(published in the Rainbow Bridge 21 July 2017)
Last week I read a piece from New York magazine that sent shivers down my spine. Based on extensive interviews with climate scientists, it explored what ‘runaway climate change’ would mean for the Earth and its inhabitants. Its core message: “Parts of the Earth will likely become close to uninhabitable, and other parts horrifically inhospitable, as soon as the end of this century.” For disturbing details, see http://nymag.com/daily/intelligencer/2017/07/climate-change-earth-too-hot-for-humans.html
While I appreciate that I’m not supposed to say things like this in the Rainbow Bridge and should stick strictly to the ‘inspirational’, especially when asking for money, I’m saying it because I experienced it as a timely reminder NOT to ‘compartmentalise’ global warming, thus rendering it relatively ‘safe’, while carrying on with our normal lives here.
A companion interview with Michael Oppenheimer, one of the founder members of the UN’s research on climate change, estimated that the chances of achieving the goals of the recent Paris Agreement was something like 10%, down from 20% in the pre-Trump period. The primary reason? Most folks still don’t want to think about it or, more specifically, DO anything about it.
We pride ourselves on being a ‘conscious community’, a ‘leading ecovillage’, who seek to live our lives in accordance with, and response to, our best sense of the needs of the planet as a whole. If that’s true, then I feel it behooves us to be an example that others can emulate, especially on an issue that already affects us all, and will do for the foreseeable future.
A couple weeks back, I wrote an ‘update’ about PET’s initiative to create a Carbon Offset Service here that will immediately and progressively reduce our community carbon footprint, a small but significant step in the right direction. To date we have received more than half of the £4,500 we require. So, if you have not yet contributed, please do so ASAP.
We owe it to ourselves, future generations, and to the planet we call home.
*Donate for car driving equivalent to one year’s driving, suggested amount £25
*Donate an amount equivalent to offsetting your last year’s flights
- in the UK, suggested amount £5/trip
- to Europe, suggested amount £10/trip
- to North America, suggested £25/trip
- to Asia/Australia/South America, suggested amount £90/trip.
Donations
EITHER by direct bank transfer to PET’s account with the Bank of Scotland: Park Ecovillage Trust, Bank of Scotland, Account number: 06022056, Sort code: 80-06-81
OR, thru your PayPal account to [email protected]
OR, to the PET Savings Account with FF Accounts in the Medway Building, in the General Office, or at Cluny Reception.
If you are a UK resident, we are happy to send you a Gift Aid pdf that enables us to further reclaim 25% of every £1 you donate!
Thanking you for your attention and action,
Roger D. PET chair
