As we now pass into a new year, the window on our planet is closing even more. Recent events are making it clearer that Al Gore's words of warning in bringing the message of climate scientists to the people are coming true. This is not the time to continue to sit on our hands waiting for some event to come along to magically bring it back, because that will not happen without our intervention. This year of 2007 is going to be crucial for the future sustainability of this planet. Which is why I ask for your help.
If you have been following what I have tried to do this past year, you then know that I wrote a letter to Kofi Annan at the UN to request that the post of Global Environmental Ambassador be institutued with Mr. Gore being considered to be the first to fill this post. I received a very professional letter in return stating that Mr. Annan (who is no longer Secretary General) and the UN at this time were not considering such a position, but they thanked me for my conviction and activism on this issue. It was not too long after the receipt of that second letter that Mr. Gore did his presentation at the UN, so hopefully my letter had something to do with that.
Throughout the year I have been trying to inform and educate people about the catastrophe that awaits us should we not change our ways regarding the effect we are having on our planet through my writing and other efforts. With the release of
An Inconvenient Truth last May, Mr. Gore and the producers have managed to raise awareness of this crisis and our part in it to a level that will hopefully be sustained enough in the new year to warrant some real progress on mitigating it.
However, that will not happen unless we take the information he and climate scientists have given us seriously and pledge to take the next step, which is to help him spread this information and to also change our own lifestyles in ways that will help preserve this planet and slow down the process of climate change which is already being seen in glaciers across this world regarding rapid melting that has put our own species and others such as rocker penquins and polar bears at risk of extinction, longer and more sustained and severe droughts that are affecting life and livelihoods already in over 35% of our world, acidic oceans unable to sustain the bio chain that links us all together, and other effects that are costing us economically and personally our only home.
Pledge To Be A Climate MessengerThis petition will then be sent by me to Mr. Gore directly to Nashville, TN. at the end of this month to show him the amount of support people have for his work on the climate crisis, and to show their signatures pledging to help him with it by becoming climate messengers. We can all do it this year. This can be the year we finally show our Earth that we truly do care for her and are ready to stand up for her and our future.
There is also no partisan political spin or speculation attached to it. It is open to anyone who cares for our only home and who wishes to help Mr. Gore and others truly begin to start work on addressing it in this coming year before that window closes by making changes in your own life, inspiring and educating others, demanding comprehensive and realistic legislation from state and local governments, and demanding changes in the way we do business. This is no joke, and this is not an issue just to be used as a political platform to get votes in an election. This is about our very survival and is a moral issue.
Any sincere signatures any of you would then like to add to this petition that will go to Mr. Gore would then be appreciated. He needs to know we support his work based on its merits and that we stand ready to help him with it. I applied for his training in Nashville but was not selected even though I do believe everyone who applied should have been because we need all the people we can now get to learn about this. However, that does not mean I am giving up on getting out word about this planetary catastrophe we must fix for our children or supporting Al Gore in his efforts regarding it.
If you have seen the reports about the huge Ayles ice shelf that just fell off in the Arctic, or the total sinking of Locachara Island in India because of rising and warming seas, you will see that this is happening now and that we have a moral duty to stop it with the very hands that are causing it...Ours. Therefore, please show your support and feel free to pass it on to others who might also be interested in signing this to him for our planet.
People can sit on Internet forums all day wasting time arguing over whether Mr. Gore has or has not definitvely ruled out running for anything... but it doesn't solve anything now. I believe signing this petition is one way of showing him that people care about his efforts not based solely on a personal political agenda, but because we believe in the urgency of this crisis and want to help him now.
Thank you.
Also see my entry on helping him hold the feet of Congress to the fire:
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=106x29802