AARP Climate Petition

No issue challenges us to work for the common good more than the climate crisis, and there is a simple way we can take action together today.

All of us—regardless of race, wealth, geographic location, religious or political affiliation—are already being affected by the alarming acceleration of deadly wildfires, floods, droughts, and storms. And as parents, we share a universal concern for the future of all our children and grandchildren, whose safety and prosperity will be at risk if we fail to alter the trajectory of global warming now.

We have to act during the term of the next President of the United States. Time is that short. We must work for candidates on both sides of the aisle who understand that the climate emergency poses the gravest threat to the common good. And so that these elected officials can take action with the urgency and scale required, we must build enough public support to counteract the intense lobbying they will face from entrenched energy-industry interests.

Our children are taking the lead in calling attention to the crisis, but they are going to need all of the support that the older generation can muster. Here is one thing we can do:

We can urge the #1 organization of seniors in the US, AARP, to get involved in the climate fight. Their leadership is considering this move, but they need to hear from their membership that what seniors want most is to leave a livable world behind us. That’s why we are partnering with a volunteer group of AARP members who are circulating a petition asking AARP to make action on the climate crisis their top inter-generational priority.

If you are an AARP member, please sign now.  If you’re not a member, you might consider joining (there is no minimum age requirement) so that you can add your voice.

Think of what it would mean to our movement to have AARP’s magazine—with the largest circulation in the country—raising consciousness about the need to address the climate emergency for the common good. Think of the media impact as all generations—parents, grandparents and children—join together to demonstrate for climate action in communities across the country.  And think of the bi-partisan political clout AARP—with 38 million members who vote regularly— could bring to bear on a new Administration and Congress.

Our generation is presented with the opportunity to save civilization from collapse, just as the generation of the 1940’s was presented with the opportunity to save the world from fascism.  And like them, if we succeed, our children’s children will look back with awe and gratitude at what “the greatest generation” was able to achieve.

Perhaps just as importantly, we have the opportunity through this work to create what the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King called “the beloved community.”  To endow our short existence with some of the most eternal aspirations of humanity: love and compassion for others, stewardship of the environment, and patience and perseverance in the face of opposition.  For us, the climate struggle can embody the essence of what it means to be a religious person, which is to strive for the divine.