Having been started earlier this year by young climate activists skipping school in protest of the changing climate and its adverse effects, the FridaysForFuture movement has now grown so big that come Friday, the 20th of September 2019, a call has been made for a global climate strike. With the same demand for serious action to fight climate destruction, the global strike calls for people to even walk out of workplaces and homes in protest. The call has been heard. People are responding positively in large numbers. This stir is unprecedented and the social convergence that has come with it is – to say the least – incredible! To see millions of people from all around the world getting informed on this important subject and sensing a need to act makes the whole team at OpenForests extremely happy. We feel hopeful of a future where the planet and its environment thrive.
Despite all this constructive energy flowing in the same and what we perceive as the right direction, we were still confronted with the question if an organization like ours should take part in the strike and stay away from work. We wondered if environmental organizations not striking would cripple the movement in any way. This niggling question sent us on a reflective and explorative journey. We heard reasons of activists and organizations for wanting to join the strike. We also heard those who wished to stay away from it. After weeks of such deep exchanges, the voice in our hearts grew clearer and we recognized our role in this movement. The activists are calling for action – right now. We hear this call as one that is not only for polluters, politicians, and others responsible for the crisis but also for organizations like ours who contribute to the cause of climate protection through their ‘work’. The climate protection movement is multi-faceted and all the contributions count. Our most significant contribution is our ‘work’, some of which we view as critical as medical attendance or news reporting, but just in the area of forests and landscapes. Our work is our strike, and we strike every day! We believe that this hard, good and needed work must not stop. By ‘doing’ our work, we feel that we answer the critical voices and requests of the activists and climate strikes, and add strength to the whole movement.
Are we the only ones who feel this way? No, we are not. Germany-based BUZZN is both an enterprise and a social movement for a conscious energy transition. Stefan Erbacher is a BUZZN team member and a good friend. In a conversation last month, Stefan said that every day that he and his team spend away from working on serving the energy needs of the society in a sustainable manner is a day of opportunity for large conventional energy-based corporations to advance their unsustainable activities. This is their reason for continuing with their hard work on the 20th of September. Many other professional friends of ours and planet-loving people voiced similar thoughts.
Our work is our strike, and we strike everyday!
At OpenForests, we salute the effort of the climate activists from all over the globe and wholly agree with their intentions of striking. While our demonstrating friends make their critical voices heard by the lawmakers and industries, our support to the cause would be to spend yet another crucial day doing the hard, good and needed work of helping forests grow in numbers, ecosystems becoming stronger and people growing closer to the planet. For our readers who care for the climate but are still not sure of what role they can play in this movement, we encourage you to join the global climate strike on the 20th of September and make the critical voice grow bigger and stronger.
To know more about OpenForests’ work, please read here.
