Top 10 Reasons To Attend "Making The Commitment: Community Action And Climate Change" Tonight

12:00AM / Monday, March 26, 2007

Planet Earth is being impacted by global warming, according to the beliefs of scientists world-wide. [Photo by Sue Bush]

Williamstown - Mount Greylock Regional High School student Rachel Payne will deliver a free presentation of "Making the Commitment: Community Action and Climate Change" about local solutions to climate change this evening at 7 p.m. at the First Congregational Church.

The presentation is part of Payne's senior-year project, which is a mandate for MGRHS graduating class members.

In a previously printed www.iberkshires.com article, Payne offered the personal impetus for the project.

"I feel a very big connection to what's beautiful on Earth and I can't stand the idea of that being tarnished and taken away."

We at iberkshires applaud Payne's passion for and dedication to this issue and her decision to take a public stage. It is our hope that Payne's presentation draws community support and attendance.

Evidence of global warming is found all around the planet. The majority of the world's scientific community acknowledge that global warming is underway and is already generating tremendous changes that will result in impact to human, animal, and plant life.

Doesn't she deserve a better planet? [Photo by Sue Bush]

From a www.climatecrisis.net Internet web site, 10 reasons to attend Payne's presentation this evening:

* The number of Category 4 and 5 hurricanes has almost doubled over the past 30 years.

*At least 279 species of animals and plants are responding to global warming.

*Ice flow from glaciers in Greenland has more than doubled during the past 10 years.

*The disease malaria has spread to higher altitudes in regions such as the Colombian Andes to reach elevations of 7,000 feet above sea level.

*With the continuation of global warming, "heat waves" are likely to become more frequent and more intense.

* There is evidence that global sea levels could rise by over 20 feet with the melt of shelf ice in Greenland and Antarctica, which would devastate coastal regions worldwide.

*The Arctic Ocean could be ice-free by 2050.

*Droughts and wildfires could increase.

*More than a million species across the globe could be driven into extinction by 2050.

*If global warming continues at a current rate, deaths from global warming will double in 25 years to about 300,000 people yearly.

We agree with Payne's belief that each individual must take personal responsibility and make changes that could not only better the planet for those who share its' resources today but will create a better Earth for its' future inhabitants.

"We need to show our legislators that we are not wedded to our conveniences, that we are not blind consumers, that we are not greedy, selfish people who will destroy quality of life for future generations." Rachel Payne