Climate Change still not recognized widely as a major disaster Dear friends: As Hurricane Harvey devastates South Easter Texas with unprecedented flooding from precipitation (up to 50 inches forecasted) and ocean surge, tornados and earlier hurricane-force winds, I bring you an update on our Climate Change Major Disaster Declaration. Even though the truth is that Climate Change is already a Major Disaster, this idea is still kept underground in the consciousness of most people and governments. Major Disasters spun by Climate Change are dealt with as phenomena of their own without relating them to the new Climate that is causing them. Our petition has become one year old just a few days ago and in that time it has amassed just 675 signatures. This lack of popularity could discourage us and bring doubt about our goal but, please, do not get discouraged and be certain that we are seeing the reality of Climate Change as it really is and that we must not abandon this righteous pursuit of saving humanity and the planet. We need all of you to step up your involvement in this campaign to accelerate its growth in order to get closer to our goal to get government and society to make Climate Change Action the NUMBER ONE PRIORITY. One way to do that is to invest a few dollars in promoting the petition in change.org (The promote button in the petition page). Another way is to promote our strategy in your area of influence. Below we will copy a presentation we have given here in California that you can modify to that purpose. I can not emphasize how urgent it is that we succeed. THIS IS A CLEAR AND PRESENT DANGER that we must act on NOW. With hope, Jorge The recent disastrous weather Winter events and the 500-year drought consequences we endured for five years are indicators that California has not done enough to protect life, property and the environment from Climate Change. We must stop kicking the can down the road and massively invest and mobilize for the RESTORATION of the Climate and for ADAPTATION to minimize the effects of the Climate Change-related catastrophes to come. Climate Change has reached the level of Major Disaster. Climate Change could have been better defined as an Emergency, in the early 1980s, when the world scientists asked the nations of the world (particularly the industrialized countries) to reduce Greenhouse Gases (GHG) emissions by 2-3% every year to avoid creating a very hazardous new Climate. Now, Climate Change is a Major Disaster that spins out disasters that each year grow in number and intensity. Climate Change is a Source Major Disaster that is quickly getting out of control and in the near future can become unstoppable. We have identified a political strategy to get California fully focused on Climate Change. Governors have the executive power to issue emergency and disaster declarations, so California Governor Jerry Brown can do exactly that, without the participation of the State Legislature, and can request for Federal resources, as allowed by the Stafford Act. A recent event that is an example of how that insufficient Climate Change Action is making California very vulnerable, is the near-collapse of the spillways of the Oroville Dam that could have killed 200,000 Californians and destroyed thousands of acres, including the towns of Yuba City, Oroville, Marysville and Plumas Lake. Climate Change provided the enormous atmospheric rivers and the State of California had a dam that had not been built and maintained to withstand so much water. That was a very close call that, not only could have caused the greatest catastrophe in California history, but would have severely damaged the reputation of California and of the California government. At the same time, the 1,600 miles of levees in the Central Valley were at risk, even threatening the flooding of Sacramento itself. Every day that the California government does not make Climate Change Action the number one priority, is a day closer to great losses of life, property and the environment. Climate Change is a Major Disaster with many undesirable consequences, but Climate Change is also the greatest opportunity for us to become a prosperous model of the economy for the 21st century, where our society rallies around a constructive goal of essential importance to all of us, breaking away from the current destructive paradigm of “The-Profit-Of-The-Corporations-Is-All-That-Matters”. While the forces of Nature potentiated by the New Climate are banging at our doors, most of the Climate Change Action organizations are still mainly focusing on getting more people to AGREE THAT CLIMATE CHANGE IS REAL, and proposing INCREMENTAL AND, OFTEN INDIRECT, CHANGES to deal with Climate Change. Most of them are still content with A STEP IN THE RIGHT DIRECTION. When the passenger liner TITANIC was sinking, teaching swimming lessons to the passengers would have been a step in the right direction but it would have not solved the disaster that was about to happen. YOU GET THE POINT. If you share our vision, please join our campaign as an organization and as an individual by 1) signing our online petition “CALIFORNIA GOVERNOR: DECLARE CLIMATE CHANGE A MAJOR DISASTER BEFORE IT’S TOO LATE”, 2) lobbying the Governor to issue a Climate Change Major Disaster Declaration and 3) issuing your own public Climate Change Major Disaster Declaration and encourage other organizations and individuals to do the same. Your public declaration could be: “In consideration of the catastrophic Climate Change-related events in California, the nation and the whole Earth, and of the accelerated worsening of the indicators of Climate Change, such as CO2 levels in the atmosphere, global average air temperature rises and the melting of permanent ice masses, (YOU) Declares Climate Change a Major Disaster and calls for an official Climate Change Major Disaster Declaration by California Governor Jerry Brown for the immediate commitment of all the necessary State and Federal resources to RESTORE the Climate to a former beneficial equilibrium, and to implement the ADAPTATION work to minimize the impact of coming Climate Change-related events in California.” As in most major issues, the other States and the rest of the world are looking to California for leadership to solve the Climate Change crisis. LET’S ACCEPT THIS GREAT RESPONSIBILITY BY SHOWING THE WAY TO A REAL SOLUTION AND BY WAKING HUMANITY UP FROM THE FALSE HOPES OF MIRAGE SOLUTIONS LIKE THE PARIS CLIMATE AGREEMENT OF 2015. It is not anymore about tweaking the system. It is about changing it.