Acting as Architects of a Positive Future

Those of us aware of the challenges posed by climate change must act as architects of a better world and a better future.

The damage to the climate system is profound. Solutions may take a long time. This means thinking about the systems we need in our world — legal, social, political — that can stop warming and maintain a stable climate thereafter.

For me, stopping warming is also just the first step in a longer plan to return the planet to humanity's "climate niche". This kind of plan will be intergenerational in scope and could last for centuries or even millennia.

Elements of this plan include:

• Raising greater awareness of the timescale needed to stop warming and to return to humanity’s climate niche. I think most people are unaware of the scale of the damage caused to the climate system and what it will take to stop the crisis.

• Advocating for the right kinds of social, legal, and political systems that can stop warming, protect human rights, and implement a plan to return to a habitable planet

• Acting in a humanitarian capacity to protect peoples, ecosystems, and other forms of life from the impacts of climate change, including needed adaptation strategies. A public health strategy will be essential and may be a good place to start.

• Preparing a framework of solidarity so that peoples and nations impacted by climate change can retain enduring connections to their traditional territories and maintain their cultures in the decades ahead.

• Imagining the kinds of societies that need to be built if we are serious about removing greenhouse gases from the atmosphere, restoring biodiversity, and returning to Holocene-like conditions.

This kind of framework and plan does not exist today. I believe that those of us alive today have a duty to architect this plan, advocate for this plan, and ultimately coordinate with one another to implement it.