<html><head><meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=utf-8"></head><body style="word-wrap: break-word; -webkit-nbsp-mode: space; line-break: after-white-space;" class=""><div dir="auto" style="word-wrap: break-word; -webkit-nbsp-mode: space; line-break: after-white-space;" class="">Dear Poetry Lovers,<div class=""><br class=""></div><div class="">I have been sharing a daily poem with you for over 20 years now and have never asked for anything in return. Now, as my home state of California and our neighbors to the north burn, I am asking for your help.</div><div class=""><br class=""></div><div class="">It is true that many of the current fires were ignited by lightning strikes and that years of well-intentioned but misguided policies of fire suppression have left our forests vulnerable to catastrophic blazes.</div><div class=""><br class=""></div><div class="">But underlying the proximate causes is the inescapable reality of climate change. In our region this has led to a longer and more intense fire season. In other parts of the country and elsewhere in the world climate change is bringing more intense and more frequent storms as well as the inexorable rise in sea levels.</div><div class=""><br class=""></div><div class="">The help I am asking of you is in addressing the climate crisis. At the moment those of us in the western part of the United States are experiencing some of the worst impacts but ultimately there will be nowhere on this planet that is not impacted.</div><div class=""><br class=""></div><div class="">For many years I have been serving on the board of the Climate Center (<a href="https://theclimatecenter.org" class="">https://theclimatecenter.org</a>) whose mission is to reduce greenhouse gas emissions in California. We recognize that California’s emissions are only a small part of the problem but we also know that as the world’s 5th largest economy, the policies we adopt here can offer a model for the nation.</div><div class=""><br class=""></div><div class="">So here are the two things I am asking of you, no matter where in the world you live:</div><div class=""><br class=""></div><div class=""><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space:pre"> </span>1. Visit our website (<a href="https://theclimatecenter.org/climatesafeca/#endorse" class="">https://theclimatecenter.org/climatesafeca/#endorse</a>) to learn about our plan <span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space:pre"> </span>to make California carbon-negative by 2030 and to add your name to our list of endorsers.</div><div class=""><br class=""></div><div class=""><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space:pre"> </span>2. Sign up for a one-hour virtual “house meeting” to learn about other ways you can be part of the <span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space:pre"> </span>solution to the climate crisis. You can do this by sending a message to my friend and </div><div class=""><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space:pre"> </span>co-conspirator Jane Bender at <a href="mailto:janebender@sbcglobal.net" class="">janebender@sbcglobal.net</a>.</div><div class=""><br class=""></div><div class="">Thank you so much in advance,</div><div class=""><br class=""></div><div class="">Larry</div><div class=""><br class=""></div><div class=""><br class=""></div><div class=""><br class=""></div><div class=""><br class=""><div class="">
<div dir="auto" style="caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); color: rgb(0, 0, 0); letter-spacing: normal; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; text-decoration: none; word-wrap: break-word; -webkit-nbsp-mode: space; line-break: after-white-space;" class=""><span style="font-style: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; color: rgb(16, 24, 32); font-family: Joanna, Georgia, serif; font-variant-ligatures: normal; orphans: 2; widows: 2; background-color: rgb(249, 249, 243);" class=""><div style="font-size: 15px;" class=""><span style="color: rgb(16, 24, 32); font-family: Joanna, Georgia, serif; font-variant-ligatures: normal; orphans: 2; widows: 2; background-color: rgb(249, 249, 243);" class=""><br class="Apple-interchange-newline"><br class=""></span></div><div style="font-size: 15px;" class=""><span style="color: rgb(16, 24, 32); font-family: Joanna, Georgia, serif; font-variant-ligatures: normal; orphans: 2; widows: 2; background-color: rgb(249, 249, 243);" class=""><br class=""></span></div><div style="font-size: 15px;" class=""><span style="color: rgb(16, 24, 32); font-family: Joanna, Georgia, serif; font-variant-ligatures: normal; orphans: 2; widows: 2; background-color: rgb(249, 249, 243);" class=""><br class=""></span></div><div style="font-size: 15px;" class=""><span style="color: rgb(16, 24, 32); font-family: Joanna, Georgia, serif; font-variant-ligatures: normal; orphans: 2; widows: 2; background-color: rgb(249, 249, 243);" class=""><br class=""></span></div><div style="font-size: 15px;" class=""><span style="color: rgb(16, 24, 32); font-family: Joanna, Georgia, serif; font-variant-ligatures: normal; orphans: 2; widows: 2; background-color: rgb(249, 249, 243);" class=""><br class=""></span></div><div style="font-size: 15px;" class=""><span style="color: rgb(16, 24, 32); font-family: Joanna, Georgia, serif; font-variant-ligatures: normal; orphans: 2; widows: 2; background-color: rgb(249, 249, 243);" class=""><br class=""></span></div><div style="font-size: 15px;" class=""><span style="color: rgb(16, 24, 32); font-family: Joanna, Georgia, serif; font-variant-ligatures: normal; orphans: 2; widows: 2; background-color: rgb(249, 249, 243);" class=""><br class=""></span></div><div style="font-size: 15px;" class=""><span style="color: rgb(16, 24, 32); font-family: Joanna, Georgia, serif; font-variant-ligatures: normal; orphans: 2; widows: 2; background-color: rgb(249, 249, 243);" class=""><br class=""></span></div><i style="font-size: 12px;" class="">We are talking only to ourselves. We are not talking to the rivers, we are not listening to the wind and stars. We have broken the great conversation. By breaking that conversation we have shattered the universe. All the disasters that are happening now are a consequence of that spiritual “autism.”</i></span><div style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Helvetica; font-style: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px;" class=""><span style="color: rgb(16, 24, 32); font-family: Joanna, Georgia, serif; font-variant-ligatures: normal; orphans: 2; widows: 2; background-color: rgb(249, 249, 243); font-size: 12px;" class=""><i class=""><br class=""></i></span></div><div style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Helvetica; font-style: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px;" class=""><span style="color: rgb(16, 24, 32); font-family: Joanna, Georgia, serif; font-variant-ligatures: normal; orphans: 2; widows: 2; background-color: rgb(249, 249, 243); font-size: 12px;" class=""><i class="">- Thomas Berry</i></span></div></div>
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