From the Editor

By Metta Spencer | 2010-01-01 12:00:00

Happy New Year, friends! It seems that nobody in our government or at Copenhagen has pulled any rabbits out of hats. The climate crisis and nuclear weapons are following us into the decade of the 20 tens, and if anyone is going to fix them, it has to be us — with personal changes in our lifestyle and persuasive grassroots action to mobilize others. Here are my New Years resolutions, which I recommend for you too. (Lest this seem bossy, I invite you to reciprocate by issuing your demands for me and others to follow. We will publish them as letters if you want.)

I will write one short (postal) letter to the prime minister every month on behalf of a different child, asking him to work to save the world for her. Send a note to me whenever you send one and I’ll keep tally until we have all sent 5,000 letters. See the ad on the letters page.
I will not take vacation trips on this continent except by train or a car with three or more passengers and I will not fly anywhere for pleasure. You shouldn’t either.
I will not order beef or the meat of any ungulate but will stick to fish, fowl, pork, and soya, thus limiting methane emissions.
I will write letters to the newspapers and blogs of radio and TV shows demanding that they cover nuclear weapons instead of Tiger Woods’s sex life and such stuff. We have to arouse public support for a nuclear weapons convention by May, when the NPT Review convenes. No wonder newspapers are dying, considering their quality.
I will harass the government, the press, George Monbiot — and you too —until everyone recognizes the unique importance of biochar as a means of sequestering carbon. Look it up if that surprises you. We can greatly reduce climate change by turning waste into charcoal and burying it, especially if we capture and use the biogas, heat, and oil that the process generates. Let’s start with the dead forests in BC and Alberta. Don’t burn them, start biocharring them!
I will send e-mails to at least 150 individuals and groups around the world to let them know about our website zeronuclearweapons.com — which displays video streaming of all the speeches and Q&A sessions of the forum that was held in Toronto on Nov. 13 and 14. We had a decent turnout, but not enough to change the course of history. If people are re-awakened to the danger of nuclear weapons and know about the real possibility that Obama has presented to eliminate them, they will become engaged in a new campaign, which is what the world needs right now. Tell your friends to watch these lectures. I am going to do so. Onward, friends!