Blog Action Day - Your Descendants Will be Green with Envy

We live in extraordinary times. World representatives and leaders are preparing to meet in Copenhagen this December to chart a course that will dramatically affect the trajectory of our species.

If this claim seems exaggerated to you, consider that it is supported by more than 95 percent of the scientific community that studies climate change. It doesn’t get more conservative than a body of scientists who study and test and analyze and test some more until they come to a consensus.

And what is their consensus? World governments must commit to significant cuts in greenhouse gas emissions in order to stave of global warming and the subsequent breakdown of our biosphere.

For some, it’s difficult not to feel depressed when faced with such a momentous challenge.

For others, it’s difficult not to feel emboldened.

Do you recall the St. Crispen’s Day speech in Shakespeare’s Henry V, when the King inspires his terrified army to rise up and defeat the French despite the disparity in their numbers? It doesn’t matter, he argues, that the odds are staked up against them. Their descendents and contemporaries will kick themselves for not being there on that day when the English army defied the odds through their sheer will.

It’s the spirit of the speech, and not the warmongering part, that I apply to our times. Some wish to avoid danger by escaping to blissful self-induced ignorance.

For the rest of us, we live in inspired times. Our generation will steer our species away from climate catastrophe and establish the foundation of sustainable societies. Our children and their descendants will look back on us with awe and wish that they themselves were alive on this day in 2009 to be part of the global movement taking shape in communities of every country on this planet.

Consider the global movement that is 350.org. To date, more than 1700 rallies worldwide are planned for October 24. One of the largest will be in front of your federal legislature. Join us on Parliament Hill that day and help make climate change history. C-Day: Fill the Hill (www.climateday.ca) will see thousands of Canadians convene to make sure our government sets the right course, the one where our descendants celebrate us.

Earn bragging rights. Tell your grand kids that you helped convince the government to commit to science-based targets on greenhouse gas emissions. Tell them you were part on the forefront of the new sustainable economy. Your grand kids will be green with envy.

Part of Blog Action Day - www.blogactionday.org