I had been on a mission to persuade people in positions of authority, people in charge of acquiring, processing and selling fossil fuels to change their ways and STOP production. I thought that, since their own children would suffer grivously from the effects of their climate abuse, at least SOME of these people could be persuaded to reverse course.
I finally realized that this would not happen. Even if some of these people could be convinced to reverse course, the fossil fuel industry as a whole would simply replace those people. We’d continue full speed ahead to climate collapse.
That said, I remain very grateful to renegades within the fossil fuel industry who took the brave stance of speaking and refusing to continue serving the deadly cause of the petroleum, coal and natural gas industries.
There ARE such heroes. (Caroline Dennett, I’m looking at you!)
In any case, I’ve long admired the young climate activist of Fridays for Future, the Sunrise Movement, and others who have brought attention to what a bunch of old fossils who call themselves “leaders” have been doing to our beautiful planet. But as great as the work of these young activists has been, and continues to be, it’s not enough. Fossil fuel use is INCREASING even as the living hell of global warming and related disasters become unavoidable and fully on display.
I wrote a piece on Medium called Summer of Fire, predicting that a terrible summer in 2022 would also be an opportunity to jump start the climate movement.
And I finally published A Climate Declaration on July 14th—putting into words what I feel is the current zeitgeist—a feeling of fear, anxiety and despair. Because this feeling is so intense and so widespread, and because parents fear for their children, I saw PARENTS as the best engine for change right now. It’s perhaps ironic that I have no children, but it seems to me that ALL children are my responsibility, and the responsibility of all adults.
The bottom line is that each generation is obligated to pass along a habitable Earth to the next. We are failing and must do everything we can to reverse course. This is our duty. So, this message is to citizens of Earth, who are sane and of good will: Download A Climate Declaration. Read it. Share it. Live it.
Thank you.