Another World Is Possible: Let’s get this party started!

A new column from Sebastopol's Climate Action Committee urges you get up close and personal with the city's Climate Action Framework

by sunali shanti sikand

I believe another world is possible! A world with greater community resiliency while living in balance with the rest of existence is possible with the brilliant and creative minds and hearts of our community. I see what we have created - skyscrapers, airplanes, internet and windmills, the most fantastic wonders - we are magicians! What an epiphany to have that we are power-filled co-creators of this reality! 

The pandemic has helped forge fractures in the system as well as our own thinking. Reimagining the world we desire to create and be a part of seems more accessible. 

In July, the Climate Action Committee proposed a Climate Framework and the City Council of Sebastopol approved it. The framework is meant to guide our city in reaching carbon neutrality by 2030 with a focus on transportation, sustainable land use, buildings, clean energy, consumption and waste. Members from our community have already participated in providing input. This is a living document, which can be added and amended to. I believe having all of us contributing to it is paramount to its success. 

Sebastopol is RICH! Rich as a community of brilliant, creative, innovative minds that do have the luxury to dream, especially for those of us that have our bellies full and shelters secured. It is even more important for those that are in the grind, struggling to make ends meet, to have your input on these crucial matters that will influence the future of all of our lives. Your voices count and matter at this potent pivot point in the story of life!

So, as this framework comes to life in its first version, we invite you to invite friends over, have a happy hour, a potluck, meet over tea perhaps and dive deep into this framework, review it together and brainstorm ideas on how you can participate in implementing the framework in directing our future. 

Recently I came across a National Geographic from the 1970s warning us that our current trajectory at that time was leading us to an ecosystem catastrophe. 52 years ago, folx! 52! It has taken till 2022 to have the IPCC (Intragovernmental Panel on Climate Change) now declare a global recognition that we are f*****! The directive as to how we address the issue at hand should come from us, not top down. We need to activate ourselves in being a part of the re-evolution. Every single day we have the potential to re-create the reality we live in, and we should be able to have a direct design say. 

If the climate can change, so can we! We have gone to the moon and supposedly back! ;) If we can do that, we can certainly combine our powers to drive this relation-ship of life to leave an inheritance we would all revel in inheriting! While "god only knows" we ourselves could very well be that 7th generation. Afterall, our thoughts, words and actions are what Sunday inherits from Monday. 

Please share with your besties, your coworkers, the folx you meet in your days. Tell them all.

To find and provide your valuable feedback on the framework and for other ways to get involved through organic compost giveaways, the uncycled community heART project and more,  please visit HERE. The Climate Action Committee values you and your input. Please feel free to also email us directly as well ClimateActionCommittee@cityofsebastopol.org.

sunali shanti sikand is a Sebastopol resident and business owner since 1998 and a member of the Climate Action Committee of Sebastopol.