Welcome to planetary futures month - the fifth month of the five month cycle we focus on in the World Changing Leaders Guild.
I’m on holiday, so instead of writing a huge thing, I recorded you a voicenote. Feel free to download it and go outside to listen, as I recorded it outside - you can hear the birdsong at the local park.
I’m about to order a whizzy mic and a stand so i can do audio that sounds better at home, but for now, pretend I WhatsApped this to you.
If you’d prefer to read it, here’s a lightly edited transcript.
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Happy new lunar month and happy new lunar year [Lunar New Year, Meg?] for those who celebrate.
Welcome to month five—Planetary Futures Month—in the World Changing Leaders… Guild? Is that what we decided to call it?
Apparently doing the last 20% of editing the month guide that I wrote—that I dictated and did the transcript for five months ago? four or five months ago—is too much for my ADHD brain.
And I'm at the midpoint of my three weeks off, so I'm doing you a voice note. I hope that’s alright.
Planetary Futures Month is effectively like the “climate” month—like when we're to make sure that we're not forgetting to take action over here.
And to be honest, it's the month that I feel the most… ill-equipped to… suggest… things about, I think, largely because I've run away from it for so long.
So I'm going to suggest a few places to look, and only you can know what you're able to spend the next 28 days exploring part-time.
Unless you're like a climate person, in which case, you get 28 days to just, like, do your job and then… eat chocolate in front of the telly.
Start personal.
So is this the month to start very, very much where you're at. Is this the month to walk to the zero-waste store and make some granola, as listed in the back of the book of the author that you're reading right now? That's what I'm doing—like today! Not necessarily my only action for the next 28 days.
Do you wanna explore things you might plant? Ways to reduce the amount of plastic you use? You know, things that we keep meaning to do, but the tension inside of us of not taking those actions can sometimes mean that we're holding our breath a bit.
If you want to, like, research your skincare routine and find out if there's a more sustainable one—and then write a Medium article about it—I don't know.
So there's small, quiet actions that you can take with the consciousness of connecting to the Great Turning—to being part of a people who are learning to be more conscious.
Educate yourself.
Is this a month where you want to educate yourself? Do you feel a gap that you're ready to begin to explore?
How much do you know about soil? Plants, insects, and animals? You know—biodiversity. The air, the fires, the sea, floods, fresh water.. The actual science of the planetary limits?
Is this time for you to really learn what the hell goes on at a COP summit? Or to actually look at one of the IPCC reports?
A very good friend of mine spent some time with a friend of hers making a zine out of one of those reports, with the express intention of it becoming more—less frightening, more accessible. That you actually know, like, what the headings look like, because those things can seem pretty terrifying.
And can you do this in a way that suits your brain and the amount of energy you have right now? And you know—the stress that you're under.
Is this a time for you to find some podcasts? Podcast episodes? Is this a time for you to buy—to focus on one book? I can only listen to audiobooks. I can't read at the moment.
Is there an audiobook you might want to listen to?
Or a quiet book that you can read a couple of pages of when you feel the urge?
28 days. You're not gonna get—you're not gonna become an expert, but you might increase your knowledge.
Is this the time for you to think—thinking practically again—about the concept of go-bags and having a grab-and-go bag? What's that like? And do you actually want to think about making one or supporting your family in making them? Or your friends or your neighbors?
Is there an aspect of the [sigh] crisis—polycrisis—that you're particularly worried about? And is there anyone locally who's doing action about it that you can support? Or is there a way that you might want to think about supporting and sharing resources?
Find a local group.
Is this the month where you go, right, I'm gonna find a local group who are doing something that I think is good, and I'm going to offer what I can—time, admin support, attendance at meetings, money, resources?
Find a larger organisation.
Or is this time when you find out what demands larger organizations in your country are asking for, and you take political—like governmental-political action? Like, you call your representatives?
Find the stories of people involved in this struggle.
Is this a time this month for you to explore the history of other people who've taken this fight and who are taking this fight? Find out the history of organising around a particular area—you know, a Google search.
Or, to be honest, on BlueSky, there's some really, really good climate people—climate scientists and climate journalists—who are putting together, like, these are places to go for information.
Look at the big picture.
Do you, this month, want to learn more about the policy changes that are required? The language? The way that we frame the polycrisis, particularly around planetary futures?
Is this the month when you want to find out more about how the future can be predicted? To learn about futurists—both in the, like, white futurist Copenhagen, like, tradition, or the way that this time and future time has been spoken about in Indigenous traditions?
Or is this a time when you want to find out more about, yeah, the broader policies, the way that change is happening?
Pay attention to your feelings.
And as you think about those actions, is this the month where you pay attention to your feelings and the way that your poor, tiny system responds to thinking about the crises?
Because you're probably experiencing the sharp end of something to do with the planetary future—if not several aspects—and how you can gain grounding, gain community…
Can you do all of this with others?
And all of the things that I've spoken about—I'm really working on not being such a lone wolf? And so I need to remember to remind you to not be a lone wolf.
And think about—do you want to find three or four people, one or two people, who also want to explore something this month and agree you're going to do something small?
Think small. Dream small in this month in terms of what you're able to do. And create some momentum, knowing that you can continue this in the next few months. But also, we're going to return to this in six lunar months.
Use the space of this month, if you can.
So—welcome to the month of planetary futures.
I'd love to know any action you're taking. And if you don't manage it, you don't manage it. But it's an opportunity.
I’m holding the space—to open up a space for you to use this month, to use the energy of this month and the energy of other people who are listening to this—to take a step forward.
Let me know how you get on?