Activism

This week the girls wrote a letter to the Mayor and Town Commissioners asking them to participate in EarthHour. Here is their letter with names removed:

Dear Commissioner:

We are homeschooled eighth grade students who have recently come across this website: www.earthhour.org. Last year, more than two million people in Sydney, Australia, participated in an hour long vigil to reduce the amount of carbon dioxide emissions in their community by turning out their lights. It was such a successful event that cities like Tel Aviv, Toronto, Melbourne, Brisbane, Atlanta, Phoenix and San Francisco have signed up to participate this year. Earth Hour is the perfect time to raise awareness of climate change and to encourage citizens to switch to energy efficient lights.

This year, Earth Hour will take place from 8-9 PM on March 29th. We’d like you to consider adding our town to the Earth Hour participants list because climate change is one of the most significant issues that our planet is facing today. The average annual carbon dioxide emissions in the United States is over 20 tons per person. This is an opportunity for our town to help address this problem and bring about change. Climate change is affecting everyone and we must act soon!

They have already received the following response from a town commissioner:

"I’m sold and supportive. Have you sent this message to other Commissioners and the Town Manager (copied). I think we should do it"

They are so excited that their activism seems to have worked. We'll keep you posted.