Greenpeace Semester

Climate Change Science Under Attack + The Need to Organize

As I sat down this morning to sip my first coffee and surf the interwebs for the lastest news action, I ran across this disturbing article on Grist: http://grist.org/election-2012/crazy-talk-rick-santorum-out-denies-the-climate-deniers-and-spins-eco-conspiracy-theories/

According to leading Republican presidential candidate Rick Santorum, climate science is “just an excuse for more government control of your life”.   This seems ironic coming from a man who wants the government to tell people who they can/can’t love, how they can love them and how women should feel about being impregnated by rape (it’s a “gift from god”).

Also in this mornings news, activists leaked a flood of internal documents from the Heartland Institute, most famous for pumping millions of dollars into climate science denial efforts.  Amongst other things, the leaked documents indicate that the Heartland Institute plans on orchestrating a full on campaign against climate science by creating an alternative curriculum for public schools.  This curriculum would claim, for instance, that “whether humans are changing the climate is a major scientific controversy.”

The spreading of deliberate misinformation about climate science is an attack on you and your future.  As the article linked to above notes, there “is in fact not a scientific controversy. The vast majority of climate scientists say that emissions generated by humans are changing the climate and putting the planet at long-term risk”

Why are politicians like Rick Santorum and pro-corporate think-tanks like the Heartland Institute worried that young people might understand the real and imminent threat of increasing climate change?

Because they know that when people organize, they are powerful and can produce great change.   They saw what incredible progress student movements were able to achieve when they organized to fight for civil rights, or when they came together en-mass to campaign against the war in Vietnam.  They are scared you will get angry, get active and work for a better world.

There’s a lot at stake here.  Nothing less than the fate of the planet.  We need young people who believe that there are more valuable green things than money to organize now for a different kind of conversation and a different kind of world.  There are students doing just that in North Carolina.  If you want to get active too APPLY NOW to the Greenpeace Semester and get the skills and experience you will need to defend Science and organize for a greener and more peaceful future.