I hope John’s okay with this, but I wanted to share with the tumblr world a note written about why climate change and specifically participating in Moving Planet matters. John Wallis, a fellow intern of mine at 350.org, wrote this note on his facebook that’s touching and truly why I believe in 350.org, Moving Planet and climate action. Please read, reblog, and follow us on twitter at http://twitter.com/#!/Moving_Planet
By John Wallis, 350.org intern
I don’t often like to hit people with my opinions about what matters, but I’m starting to really think that the gravity of the potential climate crisis is worth making an exception for. I’d like to briefly outline my feelings on this, and then I promise I will drop it and not pester anyone again.
Climate change is likely to cause unprecedented levels of food and water shortages. It will make many parts of the world uninhabitable, due to desertification and flooding, including in many highly populated areas. It will greatly increase the frequency and destructive power of weather-related natural disasters, such as hurricanes, monsoons, tornadoes, landslides and so on. These are just some of the impacts.
In all, the effect on human suffering, especially in the form of starvation, disease, migration, and probably an increase in conflict, will likely be worse than any natural phenomena the world has ever known. It’s for this reason that in my opinion climate change is the most important issue facing us today. By a long way.
It is too late to stop some of the disaster, but by decreasing carbon emissions drastically as soon as possible, we can possibly prevent the worst it. We can also do a lot to help prepare and make ourselves better able to deal with the coming fall-out.
Obviously there is a plug here. I’m currently working as an intern with 350.org, an NGO which does community organising and movement-building around the world for a campaign to end climate change. It’s very grassroots, and it’s certainly not the only way or the best way to tackle the overall problem. But I think it can have a big positive impact.
On September 24th, we are staging a global day of action, Moving Planet, as a day to move beyond fossil fuels and demand solutions to the climate crisis. It’s a super-exciting and amazing thing, and it’s also incredibly important. It will be huge, but it needs to be bigger. There are events in practically every major city. I really encourage you to get involved with one, or even organise a new one. You can do so at www.moving-planet.org
Please also take a moment to think about other ways you could do something about climate change, whether political or personal. There couldn’t be more at stake.
Really sorry for bringing up a bit of a downer and my personal crusade which I’m sure everyone is bored to death by, but I’m sure you can appreciate what a big deal this is for me, and indeed the future of the world. I hope you will forgive me this once!
Thanks everyone, really appreciate it!
PS: here are some sources taken at random off google for some of the claims made above. Some of them are quite interesting sites:
http://www.nature.org/ourinitiatives/urgentissues/climatechange/threatsimpacts/index.htm
http://climate.nasa.gov/effects/
http://www.unesco.org/new/en/social-and-human-sciences/themes/sv/news/migration_and_climate_change_a_unesco_publication_on_one_of_the_greatest_challenges_facing_our_time/
http://www.isse.ucar.edu/water_climate/impacts.html
http://knowledge.allianz.com/climate/impacts/?1600/climate-patterns-cause-drought-and-war
