They just keep on coming…

Al Gore at the Tech Awards, San Francisco, 20 November 2009

What does it mean to be a human being and be aware that 40 percent of our fellow human beings and their children and grandchildren are in imminent danger of losing their water? Each one meter of sea level rise, puts 100 million climate refugees on the move. Where do they go? While the Maldives might buy a new country, Bangladesh cannot. (source)

Letter to The Age, 21 November 2009

STOP playing with my grandchildren’s future, you crazy old men! What if it is true? Hottest November night on record; bushfires in November. Go to your room, think about it again, and come back with something more sensible.

Karen Alexander, Clematis (source)

Ethan Nuss, Maryland campaign coordinator with the Chesapeake Climate Action Network, 20 November 2009

Sea level rise would affect the state’s natural resources and fishing and tourism economy.

“We owe it to our children and grandchildren to act in the most decisive manner to solve the climate crisis,” said Nuss. (source)

Steve Weakley, CEO of Vons Credit Union – 22 November 2009

“Watching Al Gore’s movie Inconvenient Truth, reading Hot, Flat and Crowded by Friedman and seeing that the state of California offers substantial rebates to help fund the project made it not only the right thing to do, but a good economic choice. Besides, I have children and grandchildren and our green initiatives are part of that commitment to them and to all the other children and grandchildren in the world,” Mr. Weakley says. (source)

Joe Witte, meteorologist for News Channel 8 in Virginia and Maryland, NYT, 22 November 2009

Changes in the bay’s temperature have been “large and significant,” said Mr. Witte. “That’s a scientific curve we can show on the air and then ask viewers, ‘Will your children and grandchildren still be able to go crabbing?”’ (source)

Stephen Hesse, Japan Times Online, 22 November 2009

The danger, of course, is that in our eagerness to grow our economies and exploit Earth’s bounty, we will push our planet beyond these thresholds — compromising the life quality of our children and grandchildren. (source)

Stay tuned for the next thrilling instalment!

This is such a cracker that it gets an entire report all to itself:

Nancy Knowlton – Marine Science expert at the Smithsonian’s National Museum of Natural History

“The decisions we are making today not only affect tomorrow because carbon dioxide stays in the atmosphere for decades and sometimes centuries; it affects not only ourselves, our children and grandchildren but literally our grandchildren’s grandchildren’s grandchildren,” Knowlton said. (source)

Can anyone beat that?

Episode 2. Fasten your seatbelts.

Al Gore at the Green Buildings Expo – 12 November 2009

Gore exhorted USGBC members to continue their important work and predicted that people would look back at the green building movement as one of the keys to having put the brakes on unmanageable climate change. As importantly, he said that all of us in the movement can look our children and grandchildren in the eye and say that we acted when had to. (source)

Alan Khazei – Democratic candidate for Edward Kennedy’s Senate seat – 13 November 2009

“We’re either gonna deal with climate change or my children and my grandchildren are gonna grow up on a planet where literally they’re trying to breathe, and have clean air and clean water, and survive.” (source)

Doris O. Matsui – US Democratic congresswoman – 13 November 2009

“These bills comprise an energy plan and a jobs plan. By making these investments now, we can regain our competitiveness in the world by producing clean energy here at home. This Congress’ commitment to putting America on a path toward energy independence will allow our children – and our grandchildren – to live in a country that is more sustainable, more economically viable, and more energy-efficient than the country we live in today.” (source)

Stephen Chu – US Energy Secretary – 13 November 2009

Making an emotional appeal, he said: “Climate change is not about today, not about us. It’s about our grandchildren.”

The world-renowned physicist said that it was “universal” in all cultures for parents to want a better future for their children. (source)

US Senator George V. Voinovich – 14 November 2009

There is a heated debate currently underway on Capitol Hill that you should be paying close attention to. The result of this debate will affect Ohio’s economy, your family’s pocketbook, and the quality of life of your children and grandchildren.

No – I’m not referring to health care reform. I’m talking about climate change. (source)

Tony Juniper – UK Guardian – 15 November 2009

While politics is sometimes about compromise and being flexible, unfortunately it is not possible to negotiate with nature. The longer the world delays in putting in place the aggressive emissions reductions needed to avoid dangerous levels of climate change, the more risk we are placing before our children and grandchildren. (source)

Connie Hedegaard – Danish Climate and Energy Minister – November 2009

As the consequences of climate change become more visible, increasing numbers of people have come to recognize that the longer we hesitate, the more expensive the problem becomes. The longer we postpone action, the bigger the bill that we pass on to our sons and daughters and grandchildren will be. (source)

Many more to come!

Inspired by Kevin Rudd’s assault on sceptics, in which he said:

“It is time to be totally blunt about the agenda of the climate change skeptics in all their colours – some more sophisticated than others.

“It is to destroy the CPRS at home, and it is to destroy agreed global action on climate change abroad, and our children’s fate – and our grandchildren’s fate – will lie entirely with them”

ACM will present on an occasional basis, a round-up of the mawkish and emotive references to children and grandchildren in relation to climate change or global warming. So without further ado, here is the first edition:

Travel Daily News International – 12 November 2009

Launching the third World Travel Market World Responsible Tourism Day, Fiona Jeffery, Chairman of World Travel Market, said: “December’s climate summit is vital to more than just our industry. It’s essential for the future of our children and our grandchildren.” (source)

Hillary Clinton – US Department of State Remarks at APEC Singapore – 11 November 2009

But under any circumstance, Copenhagen is not the end of the process. It is part of our larger collective commitment to hold ourselves and others accountable, to speed the transition to a low-carbon global economy, and to leave a cleaner, greener planet for our children and grandchildren. So as we emerge from Copenhagen, we have to continue on this course with urgency and resolve. (source)

Jonathan Dimbleby – Regen South West’s Annual Conference – 11 November 2009

Mr Dimbleby commented on the severity of global warming and said: “We need to press the need for a radical shift in the consumption of energy. We are sleepwalking into this future catastrophe which we know is simply unbelievable to contemplate for our children and grandchildren in 40-50 years time.” (source)

Jamie Reed, UK MP for Copeland – 11 November 2009

“I have spoken with international climate change scientists and I have seen for myself the nature of the challenge in the Arctic Circle and I know that we have no time to delay if we are to secure the future of our planet for our children and grandchildren.” (source)

Adam Sacks – Grist – 10 November 2009

We’re deniers every time we say “80 percent by 2050,” or even “80 percent by 2020”; every time we refer to tipping points in the future tense; every time we advocate substituting “clean” energy for “dirty” energy; every time we buy a squiggly light bulb or a hybrid vehicle; every time we advocate for cap-and-trade, or even a carbon tax; every time we countenance the mention of loopy geoengineering schemes; every time we invoke the future of our children and grandchildren and ignore the widespread suffering from global climate disruption today. (source)

More, many more, to come in the future.