No Time for Activism as Usual

[RestoreGore]

http://www.climateemergency.org/joomla/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=359&Itemid=201

Future Hope column, August 6, 2007

No Time for Activism as Usual

By Ted Glick

“The Weather Makers,” a book by Tim Flannery, is one of the best sources for those who want to understand the global heating process that is seriously destabilizing the world’s climate. In it, Flannery explains the three main ‘tipping points’ “that scientists are aware of for Earth’s climate: a slowing or collapse of the Gulf Stream; the demise of the Amazon rainforests; and the release of gas hydrates from the sea floor. . . There is some geological evidence for all having happened in Earth’s history. . . Given the current rate and direction of change, one, two or perhaps all three may take place this century.”

A climate ‘tipping point’ is a point beyond which it will be very difficult if not impossible to prevent catastrophic climate change, truly apocalyptic climate change.

We may be seeing one unfolding right now. That is how serious the climate crisis is. And that is why, a month from now, on September 4th, the day Congress returns to D.C., a Climate Emergency Fast will be launched which will see some of us go without food for weeks. For me personally, it will be open-ended; there is no set ending date.

A July 24th news story by Geoffrey Lean in Britain’s Independent newspaper, “A disaster to take everyone’s breath away,” underlines why some of us are taking this admittedly dramatic—some would say extreme—action. Lean reported that “severe drought is returning to the Amazon for a second successive year. And that would be ominous. New research suggests that one further dry year beyond that could tip the whole vast forest into a cycle of destruction. . .

“The consequences would be awesome. The wet Amazon Basin would turn to dry savannah at best, desert at worst. This would cause much of the world to become hotter and drier. In the long term, it could send global warming out of control, eventually making the world uninhabitable.”

snip

This is an issue that transcends politics, and there are many concrete examples of how this understanding is growing among our peoples. One of the most recent is a statement, “Scientists and Evangelicals Unite to Protect Creation,” released in January of this year and signed by 30 prominent scientists and religious evangelicals, including conservatives. It stated:

“We declare that every sector of our nation’s leadership—religious, scientific, business, political and educational—must act now to work toward the fundamental change in values, lifestyles and public policies required to address these worsening problems before it is too late. There is no excuse for further delays. Business as usual cannot continue yet one more day.”

snip

Can we do it? Is it too late?

To join or for additional information about the Climate Emergency Fast, go to www.climateemergency.org.

Ted Glick is the Coordinator of the U.S. Climate Emergency Council and is in the leadership of No War, No Warming, which is planning mass nonviolent civil disobedience on Capitol Hill this October (www.nowarnowarming.org).
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So what are you going to do to be a part of this effort? Do you see the danger this planet faces if we continue on this path? If you do, you can go to this website and get involved, or do something on your own to make a difference now.

I may be participating in this fast that day, and am also boycotting ALL plastics and all products in plastic indefinitely and calling on others to do the same as well, particularly by boycotting bottled water. USING PLASTICS HELPS THE OIL INDUSTRY MAKE PROFITS, and this is one good way to hit them in their wallets as well and is something you can do. And if you don't want to put up with the BS at airports, then DON'T FLY unless it is absolutely necessary.

This is not the time for cutesy political campaigns and promises with slogans and business as usual... WE THE PEOPLE must take back our planet and make amends for the damage WE HAVE DONE, and only WE can do it. It has now come down to this reality for me : if you can't make a sacrifice to save this planet and the species that live on it now, you are only part of the problem not the solution.

[RestoreGore]

1. kicking against drought, the silent killer

And I will keep kicking this in the hope some see it (especially lurking freepers and others who need to see it) to at least pass it on to others who may care about it.