7.06.2008

NEW MISSION

Earth Climate Crisis grew out of the Earth Day Energy Fast [Internet Archive listings], which I conceived and ran from 1991 to 2007. EDEF's mission was simple: take the most widely-known day to celebrate nature and use it as a mechanism to engage people to take action each Earth Day observance to create real change that benefitted nature and which could be measured (and hopefully participants would apply energy-saving techniques henceforth). Alas, the disengagement of two generations of young people (Gen-X and Gen-Y), the ossification of the US environmental leadership, the emasculation of Earth Day as a policy instrument, the intrusion of the non-profit 501-C3 money-chasing mentality, as well as simple petty feuds, prevented the campaign from becoming widely-known and being permanently integrated into Earth Day observances. Today such efforts as Earth Hour pick up where Energy Fast left off, but have even smaller goals than one day - an hour! Climate events overtook the EDEF campaign and I could not in good conscience ask people to cut back or go without man-made energy each Earth Day knowing as I do that such efforts will no longer suffice.

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