3 More Minutes about the Climate Emergency
Tonight’s Westchester County Legislators meeting included honors for the JDL and a youth group called the J Team. After these festivities, 4 speakers utilized public comment time to speak about flavored vape pens marketed to kids. And then it was my turn. Even though this was my third time using these 3 minutes to speak about our climate emergency, I still get shaky in my bones when I speak on this topic. I wonder what my old Toastmaster pals would say about that.
Here goes. Here are the words I spoke tonight:
I’d like to start tonight with a poem by Drew Dellinger.
What did you do once you knew?
“It’s 3:23 in the morning and I’m awake… because my great great grandchildren won’t let me sleep.
My great great grandchildren ask me in dreams,
What did you do while the planet was plundered?
What did you do when the earth was unraveling?
surely you did something ?…
When the seasons started failing?
surely you did something?
As the mammals, reptiles, and birds were all dying?
surely you did something?
Did you fill the streets with protest when democracy was stolen?
What did you do once you knew?
We are dealing with a triple threat: biodiversity loss, climate change, and global inequality. In short, we are trashing our planet, changing its physics, and killing most other life for the profit of a few corporations and billionaires. As a result, we are on the path to killing ourselves in the most horrible ways. Suicide isn’t a done deal yet. We have a short window of time to stop and reverse this situation, but we have to act quickly to make transformational change. Incremental steps won’t do it.
To avoid 2 degrees of warming, a WW2 level mobilization is needed.
Your complacency is no longer acceptable.
We are not going to be able to recycle our way out of this mess
All legislation on future development and business needs to be questioned within the framework of emissions and the profoundly serious situation we are in.
Please read the IPCC report.
And when you’re done with that read the new report on diversity loss that was released today.
Please do your job. This is why we elected you.
When I finish speaking, I am eerily calm. Maybe tonight my words may have reached at least one of our electeds. Perhaps tonight one of them will read the report and have a sleepless night. Maybe their great grandchildren will come to them in their dreams.
