By John Day and Jean Arnold

Profound change is needed in the operating systems for our society and our economy. The public and the policy makers do not understand that both profound and fundamental change is necessary for survival, and little time remains for several necessary U-turns. In his recent book “AFTERBURN: Society After Fossil Fuels,” Richard Heinberg explained “…we must make fundamental changes to industrial society. Before these changes can be approved and implemented, citizens and policy makers must first come to understand that they are essential to our survival.”[1] So if we are to save humanity and the Earth that houses us, we must first recognize the dire situation we are in, and then quickly take action.

 Time is running out to protect our miraculous planet. We must mobilize to reduce fossil fuel use now, or runaway climate change becomes much more likely. Yet current efforts, policies, and treaties do not meet the scope and scale of the challenge of stopping runaway climate change in time. 

Ask these philanthropists to engage their peers in helping to fund a coordinated climate campaign to galvanize citizens and push government to act, which includes: (1) media saturation; (2) compelling personal education; and (3) grassroots outreach and engagement. The effort must be on the scale of a presidential campaign. History demonstrates that dramatic change can be achieved by a small percentage of committed people.

PHILANTHROPY HOLDS THE KEY

These philanthropists are outstanding for their level of concern about climate change and their influence in relation to other potential donors, such as those in The Giving Pledge, through which 129 billionaires have pledged to give at least half their fortunes away. Much of that wealth is still undesignated. Only The Giving Pledge donors have a funding pool deep enough, and can act quickly enough in order to avert climate catastrophe. 

Bill and Melinda Gates	Tom Steyer	Peter and Jennifer Buffett	Michael Bloomberg

With the Paris climate summit fast approaching, isn’t it a good time to use the insights of Richard Heinberg’s AFTERBURN: Society Beyond Fossil Fuels as a context and starting point for a conversation about what can come next, about what is needed following the current world-wide conflagration? Heinberg’s penetrating understanding of the crises and dilemmas we face precedes suggestions about what we might actually do to respond constructively and cooperatively.

Momentum towards our SIGNATURES goal is increasing through many outlets! These include reaching out to our allies and gaining new supporters.

Since the beginning of our Ask Philanthropists campaign:

• We have added 339 Likes to our Facebook page.
• We are reaching out to at least 5,000 people per week through social media to inform people about what is happening and encouraging them to help.
• In the last 28 days, 322,000 people have seen our tweets and 1,351 people have visited our Twitter profile.
• We had a 635% increase in the number of visitors to our website in May over April. 

But NOW is not the time to let up!  We still need your help. This week we want 500 new signatures for the Philanthropists’ letter in order to get big bucks from The Giving Pledge and put our environment on the right track. We know we can get these signatures with your help.

Reach out to one person to sign the letter and build the movement. Tweet us, Facebook us, email us. We want to hear from you and people like you that care about this world.

 Time is running out to protect our miraculous planet. We must mobilize to reduce fossil fuel use now, or runaway climate change becomes much more likely. Yet current efforts, policies, and treaties do not meet the scope and scale of the challenge of stopping runaway climate change in time. 

Ask these philanthropists to engage their peers in helping to fund a coordinated climate campaign to galvanize citizens and push government to act, which includes: (1) media saturation; (2) compelling personal education; and (3) grassroots outreach and engagement. The effort must be on the scale of a presidential campaign. History demonstrates that dramatic change can be achieved by a small percentage of committed people.

PHILANTHROPY HOLDS THE KEY

These philanthropists are outstanding for their level of concern about climate change and their influence in relation to other potential donors, such as those in The Giving Pledge, through which 129 billionaires have pledged to give at least half their fortunes away. Much of that wealth is still undesignated. Only The Giving Pledge donors have a funding pool deep enough, and can act quickly enough in order to avert climate catastrophe. 

Bill and Melinda Gates	Tom Steyer	Peter and Jennifer Buffett	Michael Bloomberg

The climate is gushing CO2; the oceans are bleeding acid—tipping points are right around the corner.  Without a U-Turn on carbon fuels we will cook ourselves to death. So, how do we create a viable future amidst all of the grim news? This blog provides a plausible answer, starting from outlining what is needed for us to collectively decide to stop the poisoning.

A DIFFERENT KIND OF APOCALYPSE: Europe's Energy Crisis

Posted by Michael Mielke · October 30, 2022 7:50 PM

EXTRACTION: ARTISTS RAISE A RUCKUS

Posted by Jean Arnold · October 31, 2021 5:47 PM

We are Strip-Mining Life While We Drink “Bright Green Lies”

Posted by Association for the Tree of Life · March 01, 2021 6:56 AM

The great unacknowledged elephant today is our collective inability to respond effectively to the life diminishing and civilization threatening crises well underway. How can we effectively confront these crises?

 Time is running out to protect our miraculous planet. We must moblize to reduce fossil fuel use now, or runaway climate change becomes much more likely. Yet current efforts, policies, and treaties do not meet the scope and scale of the challenge of stopping runaway climate change in time. 

Ask these philanthropists to engage their peers in helping to fund a coordinated climate campaign to galvanize citizens and push government to act, which includes: (1) media saturation; (2) compelling personal education; and (3) grassroots outreach and engagement. The effort must be on the scale of a presidential campaign. History demonstrates that dramatic change can be achieved by a small percentage of committed people.

PHILANTHROPY HOLDS THE KEY

These philanthropists are outstanding for their level of concern about climate change and their influence in relation to other potential donors, such as those in The Giving Pledge, through which 129 billionaires have pledged to give at least half their fortunes away. Much of that wealth is still undesignated. Only The Giving Pledge donors have a funding pool deep enough, and can act quickly enough in order to avert climate catastrophe. 

Bill and Melinda Gates	Tom Steyer	Peter and Jennifer Buffett	Michael Bloomberg