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| You know that the planet faces a
myriad of problems: global warming and climate change, resulting in
violent weather changes and rising oceans; the loss of millions of
acres of forest every year and, with it, the extinction of countless
species of plants and animals. You know of the resulting spread of
deserts, of the threat to the world food security an the rapidly disappearing
supply of drinkable water. |
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| You know the planet is warming up.
We know that burning oil, coal, and other fossil fuels contributes
to global warming by adding to a heat-trapping blanket of carbon dioxide
around the planet. We know that carbon dioxide, regardless of where
it is produced, distributes itself evenly throughout the global atmosphere.
We know the island nation of Tivalu has signed a treaty with New Zealand
so it’s population has a place to move to when the oceans swallow
up their island. We know Bangladesh is losing much of its land to
the growing sea, just as islands in the Chesapeake Bay have disappeared
under the rising water levels over the past 50 years. |
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| You know the African Sahel is losing
the battle to the encroaching Sahara Desert. We know that rising average
global temperatures have already caused destructive and costly climate
disruptions on every continent – heavy precipitation, heat waves,
and extreme cold – and that more disasters are likely in the
future. We know that the recent destruction in the eastern United
States by several hurricanes is not normal. |
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| You know that farmers in our home
state of Maryland and farmers in our projects in Africa, Asia, and
Latin America, are struggling with global climate change. You know
we have higher rates of malaria and West Nile virus in places where
they used to be nearly non-existent. |
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| So far, the problems resulting from
global climate change are even more severe in tropical Developing
Countries. Soil erosion on the mountainsides of Haiti, Honduras, and
the Philippines, multiplied by hurricanes and tropical storms, are
killing children and crippling families who have depended on these
lands for centuries. The Nile River Basin is watching the River carry
billions of tons of topsoil to the ocean while their crops fail and
ancient aquifers run dry. |
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| We must look at the earth as an island
in the black sea of space. Climate doesn’t respect boundaries,
and neither does pollution, carbon-dioxide, nor the lack trees to
produce oxygen. We only have one world, and we all share it. |
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| It is not too late. We are solution-oriented
people. We have developed programs that work. We are restoring trees
and forests to degraded lands. We are showing communities
how to utilize renewable energy sources, and we can be leaders
in the world for a positive change. |
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| We are a hands-on people-to-people
program at the grassroots level, and we are leading by example. Join
Us! |
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