Dear Prime Minister: David Ritter’s letter on Climate Change
Dear Prime Minister, Our Kids Are Trusting Us On Climate Change, David Ritter, CEO of Greenpeace Australia, July 15, 2016 We must not let them down.
Dear Prime Minister,
Sincere congratulations on your re-election.
I am writing to you today, though, not as a voter addressing Australia’s leader, but as a father to a grandfather…….
I agree with you. Anyone who seeks a position of public responsibility is a trustee for their grandkids — indeed for all the children of the future. It is a solemn but beautiful duty to build and nurture a world that will enable the descendants of the Jacks, the Islas, the Rachels and the Josies, and all of their generation, to flourish long after we are gone. It is the greatest gift we can give……..
Like many Australians, I rejoiced when you took the prime ministership from Mr Abbott because I know you understand the need for a proportionate response to global warming. For whatever reason, your predecessor did not. But I won’t lie — I was badly disappointed in the first Turnbull Government for failing to do what is needed on global warming, and I’ve been publicly critical of that failure. Nothing personal of course, and nothing partisan either — I’ve had a go at plenty of ALP politicians in the past too, because my organisation is an independent watchdog in our democracy…….
The Australian prime minister who secures our country with a swift, fair and just transition away from fossil fuels will take their place as one of the giants of our national story. Any such leader will be able to look a child of our country in the eye and say with honour that they did all they could; that they did what was right in the face of the evidence; that they fully discharged their trusteeship.
My seven-year-old daughter, Josie, asked me recently what would happen if the grown-ups didn’t find a solution to global warming. I looked her in the eye and promised her that the grown-ups would sort it out; that we would not let her down.
From a father to a grandfather, I wish you the best of good fortune in leading our nation well. http://www.huffingtonpost.com.au/david-ritter/dear-prime-minister-our-kids-are-trusting-us-on-climate-change/?utm_hp_ref=au-homepage
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