“To hope for some result means you have given up any agency concerning it.”

The implication is that by placing our ‘hope’ in Obama, in Congress, in the UN, we tacitly resign ourselves to the idea that the outcomes are out of our hands.

I agree – but only if you define ‘Hope’ as a ‘passive’ thing.

If you instead define hope in ‘active’ terms, as does David Orr (here: http://www.treehugger.com/files/2008/01/the_th_interview_david_orr_3.php ), you can reclaim the word ‘hope’ from its superficial campaign branding, and then discover a much truer definition of ‘hope’ – hope through action, and hope in the movement. It is when you understand deeply this definition of hope – as distinct from naive, passive optimism and faith – that you can truthfully use the ‘language of certainty’.

I suggest that deep in his heart, even Derrick Jensen shares this ‘hope’ in the movement:
“And when you quit relying on hope, and instead begin to protect the people, things, and places you love, you become very dangerous indeed to those in power.”

But Derreck leaves me in the dust. I have turned my negativity into acceptance and cynicism rather than a spur to action. I imagine that we are reliving exactly what happened so many years ago on Easter Island – petty little selfishness, inability to cede a little of one’s own advantage for the common good. After reading this I will have to reconsider my passivity.

This is a great article, Derreck. As Tim has pointed out in the past, inspiring yet harrowingly realistic articles like this are going to be a good first step to help people get out of their shells and onto the streets, including myself. All of us suffer from varying levels of despair and lethargy at times regarding the various ecological crises our planet faces, and we have to delicately balance realism – which often topples into despair – with a larger feeling of participation in a vibrant, young, and historically unparalleled movement for global environmental and socioeconomic justice.

In terms of the spiritual tradition which I understand the best – Islam – there’s a lot related to this ethical imperative of “avoiding foolish hope.” There’s a fantastic quote from the Quran where it says that “God does not change a people until they change themselves.” It sounds simple, but it has a number of deeper meanings, and one of the most important meanings is that of divine grace granted to individuals who prove themselves better than their peers by holding fast to realism, even if realism is painful.

In Islam, the purpose of this existence is merely a test to discern which individuals are more suited to a noble position in the hereafter due to their deeds and character in this life. Therefore, we must understand that there are all kinds of ostensibly appealing but ultimately deceptive traps that are set for us in this life – the “apples of Eden” – in order to discern whether we’ve passed the test, and to know if we actually deserve the blessings of God or if we’re just a bunch of hypocrites that want an easy way out. From the perspective of modern industrial civilization, consumer culture and high-kilowatt “green” culture is this apple that the evil one tempts us with. If we’re culpably intertwined with any coddling ideology which hides immense injustice by spoonfeeding us with opiates or placebos – whether they be shopping malls, Hummers, SUVs, clean coal, a few organic bagels, a “foolish hope” that somebody else like Obama will solve the problem, or anything else – it is imperative upon us to consciously break away from these placebos and tools of hypnotists, even if it is a painful process. God is not going to help us out until we “change ourselves,” or rip the rotten bark away from the stem which comprises our spiritual core. Once we admit to ourselves all of the subtle and often subconscious lies which ease the burden on our shellshocked consciences, we can then help individuals warm up to participation in real solutions – solutions which require hard work and struggle, such as community organizing, massive protests, civil disobedience, and disassociation from public and private individuals who discourage our own moral resolve for environmental peace. We are up against very, very evil forces who don’t give a shit about the planet, and they have a lot more money than we do. So we’re gonna have to get smart, and we’re gonna have to purify ourselves of all the bullshit and the foolish hope. God’s not gonna change our own state unless we wake up and smell the coffee ourselves.

Not many people are pulling the spiritual imperative out of the climate change narrative at a level effective enough to punch the average Joe in the face. If we were able to do this, God willing, it could be an effective turning point in the struggle for climate justice. This is no joke – our generation literally deserves eternity in hellfire for the resource burden that we will bring upon later generations due to our own decadent waste of water, oil, air, etc. I believe, however, that if we begin to infuse the environmental justice movement with a strong spiritual component, we might be able to turn the tide in America and elsewhere. Remember that the civil rights and abolitionist movements both maintained some of their strongest support from spiritual communities. Climate change is a problem that will determine the trajectory of our own lives, the lives of many generations after us, and the lives of our souls in the hereafter. We must try to impart that to the American public.

If, as many indigenous and prophetic traditions including Islam state, this world is just a test to separate the brave and the truthful from those that are diseased inside their souls, then most of us in the developed world are failing that test with flying colors. But if we strive for truth and disassociate ourselves from lies, God might choose to bring a victory in our time in order to break the ice-cold stillness in Congress on climate change.

Part of the point of this article is that the deniers are not the problem. The problem is those of us who see the problem and hope that someone else is going to solve it. The most common form of passive inaction in Utah right now is the hope that once deniers get it, things will be ok. Worrying about what deniers think is just another way to avoid taking the necessary action to protect ourselves.