Today Al Gore gave a talk related to
An Inconvenient Truth sponsored by
MoveOn.org. My daughter, who is 8, and I listened in and she asked this question:
How can people like me who are too young to vote help prevent Global Warming?
The former future President of the United States gave a thoughtful response.
He told my daughter, and everyone else who was listening, that the youth of today should remember the role that young people played in the Civil Rights Movement. Armed with information and the truth, many young people challenged the beliefs that their elders held, and forced them to reconsider the morality of the choices they were making.
He also spoke of Gandhi's notion of truth (satyagraha, though he could not remember the word at the time), and how this would apply to the issues of Global Warming today.
It is difficult to find hope given the political situation we have now, but my daughter and I found his answer inspiring.
She is writing a letter to each of our Senators and our representative. Gore also spoke about the importance of work at the local level, that each city that voted to implement Kyoto would help, so I am going to encourage her to write to our local representatives as well. I would urge all parents out there to have their children do the same, as they don't have the time to wait until they can vote on this issue.