All Posts Tagged With: "President Obama"

ISky was created in 2007. With its offices located in Takoma Park, Maryland, 1Sky is helping raise the bar for leadership on climate change action in the context of the 2008 elections and the new Obama Administration. Their goal is to “create bold federal action by 2010 that can reverse global warming,” by “identifying steps our leaders need to take in order to shift our nation away from global warming and toward the prosperity of a green economy.” They have engaged a network of leading scientists and economists to create the 1Sky Solutions and have a growing number of allies working directly with them for this same common goal.
A few solutions are to:
* CREATE 5 MILLION GREEN JOBS in order to conserve 20% of our energy by 2015.
*FREEZE CLIMATE POLLUTION levels now then cut by at least 25% below 1990 levels by 2020 and 80% by 2050.
* NO NEW COAL PLANTS that emit global warming pollution; invest in renewable energy.
One of my personal highlights from their site is a list of Climate Matters Video contest winners. My favorite is “This Lawn is Your Lawn” by Roger Doiron which is also a part of a website called EatTheView.org that is petitioning for President Elect Obama to act on climate control and send a message to millions of Americans by planting a garden on the White House lawn. After watching I can’t help but note artist Fritz Haegs project Edible Estates which expressed similar sentiments about the front lawn at Thomas Jefferson’s Monticello. Haeg visited Baltimore this past spring to continue his project on a front lawn in West Baltimore where artists, homeowners and community peoples participated in planting a vegetable garden. Haeg’s visit was also in tandem with the addition of several DIY community lead gardens on abandon lots around the city; Participation Park and Village Green Community Garden in Remington , to name a few that started in 2007. Mayor Sheila Dixon expressed her interest and support of revitalizing grassroots efforts for healthy food = healthy communities by visiting a few gardens Sat. Oct. 18th, which came just three days after she joined Robert F. Kennedy, Jr , the nations forerunner in environmental activism, and 9,000 other delegates at the Baltimore Convention Center for the National Recreation and Park Association Congress and Exposition.

We at GOforChange are thrilled about the new leadership that will be coming into Washington in 2009. We are overwhelmed with gratitude to the millions of people who helped Obama’s campaign, voted for him, and otherwise brought about this historic result. Words fail us and we are just basking in the feelings of relief, hope, pride, and optimism for the future.

Obama is so inspiring because he embodies this thought by Thich Nhat Hanh : "Once there is seeing, there must be acting. Otherwise, what is the use of seeing?" Obama answered the call and now makes the tremendous sacrifice of leading our country forward. He is also realistic — he can’t do this by himself. He needs all of us to work with him and with each other — even when we disagree.

President-Elect Obama is someone who knows the value of forging community out of conflict.  For more thoughts on his vision, see our previous post from his visit to Maryland back in February.