Today the disastrous effects of climate change and ecological destruction threaten us all. Wildfires, severe storms, hurricanes, drought, flash flooding, toxic pollution, and sea level rise loom larger every day. And we are almost out of time to halt the global warming that triggers these disasters. There is a growing consensus that climate change is a moral, ethical and social justice matter. In light of the failure of the federal government to act, it falls to “we the people,” working through our local governments, to get the job done.

Here in Ames, members of many faith communities will meet on Saturday, Sept. 8, 2018, 1-4 pm, at the Unitarian-Universalist Fellowship (1015 N. Hyland Avenue, Ames) to implement a strategy to convince our local governments to declare a state of climate emergency and implement strategies to reduce carbon in the atmosphere. The Climate Mobilization movement has already inspired a handful of cities around the country to action, but it will take all of us working together to address the climate crisis in the same way that an earlier generation mobilized to meet the crisis of World War II. There is no cost or registration.