12 Traditions from our perspective

Tradition 1. Our common welfare should come first; personal recovery depends upon CCA unity.

DB: From my perspective, we all must work together – or none of us will make it. The protection of the Earth and its natural resources affects all living beings. While we may have differing priorities or approaches to aligning with the Earth, personal recovery depends on our working together.

GP: Climate Change and other environmental harm are often considered a “Tragedy of the Commons” – where individuals or groups harm a shared resource by selfish over-extraction. “Our common welfare should come first” is a perfect antidote to such a downward spiral, a slogan worthy of shouting from the rooftops!

EM: Our unity as a fellowship is important to me because CCA is the only 12-Step program that I’m aware of that deals with climate change. Others have tried to start climate-related programs, but as far as I know, those programs are no longer in existence. There is a 10-Step program inspired by the 12 Steps and created by someone familiar with the 12 Steps. I found it helpful, but it diverged quite a bit from AA’s Steps and Traditions; for example, the meetings were not free. CCA offers me personal recovery based on the 12 Steps and 12 Traditions, and our unity makes that possible.

Tradition 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.

EM: It is helpful for me to remind myself that we CCA members have a common goal, that we don’t have separate interests. We all want to save our planet and reverse climate change as much as possible.

GP: For me, there can be something frustratingly slow about group conscience processes. However, I have come around to viewing it as “we are growing and healing at the speed of plants”, which gives me more trust that we will actually be vibrant.

DB: From my perspective, we see “leaders” in and out of CCA with all sorts of ideas and opinions. Our group opinions have been evolving as we share them with one another, and hear Group Conscience. We also, I believe, need to turn to and listen to Mother Earth as guiding how we should ideally act and be, so as to be in alignment with the highest needs of the Earth and other beings living on the Earth.

JM: In another Twelve Step program’s literature on the Second Tradition it says that groups can learn and the program as a whole can learn.  The Second Tradition suggests that we as a species can learn, with the help of our loving Higher Power and with the collective voices of all of us, how to live sustainably.

Tradition 3. The only requirement for CCA membership is a desire to live sustainably.

EM: This tradition tells me I don’t have to be perfect. I don’t think perfection is possible when it comes to my impact on the planet. My faulty reasoning tells me that in order to help the planet I have to leave the planet. I have a desire to live sustainably, and to learn to forgive myself when I fall short of my ideals. If I try to be perfect I’ll fail, feel guilty and resentful, and give up. If I accept that my best efforts are good enough, that in itself is sustainable.

JB: I am grateful that there are no eligibility requirements that must be met to consider myself a member of CCA other than “a desire to live sustainably”.  CCA members come from many different backgrounds. We can and do have differences in opinions, political views, values, age, gender, sexual orientation, race, and economic status.

I am also grateful that there are no exit requirements, no steps to take if we wish to step away entirely or just take a break.

DB: I appreciate the leeway to find our own definitions of sustainability, and find our own pace in becoming more sustainable. Ideally shared principles will accrue, but this tradition seems to suggest that none of us will be turned away even if we are not up-to-speed with someone else’s criteria for sustainability.

GP: To live in an industrial society is both scary and awe-inspiring to me; We live in an extremely unique age of history, in terms of our energy consumption, population size and the gargantuan rate at which many of us are changing our environment. – This is but a blip in world history, but I have known nothing else, all my life. For me, to work the CCA program means to open my eyes and see what is actually there: This, my everyday reality, is breathtakingly bizarre and cannot last. To this I then say: I want to live the life of the future, which can indeed last, which can be sustained. I have known nothing else all my life, but this is what I want: I want to live face to face with the physical, biological and ecological reality of my existence. I want the truth to shape me and I want to change.

Tradition 4. Each group should be autonomous except in matters affecting other groups or CCA as a whole.

DB: My understanding of this tradition is similar, I assume, to how this tradition is applied across 12-Step programs, namely that every CCA group can define its own time, its own format, its own topics for discussion (etc.) unless any of these areas of autonomy threaten CCA as a whole. Thus we can have step-study meetings, or discussion meetings, or topic meetings, as serves the interest of each individual CCA meeting.

JM: It could be said that recovery in CCA is fully described by the principle of the Fourth Tradition. “As long as it doesn’t harm anyone else, do whatever you believe is appropriate or joyful”. As long as what I do doesn’t harm other individuals, the group, other groups, or living beings on the planet as a whole, I’m free to pursue Sustainability or self-care by the means that seem appropriate to me. I don’t have to agree with other people’s interpretations of scientific studies and specific solutions. I can follow God as I understand God. If someone else tells me I’m stepping on their toes, however, I have to consider changing my behavior.  If I can’t understand a scientific study that they point me to, I can pray on it, stop the behavior until it’s clear that I’m guided to resume it, or at least reduce it as much as I’m able.  If I find a solution that stops the behavior that the other person has pointed out as harmful, even if the other person doesn’t like it or would prefer a different solution, I am still free to pursue my own solution. It’s also helpful to remember the notion of progress, not perfection in the pursuit of Adherence to this Tradition. I’m starting out from a place of harming everyone on the planet and every non-human being with how I get my needs met every day: moving from that to sustainability is not a one-day process. Unlike putting down a drink, it has many steps to it. I honor this Tradition when I do the best I can with the means I have today, and do a little better today than I did the day before.

JB:  Tradition Four-the Tradition of autonomy-gives CCA groups the right and responsibility to operate as they see fit, free from any outside influence. Autonomy means that CCA groups can have no affiliations, other than with CCA. It also means that no other group or service body-even within CCA-can dictate CCA group actions. There is only one limit to group autonomy in Tradition Four: Groups should not do anything that will injure other CCA groups or CCA as a whole. Tradition Four gives CCA groups the freedom to do what works best for them. Each group chooses its own meeting place and time, format, and practices. Every CCA group makes its own decisions — and its own mistakes – without interference from any governing body other than the meeting’s own group conscience. 

One very strong reason all groups are alike in spirit, even though we embrace group autonomy, is found in the second half of Tradition Four. Autonomy extends only to matters that don’t affect other CCA groups or CCA as a whole. 

What kinds of matters are likely to affect the entire CCA Fellowship? 

One instance would be a group that doesn’t use the Twelve Steps and Twelve Traditions of CCA as the basis for its meetings. By calling itself “CCA” but not offering CCA Principles to its members, this group would be misleading fellow climate changers about the CCA program and harming the Fellowship as a whole. The Fellowship’s definition of a CCA group affirms this point: Any two or more climate changers who come together to practice the Twelve Steps and Twelve Traditions may be considered a group, as long as that group has no other affiliations, and does not require anyone to practice any particular actions to be a member.

EM: As long as a CCA group or meeting acknowledges and attempts to apply the Twelve Steps of CCA, how that group functions and conducts its meetings is up to the people attending. I look forward to CCA growing and coming up with new ideas, ways of conducting meetings, and working the Steps.

GP: Similarly to tradition 1 “our common welfare should come first”, this tradition also strikes me as just great advice for how to approach climate change – as a society. We are called to vigorously live our autonomy. – We “should” be autonomous. This step also gives us a very simple and effective guideline for how to make sure that living out our autonomy doesn’t turn into acting out in harmful ways. – All we need to do is honestly, with the help of our higher power, inquire whether we would be affecting others or the whole. This way we get lively diversity with built-in safety that grows from the ground up. Of course, there’s no way to force others to not affect us, in this. CCA, like other 12 step programs, believes in starting on our side of the street.

Tradition 5. Each group has but one primary purpose—to carry its message to those who still suffer.

DB: My understanding of this tradition is that our primary purpose is to let others know that CCA exists, and perhaps also (as we evolve our definitions of how to define sustainability) to share our learnings with others as well.

GP: CCA is a somewhat unusual twelve step program – we are a process / substance addiction program (addiction to fossil fuel / general resource consumption) mixed with a co-addiction program where the addiction (and recovery) can be seen as very collective as well. As such, it’s sometimes been tricky to define sobriety and recovery in a pithy statement. This tradition, with its focus on service is a reminder to me, to be serving, when I don’t know what to do next and our common problem seems too ubiquitous and nebulous at the same time.

EM: We may not save the world but we can still carry our message of sustainability to others, one person at a time, one meeting at a time, one day at a time.

Tradition 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.

JB: The topic of climate change and what to do about it can be controversial. I find my own recovery and the possibility of serenity depends on keeping two 12-Step slogans in mind, “Keep It Simple!” and “First Things First!”. 

I am grateful that CCA supports each person’s recovery at an individual level, affirming each person’s understanding of their own Higher Power and their  own understanding of the concept of sustainability.

GP: At first glance, Tradition 6 in CCA seemed rather simple to me: Just don’t endorse any outside endeavors and don’t stick our nose too deep into politics and we should be fine. As a fellowship we certainly shouldn’t be in the business of debating the scientific merits of one climate model or energy infrastructure policy choice over another. Though it can get a little hairy;  Questions of money, property and prestige are arguably a core part of the disease that is actually destroying our natural environment. So it is important for us to talk about our livelihood, our comfort, our need to fit in and be respected in society, from our personal perspective. CCA is a protective space for us to do so.

J.M. There are outside resources that may contribute to saving the world, and I hope very much that they will succeed. Some of them have turned out to be false hopes, however, and I am grateful that the truth has been shown to me so that I can regroup and move onward. 

The CCA program is here for my recovery primarily. I hope it will also save the human and other life on Earth, but I do not get to decide that. Although in my deepest soul I want my own recovery even more than I want the world to be saved, I really do hope to have both things. However, I do not use the CCA name, nor my sharing time in a CCA meeting, to endorse a specific outside resource by name. 

I can talk about my relationship to the outside resource, and how it affects my recovery, or how I recover affects my capacity to be of service to it. 

In sharing about an outside resource, it’s best if I say what it is, rather than a proper name that is named after. For example, in the OA reading, a member could talk about “the hospital’s eating disorder treatment program” rather than saying, “Hospital So-and-So.”  In fact, by limiting myself to saying what the outside resource fundamentally is in principle, I communicate more clearly. People can understand the principle that the outside resource is focused on, and do not need to know the personality’s name associated with it. 

In a famous movie about a threat to the world, a first solution is proposed that has a very good chance of solving the problem. But, at the last minute, an entrepreneur proposes a second solution, and the first is abandoned. The entrepreneur says that they can make a lot of money from the threat to the Earth, and that this is an opportunity that should not be wasted. However, the entrepreneur fails to avert the disaster, and human life is destroyed. If the people in this situation had stayed focused on the primary purpose of saving the world, rather than being diverted by the allure of also profiting, then humanity might have survived. Although this is a fictional story, for me, it carries a lesson about this Tradition: by saying no to the best and staying focused on the spiritual traditions, I have the best chance of supporting the well-being of myself and others.

DB: The way I think about this tradition is that if we come up with ideas and strategies in the course of our CCA work, we do not “lend the CCA name” to anything – for money or profit or fame. We keep our focus on our spiritual recovery. If others find their way to our materials, they will find it in the context of seeking out this program – which is what we are seeking to offer. 

EM: To me this tradition keeps us focused on carrying the message of sustainability. Our website says, “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.” We neither endorse nor oppose; we focus on our individual sustainability. In so doing, we contribute to societal sustainability.

Tradition 7. Every CCA group ought to be fully self-supporting, declining outside contributions.

DB: This tradition suggests sustainability, self-responsibility, and invites us to stay within our means. If it costs to create a website, we chip in to have a website. It costs time and thought to create our literature: we manage our time and attention so that we are contributing in a way that is sustainable to each of our efforts.

EM: We all contribute what we can. Money is not out of the picture, but it doesn’t control our leadership or values. If we don’t have enough money to fulfill our plans, we change our plans. We aim for sustainability in all areas of our lives, including financial. 

GP: We can do it! – This slogan speaks to me through this tradition. We choose not to wait for the “professionals” to solve our common problem for us – or “the real villains” to mend their evil ways. We acknowledge that for our recovery we need lots of help, lots of support. However, for the spiritual solution within CCA we only seek the spiritual support of our fellow members and our Higher Power. This tradition reminds us to practice this can-do attitude, by declining material contributions as well.

Tradition 8. Climate Changers Anonymous should remain forever nonprofessional, but our service centers may employ special workers.

DB: This tradition, in other 12 Step programs (AA being the original one) states that we “will never have a professional class.” Specifically, however, this statement is regarding not “professionalizing” our work within the program. We don’t charge money to do the steps with a sponsee. We can, however, as individuals, happen to have competence in the field(s) of ecology or science. That is not prohibited.  The tradition goes on to say that we can, if needed, hire special workers. (So, for instance, if we needed to pay someone with special skills in order to create a website, we could do that.) 

Another element, discussed in the original 12-Step (AA) literature states that any individual member, “acting as a citizen, can become a better researcher, educator or personnel officer” even if that expertise happens to be enhanced by working the 12-Step program involved. In other words, if any of us increases our confidence or knowledge about sustainability through being in CCA, we are allowed to bring our enhanced knowledge and confidence into the world, we just do not represent ourselves as CCA “professionals.”

JM: This keeps money’s influence out of our decision-making process. Some members would say that the majority of existing professions today contribute to ecological harm to some degree, and if someone is influenced in their thinking by the need to keep their jobs so that they can feed their family, it’s almost impossible for them to remain free of influence (hence “greenwashing” and socially normal rationalization in business and politics.) The most essential work in CCA is carrying the message to the pollution addict who still suffers, and this work needs to be undistracted by consideration of what other people think of the message or its messenger, or what amount of money they can afford to pay. When energy does not need to be put into managing perceptions, it can be directed into service, purely and freely.  More basic administrative work can be compensated, however, because it does not determine what the message is. Basic administrative work needs to be compensated so that there will be enough worker hours of availability to do the job consistently. In an ideal world, all of these positions would be filled by volunteers, but we don’t start from an ideal world, we start from where we are. Meanwhile, the first part of this tradition still guarantees that each individual member of the fellowship gets to carry the message in her/his/their own words.  

Tradition 9. Climate Changers Anonymous, as such, ought never be organized; but we may create service boards or committees directly responsible to those they serve.

JB: This tradition reminds me that the essence of the program is the personal experience of recovery which can only occur inside each member. As a fellowship, we may find it necessary to create service boards or committees to conduct the activities of the fellowship. But the authority for such activities continues to rest within the individual members who are seeking personal recovery.

DB: The irony of 12-Step programs is that we are not here to enforce rules. Rather, we are here to each offer our experience, strength and hope, toward the group conscience of each meeting. If CCA grows large enough to create service boards or committees, those service boards and committees exist to serve the fellowship, not to direct the fellowship. Our working committees (as such) have, thus far, been everyone who comes to the Monday business meetings. We have all been involved in writing literature and sharing our ideas with one another. Thus far we have made all decisions by discussing them and coming to agreements. 

The CCA fellowship is still small so it is practical to all talk with one another and come to consensus. Once the fellowship grows larger, there might well be a separate Literature Committee, Finance Committee, or a Public Information Committee, each of which makes decisions committee-by-committee. These committee decisions then go to the World Service Organization Board of Trustees, elected from the entire fellowship. Ultimately in 12-Step programs, such decisions only become ratified when a majority of delegates (elected from each meeting) vote in any given decision.

EM: AA has been described as the largest anarchistic organization in the world. CCA follows AAs inverted pyramid service structure with individual members and groups at the top, and AAs General Service Board at the bottom. This tradition places authority with the groups and their members. The hierarchy is not oriented to power, but to service. We focus most of our time and energy on recovery, and carrying the message of recovery by sharing our experience, strength, and hope to the still-suffering climate changer. We keep the emphasis on fellowship rather than organization. 

Tradition 10. Climate Changers Anonymous has no opinion on outside issues; hence the CCA name ought never be drawn into public controversy.

DB: The premise for this tradition is that the program is best preserved if we do not engage in public controversy. (The original AA literature points to the history of “striving nations and groups” being “torn asunder because they were designed for, or tempted into, controversy.”) 

In AA history, experience taught the founders that publicly debating issues such as slavery (as stormy and important an issue as it was) or even temperance, could have destroyed the efficacy of AA for helping alcoholics. Previous organizations (such as the “Washingtonians”) fell apart from becoming immersed in such issues.

The lesson to us, it seems to me, is that – as a 12-Step program – CCA is not about giving advice on what KIND of sustainability “rules” we require. Rather, we seek to support each individual in our own personal inquiries and efforts to define our own sustainability, and move toward it, seeking guidance and support from our Higher Power as we understand our Higher Power, and seeking guidance and support from one another.

GP: Climate Change is a controversial topic indeed. It also is – interestingly – not an outside issue. Sustainability, our relation to Nature, pollution and environmental changes are matters that can be addressed within CCA. However, when we speak of these matters, we start with ourselves and share from our own personal perspective. There actually is an analogy here to the original 12 step program of Alcoholics Anonymous. Alcohol addiction used to be a matter of great social controversy in the United States. To the point where alcohol became prohibited for a period of time. AA was born after prohibition and clearly distanced itself from having an opinion on banning, allowing or otherwise managing alcohol in society writ large. However, AA was keen to provide a forum within which to share about the experience of alcoholism. In CCA we can learn from this.

EM: Tradition 10 is so interesting and powerful. I’ve gone from being upset when people in Twelve Step meetings don’t share my opinions on outside issues, to being extremely appreciative for the safety of our meetings for everyone regardless of our differences. Of course I am not perfect in upholding this tradition, but conflicts and mistakes show me that I have more growing to do in letting go of my need to be right. Abiding by this tradition both within my meetings, and in all areas of my life, boosts my humility!

Tradition 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.

GP: Climate Change is a societal concern. Unlike other public and policy matters, it is however not entirely an outside issue for CCA. We still don’t want to be promoting opinions on climate policy, as a fellowship, but we do want to be promoting the topic, as a topic. Given that this partially public concern is also our core issue, this tradition is really important: we want public relations in the sense that we want the public to become aware of our relationship with nature. In order to do that, we can publicly communicate, as CCA members, justly. And by the weirdness of that anonymity of communication we may already bring forth a curiosity in our audience and draw focus to the fact  that we have principles.

DB: We have begun to talk about how to let CCA be found more readily by others who might also benefit. Attraction rather than promotion is one component. Maintaining our personal anonymity is another component. We as members agree that none of us is the “spokesperson” for CCA. Even if we relay to others that CCA exists, on a personal level we might share about our own experience, whereas on a public level (e.g. informing a climate awareness group that CCA exists) we maintain our personal anonymity.

Tradition 12. Anonymity is the spiritual foundation of all our traditions, ever reminding us to place principles before personalities.

EM: To me, Tradition Twelve in CCA is about humility. I can’t speak for CCA as a whole, and maintaining anonymity is a practice that reminds me of that attitude. Also, I have a strong desire to find people who agree with me, to prove to myself that I am right. If they are rich and famous I feel especially validated. This tradition reminds me that my goal here is my own individual recovery, not to convert the world to my way of thinking.

DB: Tradition 12, in AA, valued anonymity for a number of reasons. One, quite pragmatically, had to do with the fear that if someone, one member in the AA program say, became really known in prominent ways, and then happened to relapse, that might negatively affect the reputation of AA as a whole. Another reason is that (to quote the 12 & 12) we are asked to make personal desire secondary to the common good. For me, that principle is completely in alignment with changes I think that we humans need to make, on behalf of the sustainability of the planet and its resources. 

Another matter, concerning anonymity, had to do with the need to respect the anonymity of other members. This keeps us feeling safe, so that we can share on a personal level, but be reassured that what we say won’t be spread elsewhere. 

On the level of spreading the word about CCA, we will need to be mindful not to use CCA as a personal platform (keeping us ever mindful “to place principles before personalities”).

JM: Anonymity directs us toward focus on what God thinks of us rather than what other human powers think of us. This has been expressed in the idea “You can either save your face or save your ass.” To put it more positively, by keeping the focus on what is right to my insides, instead of being distracted by what others think about my reputation or the rightness of my choices, I am free to be who I truly wish to be. I wish to contribute good and not harm. In the realm of my impact on the environment, I want to stop harming others, and I may need to consider others in very complex ways to become aware of how I have harmed them. But I do not need to consider their opinions of how to become sustainable, or even on whether my harm of them is real or significant or not. If I know that I have caused harm, I only need to answer to me, to my inner higher power. Being surrounded by a culture which excuses and endorses, and even pressures me toward unsustainable behaviors, I can only recover with a focus on higher power’s validation over human powers’.