Climate Changers Anonymous

CCA Recovery

12 Steps

Recovery in CCA is based on the 12 Steps, as adapted from Alcoholics Anonymous and applied to Climate Change.

  1. We admitted we were powerless over climate change – that our way of life was unmanageable.
  2. We came to believe that a Power greater than ourselves could restore us to sanity.
  3. We made a decision to turn our will and our lives over to the care of God or a Higher Power of our own understanding.
  4. We made a searching, fearless and blameless inventory of our lives.
  5. We admitted to our Higher Power, to ourselves and to another human being the findings of the inventory.
  6. We were entirely ready to have our Higher Power remove all these unsustainable behaviors.
  7. We humbly asked our Higher Power to help us live in a sustainable manner.
  8. We made a list of all we had harmed, and became willing to make amends to them all.
  9. We made direct amends wherever possible, except when to do so would injure them or others.
  10. We continued to take inventory of our lives and when acting unsustainably promptly admitted it.
  11. We sought through prayer and meditation to improve our conscious contact with a Power greater than ourselves, praying only for knowledge of their will for us and the power to carry that out.
  12. Having had a spiritual awakening as the result of these Steps, we tried to carry this message to others, and to practice these principles in all our affairs.

What is Sobriety in CCA?

In the fellowship of Climate Changers Anonymous we seek to abstain from harmful behaviors and practice sobriety by embracing Sustainability as a central principle of our lives. 

Sustainability refers to the ability to maintain or support ourselves, our families, & our communities continuously during times of abundance and times of adversity. Sustainability can be seen as a dance of relationships in which we constantly balance many different needs:

  1. Short-term individual needs and long-term individual needs 
  2. Individual needs and community needs
  3. The needs of human beings and the needs of the World that we live in

CCA is a program of action coming from love within a dynamic dance of sustainability. 

In Climate Changers Anonymous, sobriety is self-defined.

Below are the viewpoints of several members:

For me, sobriety is making progress each year in my environmental inventory, which includes decreasing my carbon footprint as a proxy for other energy uses, and decreasing the amount of money I spend on destructive things  by making or growing it myself or keeping my dollars more local.  It includes making progress on not funding (buying) things in plastic packaging.  It is also detaching with love from others’ choices, and not harming myself or others in the process.

–Anonymous

“With the help of the Twelve Steps, finding a way to experience pure joy on a beautiful sunny day without plunging into despair about drought and climate change.”

-E.M.

“Following my sustainability action plan”

-E.M.

* My goal is to attune sufficiently to what Mother Earth would have me be or have me do, so that to the best of my ability I am aligning with that guidance and direction;

* My aspiration is to discern what is “right balance,” so that I am not taking more than my share, and so that, to the best of my discernment, I am giving back what is mine to give.

* My goal is to balance what is in my best interest, individually, and what best serves the community as a whole (humans and other living beings) so that again I am not taking more than my fair share, and that I am contributing what is approximately a fair share to contribute, to the wellbeing of all.

* I seek, over time, to gain greater clarity over specifics, so that I can put more definition to certain measurables.

–D.B.

These examples are not exhaustive. We encourage members to develop their own definition of their personal sobriety.

We seek guidance and inspiration to lead a sustainable life with the support of CCA. We listen in meetings and work with our sponsor or an experienced fellow traveler. We may also find sources of information outside of CCA that support our sobriety.

12 Traditions

Recovery in CCA is based on the 12 Traditions, as adapted from Alcoholics Anonymous and applied to Climate Change.

  1. Our common welfare should come first; personal recovery depends upon CCA unity.
  2. For our group purpose there is but one ultimate authority—a loving Higher Power as may be expressed in our group conscience. Our leaders are but trusted servants; they do not govern.
  3. The only requirement for CCA membership is a desire to live sustainably.
  4. Each group should be autonomous except in matters affecting other groups or CCA as a whole.
  5. Each group has but one primary purpose—to carry its message to those who still suffer.
  6. A CCA group ought never endorse, finance, or lend the CCA name to any related facility or outside enterprise, lest problems of money, property, and prestige divert us from our primary purpose.
  7. Every CCA group ought to be fully self-supporting, declining outside contributions.
  8. Climate Changers Anonymous should remain forever nonprofessional, but our service centers may employ special workers.
  9. CCA, as such, ought never be organized; but we may create service boards or committees directly responsible to those they serve.
  10. Climate Changers Anonymous has no opinion on outside issues; hence the CCA name ought never be drawn into public controversy.
  11. Our public relations policy is based on attraction rather than promotion; we need always maintain personal anonymity at the level of press, radio, films and other public media.
  12. Anonymity is the spiritual foundation of all our Traditions, ever reminding us to place principles before personalities.

Our primary purpose is to recover from despair, inaction, and compulsion related to climate change, and to carry the message of recovery through the Twelve Steps of CCA to those who still suffer.Join a Meeting