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Created: Nov 16, 2008
Updated: Nov 01, 2009
Membership: Open To Apply
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Dear President Obama: Inaugurate Change
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Please visit Worldchanging's Inaugurate Change campaign to add your name to this letter that will urge Obama's administration to deliver a vital message about climate change in his very first speech as President.
On January 20th, 2009, President-Elect Obama will deliver his inaugural address. His words will set the tone for how we as a nation will rise to meet the crises we face, and how our allies abroad will respond.
We at Worldchanging believe the inaugural address must call on all Americans to prepare for a national transformation: to turn America into a climate-neutral nation by 2030. This is a monumental challenge, but it is an even better opportunity. The things we must create to fight climate change are also the things we need to generate a strong economic recovery: livable cities, clean energy, green jobs, new technologies, better transportation, healthy forests and thriving family farms.
With your help, we will show that the people of the United States are ready and willing to accept this challenge. And we will ask Obama to issue a call to action with an inaugural address that set specific goals to do the following:
- Set a national cap on greenhouse gas emissions
- Launch a national campaign to curb sprawl and encourage smart growth
- Set national building standards that will require all buildings to be carbon neutral by 2030
- Redirect all funding and support for fossil fuels into clean energy development
- Give policy support to small farms, local food, and better food quality in schools and low-income neighborhoods
- Take a leadership position in international climate, trade and development talks
Please sign below and add your name to the letter that will urge Obama's administration to deliver this vital message in his very first speech as President.
Join supporters around the country to Inaugurate Change.
Sign this letter at inauguratechange.com.
Photo credit: flickr/selena marie, Creative Commons license.
Comments (1 - 2 of 2)
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Hello Sarah and Worldchangers
Although not an American citizen, I would like to join this campaign. But I'm quite unhappy with the online form. Entering name + email is really just like nothing. No way to say "Hey, Mr President, here's what I am and do and why I'm joining the call". Why don't we leverage the power of our online social networks like this one, by signing not with a stupid e-mail, but by a link to our on-line profile. Either our WiserEarth profile, or for instance a LinkedIn profile. We have a Worldchanging group on LinkedIn, of which members should be able to pass the word in their network.
Just my 0.02€
Bernard |
In addition to signing on to WorldChanging's letter, we can send our own messages to Obama directly here: http://change.gov/page/s/yourvision
This is what I wrote on my blog (http://www.fakeplasticfish.com/2008/11/dear-president-elect-obama.html) and also sent to Obama:
Dear President-Elect Obama,
As I write to you this day after the most exciting election in my 43 years, I want to thank you. You have inspired not only the people of the United States but of the entire world. You weave a beautiful story of hope for people who have become tired and cynical and jaded by political rhetoric.
Here are some of my hopes.
I hope that while we're talking of "restoring prosperity" and "putting our people back to work" we're also working to change the fundamental basis on which prosperity is measured. Is the American Dream the pursuit of newer and bigger houses and cars and the latest gadgets? Higher consumption of the earth's resources? Is that what healing the economy means?
Or can we change our language to encourage deeper American values? Voluntary simplicity? Sustainable living? Connections among people over material wealth? The world cannot afford for us to continue trashing the planet as we have been. And as someone with the great ability to use words to inspire hope and change, you are in a unique position to change the course of our imaginations and help us redefine how we measure prosperity.
We need jobs, of course. Let's make them green and inclusive of all segments of society. Van Jones has offered a beautiful plan in his book, The Green Collar Economy. Let's create an economy that measures not only dollars in the bank but also the satisfaction that one's work is helping to sustain life on the planet.
We want to feel secure, of course. Let's create the security of knowing that we are not creating a terrible mess today for our children to deal with tomorrow. To that end, I urge you to attend the U.N. Climate meetings in Poland this December and promise that the U.S. will lead the way in reducing greenhouse gas emissions and helping other developing nations to do the same.
We all want access to healthcare. Let's also take care of the health of our planet, which ultimately affects the health of us all. Right now, there is an area in the North Pacific Ocean greater than the size of Texas that is filled with plastic. Marine researchers describe it as a "plastic soup." And the plastic didn't just come from vessels dumping their waste at sea. No, the plastic comes from you and me and everyone who has ever used and thrown away plastic products.
Plastic lasts forever. It mimics food for multitudes of marine animals who eat the plastic and feed it to their young. It migrates up the food chain into the fish that we ourselves eat, including toxins that accumulate on its surfaces. Plastic is a great invention and can also be a great threat to the healthcare and security of humans and animals on this planet.
Thousands and thousands of individuals are working to make changes in our own lives to protect the earth, to consume less, and to choose less toxic alternatives, like avoiding plastics, but we are not enough to solve these types of environmental problems. We need our government to hold companies responsible for the full life cycles of the products they produce, we need stricter regulations against toxic products, and we also need a national mindset that encourages consumers to cut back on disposable products and look to what is durable and energy-efficient and timeless.
Protecting the planet is about more than cutting emissions, although that seems to be the big focus of the moment. We also need to cut our consumption and change our priorities. As president, you can set policies in that direction. But we also need you to use your powerful skills of language to light up our minds and show us the value in simple, sustainable, compassionate living.
Thank you from the bottom of my heart for all you have done so far and all you will do in the next four years. You've asked me to hope. Some of my hope is in your hands.
Sincerely,
Elizabeth G. Terry
Oakland, CA