My impulse to fight for climate justice is probably rooted in a formative experience of child abuse. 

We don't get to choose the circumstances of our birth and I was the youngest child in a family with a mother who had a personality similar to Donald Trump's. Instead of dividing the country, she tried to teach her children to compete with each other for her affection. 

My older brother was a victim of a car accident at just a year old. He was unbuckled in the front seat and he nearly died as a result of his head smashing into the windshield. I can't know exactly how that impacted him, but as our childhood's emerged, my intellect far exceeded his and my mother was constantly praising my intelligence. A contrast that obviously didn't sit well with my brother. 

His response to his feeling of inadequacy was to beat inadequacy into me every day inside a shared bedroom which was locked from the outside. I can't exactly know the origin, but he was a sadistic bully. 

My mother was also physically violent when she became overwhelmed, which was often. My crying out in response to my brother beating me often resulted in getting hit more by one of my parents. 

As an adult who aspires to heal and be a positive force, I try to pivot from the pain of that painful childhood to the lessons. I can certainly say that my childhood experience has enhanced my appreciation for the struggles of others and helped me cultivate compassion as an adult. 

I'm sad to say that the emotional split that my mother instilled in us children has never been resolved. My siblings were never willing to speak with a therapist and I. But I was able to end the physical abuse with my brother by tapping into my adolescent rage and trying to make sure that he paid a painful price for initiating physical abuse. He was still bigger, stronger and meaner than I. The only thing I had on my side to stop the abuse was the ability to inflict pain myself and it proved to be effective. 

It was a terrible formative lesson and I confess that I find myself triggered and repeating that childhood pattern in my adult life. 

The archetypal role of the abuser that I am seeing today is occupied by wealthy people who cling to the liberty to add as much carbon dioxide to the air as they see fit. Half of all emissions come from the wealthiest 10% of the population. These people are overwhelmingly American Boomers like myself. 

I recently went separate ways with my friend Joe of over 30 years as a result of our disagreement over the morality of a large carbon footprint. He is childless and has no apparent stake in a planet which is able to support my children and he is married to a woman who is addicted to living a high class lifestyle without regard to the environmental consequences. 

Recently, in light of the abundant evidence that we're heading for a brick wall, I asked him how bad things would have to get in order for them to reconsider their high polluting lifestyle.

Joe responded that his wife felt that she was entitled to as much carbon pollution as she wished because she hadn't engaged in the environmentally burdensome act of having children. 

I countered by explaining that their carbon footprint was at least 20x the per capita recommendation of global scientists !!! Was his wife Kathy taking credit for foregoing 20 children ? 

I guess that I had been naive. I had been walking around with the hope that when the evidence of things being really bad had become unequivocal, that reasonable people might have a reaction similar to the Grinch in the Dr. Seuss story and their hearts would magically grow 3 sizes and they would change their destructive selfish behavior. 

I was wrong. My good friend is no better than my sadistic brother was as a child. The only way people like he and his wife are going to learn is if their abuse of the environment becomes painful to them. 

I have a conflict of interest between my non-negotiable obligation to fight for my children's future and my friendship. 

Fighting for our children's future must be our master priority or they will not have a future. We're at war and that war needs to be fought among the family and friends who we have the most influence over. If your family and friends are not willing to accept limits on their liberty to pollute, then they are enemies of our species. 

No one with any institutional credentials has declared this war, but World War 3 is under way. 

There is a huge similarity between the liberty to add carbon dioxide to the atmosphere today and the liberty to own slaves 200 years ago. They both had to end and they had to end in war. 

It's hard to go to war with people we love. But we must for the sake of our children. 

Peace,

Rich