date: Thu, 21 May 2009 15:44:44 -0400 from: "Matt Foster - civis mundi" subject: a message for environmentalists everywhere to: Dear Dr. Briffa, I am making every effort to contact as many environmentalists as possible in an effort to join them in a common cause. Please take a few minutes to evaluate these ideas as we are quickly running out of time. I read an article a couple of months ago in the Guardian Weekly where the environmental scientists in Copenhagen asked world leaders to please do something. I wrote to the editor that perhaps the scientists should better ask the people to get back into the democracy game as our representative leaders now represent special interests and that they can do nothing. If we could get as little as two percent of the population mobile we might have a chance. I am going to try to forgo a lot of rhetoric and try to get to the point. In the fight to save this planet we are fragmented into ten thousand separate organizations all fighting to be heard. (Not to mention the hundreds of thousands trying to expose the depth of the situation and trying to spur the public into action) Never has the saying "divide and conquer' been truer than today. If we continue on this road we will win a few battles but this end game will be lost. Now I have never seen an NGO or activist group or a socio-democratic party ever say lets cooperate. This will never happen nor would I want it to - but - what would happen if every organization said "let's have all our members in all our organizations unite under one name worldwide". This group could grow into millions - a formidable force. The initial responsibility of this group would be to find and recruit every environmentalist world wide. (The beginning) Lets for the moment call these people WORLD CITIZENS as this is a complimentary term but because of the bias against any single dominate language let's call ourselves CIVIS MUNDI when we refer to the international concept. (Nationally people can use their own words for world citizen) The basic premise is simple - you need no money and almost no time to get involved. There are no rules and no dues - but a few suggestions that hopefully could grow into a specific mission. The idea needs to be a bit of fun - the chance to meet others - a sense of purpose - a commitment to something that each individual thinks is important (nothing is dictated) There could be a symbol, a badge, a membership card perhaps, a registry just to show how many of us there are, a universal greeting, and whatever else shows our participation. (Every time we see the color terra cotta or the symbol it should bring our cause to mind) The first thing a person does is say "I am a world citizen" (Civis Mundi Sum). They then put this little tag after their name on their email. They make up a little signature box to put at the end with a little message of their own choosing. Now every message that leaves the computer carries a second message that basically says "I'm concerned and I am doing something - please join with us". Initially gathering together people under one name does little in itself but the suggestions go beyond the initial building of worldwide comradely. The suggestions go from (one) recruiting to (two) supporting a cause to (three) actual participation in democracy. Everyone finds their own comfort level but everyone needs to do something. We have a hopeless situation here in North America. America has eliminated all left ideology and now attacks anything that does not meet the radical free market anarchist's ideology. We need to reengage in representative democracy or we will never get anywhere. (My political chart has received some small praise from a political scientist in Holland - you might find it interesting to see pictorially how ideology has moved right) I have my ideas at [1]www.civismundi.net. I can be reached at [2]civismundi@civismundi.net or [3]world@golden.net or 519 621 9908 To make any inroads in this end game we need this idea to be spearheaded by someone with some influential power - Perhaps you might circulate this email to other scientists if you believe it has any merit. Sincerely, -- [cid:image001.jpg@01C9DA2B.0F94D1F0] Matthew Foster - Civis Mundi After thousands of generations of humankind - we are the last generation that can engineer a solution to today's environmental crisis. [4]civismundi@civismundi.net [5]http://www.civismundi.net/ Embedded Content: image001139.jpg: 00000001,32c15854,00000000,00000000