face of the inhumane minority.

The four pathways forward...

Direct action, without which today’s climate conversations would not be happening. If the direct action were to stop tomorrow, the impetus for change would vanish under a stream of short-term problem solving.

Political discussion, lobbying and impressing political decision-makers with the absolute need for change. We urgently need this change, however we do have to recognise the reality of the possible. Some politicians are indeed wedded to the status quo, but contrary to our prejudices, many do understand the true meaning of Climate Emergency. The problem of solving global warming is extremely complex. Every possible solution brings side-effects, and even the best-intentioned politicians can feel ill-equipped to choose the right path. That is why we need to work with them, to tactfully guide their steps.

Economic and commercial change, brought about through dialogue. The profit-motive is literally the bottom line for business. However profit is really no more than an opinion. Profit can be engineered to appear in this country or another, it can be engineered to seem like a loss where that is beneficial to the company’s strategy. Commerce is hard-nosed, not ideological. Its strategies can be deduced and influenced. To do that we must improve our understanding and arguments in order to present climate action solutions that appeal to directors and share-holders.

Public education. We have surveyed a number of citizens, many of whom are as concerned as us about climate change. But the scale and urgency is not well understood. The climate struggle terrain is unclear to them from their perspective as busy parents and employees. Over 67% citizens are 'concerned' or 'very concerned' about the future under climate change. They are our allies; our ambition is to raise their knowledge of the issues and the ways to influence change.

Your Challenge!

Based on these four pathways, we need a reliable core of volunteers - four teams to progress down these four ways forward.

• If you are involved with direct activists, we need you to help liaise with them.

• If you are involved with lobbyists such as the Citizen Climate Lobby, we need you to help us work with them.

• If you understand commerce, can read past the smoke and mirrors of balance sheets and tax breaks, we need you.

• If you like reading stuff and telling people what it means, then you could join our Public Education team.