Mission to the Moon

I am blessed to know and be a part of the inspiring and devoted community of people that is Citizens Climate Lobby. Today, I set out for the fourth year in a row of gathering citizen volunteers from across North America, with the aim of building non-partisan political will for action to harmonize our relationship with nature, by correcting the failed market price for carbon-based fuels and letting the American people motivate the transition to a truth-telling all-clean energy economy.

CCL is a fabric of service, a family of voices, a collaborative community of individuals, families and communities, working to improve our politics, inspire participatory citizenship and leverage our democracy for positive non-partisan change. I go to Washington today to serve the people I love, and to honor our ethical obligations to the Earth and its life-support systems.

At times, it seems we can only hope for real, substantive collaborative progress and healthy change, but hope is not an idle imagining or a paper moon. Hope is the deliberate commitment to doing more and doing better than the least of what circumstances would allow.

I have the privilege at this moment to be working with another volunteer on a “critical path” plan for this mission to the Moon… an effort to trace the arc of future social and scientific evolution, to achieve on the question of climate-energy balance what NASA did when it met President Kennedy’s target of landing a man on the Moon and returning him safely to Earth in less than 8 years. We know the Moon is within reach, and today it seems to have come close enough to remind us.

Citizens Climate Lobby is going to Capitol Hill to speak for all of those whose voice would otherwise be left out. We do this with joy and solemnity, with clear minds and open hearts. It is this kind of work that will bring people together, regardless of interest, class or faction, to solve our biggest challenges.

Thank you, to all those who have come before, who worked to build this framework of civics and citizenship. We are doing our best to build on your legacy.