An Open Letter to All Business, Social, and Policy Leaders of the World…
September 29th, 2006We are facing a climate crisis unprecedented in the history of our species. Many of you are initiating actions that will address this crisis. Some of your actions may be sincere and noble. Some of your actions may also be either superficial or incomplete because of constraints and pressures on you by your vested business interests and political constituencies. Many of you are also developing strategies for profiting either monetarily or politically from partially green policies, technologies, and products that don’t significantly alter the CO2 equation.
You are successful because you are adept at operating within a familiar framework… the fiscal, social, or political ‘bottom line’. But we are being challenged to invent a new ‘bottom line’.
Remember this….
Your true vested interests are your family… whether they be sons, daughters, grandchildren, nieces, nephews, cousins, or children of extended families. Regardless of our national, political, religious, or cultural differences, we ALL love our children. That is our true bottom line and the common goal that will unite us to rise above our differences, our rivalries, and our political posturing. Your wealth and power cannot truly protect your children from the climate crisis. Your hard won success legacy will be meaningless to a generation suffering a globally devastated planet.
Your policy and personal decisions must pay more than lip service if we are to reverse the tide of global warming as it exponentially moves toward irreversibility. Half measures will avail you nothing but illusory success and will hurt your families in the long run. As more and more families come to realize this crisis as personal to their children, they will demand true solutions from their leaders and will extend their political and monetary support only to the truly green leaders. As leaders, you are already in a unique position to make a difference. Act in your TRUE self interest and put your family first. Their true inheritance is not your wealth or status… but your ability and willingness to provide a healthy planet for their sustenance.
Let love guide your decisions. You are all leaders so please rise to the occasion and lead with inspired, substantive solutions.
Please lead with care. We are all counting on you…. especially your own kids.
Susan LaBarre