The further we get into our causes the more likely we are to start believing that everyone shares our knowledge and assumptions and that can be dangerous. -Paul Rogat Loeb on WBAI

I like that quote from Loeb because people do retreat into their own ideological camps and next thing you know everybody’s ice grilling each other with their arms crossed, refusing to budge. I sensed a major shift around the Bush era in this country. People seemed more polarized than I have ever experienced in my life.

Suddenly if your beliefs were in opposition to another’s it was an indication of what kind of person they were. It was as if we were saying, “If that’s what you think then you’re not my kind of people.” That’s not far from “you’re not a person” and once we get there anything could happen.

I think we are still in that era to some extent.

Paul Loeb is the author of the critically acclaimed book Soul of a Citizen: Living With Conviction in a Cynical Time which examines struggle and working for change. There’s a chapter called “Widening The Circle” where he addresses the language we use when discussing our beliefs and speaking in a way people understand.

Everyone isn’t in your circle, not only do some not agree, some may not have the vocabulary for what you’re talking about. Still others may not be as forceful in their convictions. Being able to talk to people and work together across varying or opposing beliefs for change you can agree on is an important concept to embrace when working for change.

In working on this website I have often considered the idea of preaching to the choir… then I was told there was no choir! Black people don’t care about going green nor do we care about climate change or global warming.

According to this nytimes.com op-ed “The Climate Majority” by Jon A. Krosnick the choir is bigger than we knew.

Passing the [Murkowski] resolution might seem to be exactly what Americans want. After all, national surveys released during the last eight months have been interpreted as showing that fewer and fewer Americans believe that climate change is real, human-caused and threatening to people.

But a closer look at these polls and a new survey by my Political Psychology Research Group show just the opposite: huge majorities of Americans still believe the earth has been gradually warming as the result of human activity and want the government to institute regulations to stop it.” ~Jon A. Krosnick

If I am to assume Black people’s opinion’s are reflected in those polls that’s all very encouraging. Even in general it’s encouraging.

On Thursday, June 10th the senate will vote on the Murkowski resolution which would curtail the powers of the EPA and move the US towards fossil fuels and away from renewable energy.

If the majority of the country believes in climate change and in government regulation of greenhouse gas emissions than a vote for this resolution will be unpopular with the people. As citizens voting is probably the least we can do but senators who vote to pass this bill will also become unpopular and hopefully replaced with senators who reflect the people’s beliefs. The threat may be enough, but there’s more to change than just voting whether you’re a senator or a citizen.

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