A summit on the serious climate situation of the planet was held in Copenhagen in 2009. Long live! the movement was established in June of that year in Baiona: It was 20 people. From the point of view of the Basque Country, an objective was pursued: to offer an alternative to the extreme climate situation of the planet, but always linked to the need for social justice. It's 300 in 2014. The experience of Bizi! has enabled several groups and activities of horizontal initiative, as opposed to the functioning of the traditional hierarchy.

The first action Bizi did! Five years ago it was symbolic. To the Virgen de la Costa de Biarritz ‘mask and tube’. We put them on, the statue lies on a rock. Many people felt like a stupid, alarmist parody,” the interlocutors tell us. Five years later, however, the state institutions have had to spend thousands of euros on the coasts of Hendaia, Baiona or Biarritz, among others. We've known some disorders that sea storms hadn't done so far: “This abnormality is becoming normal, due to the changed climatology.” The municipal swimming pool on the coast of Biarritz was flooded. The House of the People of Baiona has had to rebuild the columns of the bridges of the rivers, that of Hendaya has...

Floods have become more frequent and more frequent. The Treasury of the People ' s Houses cannot meet the costs. Budgets cannot be improvised overnight. These uncontrollable facts have revealed other concepts that we did not see before. The lovely slogan “Another world is possible!” has brought another concept: “Not only is it possible but necessary.” The world and the planet in general live in an untenable situation. We must anticipate the situation, but how? “Preventing, acting beforehand. We have to change the bad words and bad habits that we have used to minimize the consequences of the damage.” Now we are living what Bizi members predicted! It was five years ago. People have realized that, in addition to suffering the consequences of the extreme climate situation, they have to pay in money. For example, through the Alternatiba initiative of Bizi's letter!, we are seeing that that other world is not only possible but attractive. “It’s not going back to the caves,” as someone said in the recent past.

Need to work in pedagogy

It's not about going back to the past, it's about organizing everyday life in a different way. Prioritize the use of our media, exchange people's ideas, retain their own, but share benefits. For example, if we maintain an ecological environment and design time well, we can increase our benefits. Dozens of roads have been opened up so far, but all of them are quite sterile. We need to try news.

As an example, the philosophy of Bizi! We've understood that. Elise Bancon-Dilet speaks: “If anyone thinks that the crisis opened in 2008 has helped to open new avenues, they are wrong. Without denying that the crisis is the most important economic one, the crisis leads us to propose a more joyful world. It is possible to be happier living with less money.” What's more, it has to feel the desire for that path that people have to take. If you only need it, it's not enough.

These words are from Christian Detchart: “I am the father of a daughter. He just became a member of Bizi!Bizi! I find it difficult and umpteenth to always tell my daughter ‘the world is going wrong, there is no future’. The fact that parents work to change the world can offer their children a new perspective of organizing the world. “In our house, my daughter sees that we are not stagnant, because of necessity and desire, and that we are the ones who take the future.”

Pedagogy has to be worked on. “Necessity, desire and pleasure.” The members of Bizi! They prioritize these words. The Zokoa Eguna, an initiative of the villages of Alternatiba, established a large thermometer that shows that the temperature of the planet is increasing and that the layer containing the world is warming. In a way, catastrophism has been used as a trick: “Yes, but what will our children think?” we said. However, to put it on stage they used the game of Kadi. As the number of chairs decreased, the temperature of the thermometer increased and each chair warmed more. The last player had a sitting chair, but couldn't sit. In this ridiculous pedagogical game with music, the children played content: “Parents have taught our children that not everything has been wasted, that it has not been lost. We've burned our hips to change something, we work these games intensely and vividly."

Most of society has not only thought differently, but has acted and acted differently. Those in Bizi! They were told at the beginning of the movement. “Bah, bah, bah, it’s not so much! Technology will solve everything or almost everything. Let us be realistic! However, many have changed their minds. And we are also looked at with other perspectives,” says Christian Detchart.

Xabier Harlouchet represents the current situation of the world as follows: “So far the conviction is that ‘the world is pastel and we must share it better.’ It's also a belief and a motto for some. However, the time has come to change the recipe of the cake, as the cake is poisonous. So far, we thought it was a matter of sharing, or most of the society there was, but the pie is getting bigger and bigger and poisonous.”

The goal of Bizi! is to offer an alternative to the serious climate situation on the planet, but that is not feasible if social justice is not carried out. Nicholas Goñi's reflections serve us to understand these purposes: “We underline and denounce the inequalities in the ownership of money. But this crisis is not the result of the bankruptcy of some banks, or of the credit crisis, but because money has been transferred from the hands of those who have less money and those who have it.” To denounce it, Bizi! carried out a special action in front of a Baiona car dealership. In fact, in 2012, the report of the car manufacturer Ferrari was released, which gained the greatest benefit in its history. The report pointed out that the Peugeot and Renault companies suffered the biggest crisis in their history: “That is, the rich have more purchasing power than when the crisis broke out. Ordinary people, most of us, who have little money, have lost purchasing power.”

According to Bizi!, the crisis is not just energy, it is social, it is a crisis of the social model. Inequalities have tremendous effects on the social and, consequently, structurally and at the same time, on the ecological. The movement combines both issues and tries to provide solutions to them: “If we understand the diagnosis in this way, we may come up with recipes to revitalize the planet. The Alternatiba initiative seeks that.”

Alternatiba Zokoa Daily

On 5 October, the Zokoa Eguna was held as part of the activities of Herrixka. They demonstrated firsthand that it is possible to cope with the social and ecological crisis, and that another world is possible, through living examples: Under the responsibility of the Consumption, Zero Garbage, Alternative to Highway and Urbanism groups. They are just some of the themes promoted by Bizi!, that is, the alternatives are elaborated, developed in the daily life of the municipalities.

The organizers expected it to approach 1,000 people and met about 3,000 people on the holiday grounds. The curiosity about the content of the themes was constant by the visitors, people not only approached the party. The announcements were filled. Through conferences, alternatives on various problematic issues were gathered. Practical initiatives were carried out in all areas. There was a plural audience. Not only the “convinced” of always, those who approach by custom and affection. A lot of people without militarily environmentalist tints got interested, he asked. Adults and children, local and foreign people.

Nicolas Goñi, one of the top leaders of Alternatiba, tells us that, given the impossibility of addressing all the themes, they adapted the themes to the reality of Hego Lapurdi in five thematic areas. 1) Climate and the marine environment – climate is the common theme of Alternatiba. They discovered and revealed the problems of the coast, as well as the negative effects and effects that will accentuate as a result of our lifestyle. The consequences of the current storms will be even more serious in the future. If climate change persists, the situation on our coastline may become uncontrollable. 2) The other two elements that structure Hego Lapurdi are transport and urbanism/housing. The urbanism is increasing, so the locals burn a lot of energy, both to build and to keep their homes. This model of urbanism has created a huge dependency on the car, the number of car owners is increasing. More neighborhoods are being created, isolating people and reducing their relationships.

The decrease in interpersonal relations has brought yet another consequence: the increase in consumption. When relationships between people are more frequent, the welfare society improves. Relations facilitate the loan or informal exchange of subjects. In this dispersed urbanism, relations have been disappearing. Alternatiba has proposed a new model for the organization of transportation and the construction of spaces for the home. 3) Other areas were worked on in a comprehensive way: consumption linked to the world of children. The alternative to problems is linked to the new generations, and it is a matter that we have to work on every day. Alternatiba has shown that in relationships with children and in play spaces you can work special molds: promoting common games, doing something together, working games, using wooden toys, not just through tablets or smartphones. In particular, unscreened initiatives have been worked on, not only for children, but also for adults. They have shown that you can live well without sticking to the screen. They have called for the need to improve education, showing that communication between adults, young people and children can be improved. In two words: to improve the relationship between people and not generate frustration. Frustration spreads through consumption, which feeds frustration.