On Dec. 24, 1968, William Anders took a photo of our earth from Apollo 8 because he was so moved by the experience of seeing our blue planet from 250,000 miles away! EarthRise has inspired so many people to do just what Anders’ 1968 words advised. “It gained this iconic status,” Anders said. “People realized that we lived on this fragile planet and that we needed to take care of it.”
If you are reading this letter, are you one of those people?
Change is hard for anyone, especially the families whose jobs and incomes are threatened by the rapidly expanding clean energy industry. No one wants to hear daily news reports of loss of lives and homes due to extreme heat waves and temperatures, melting ice caps, floods, fires, sea level rise, plastic pollution, disappearing species, loss of habitats and wilderness areas. People are still questioning the science of human-caused factors, but change we must!
In Summit County and our state, we are thankful for so many hard-working, mission-oriented organizations, leaders and volunteers living and working the change.
Now that SB19-181 has been signed into law, we are being asked to contact the Colorado Oil & Gas Conservation Commission to “speak up for health and safety, a halt to fracking and a clear plan to address” the climate crisis.
The needs are great. Time is short. What will you do if you are one of the people Anders was talking about? Fifty years from now, will future generations be celebrating our collective actions in saving our fragile planet?