Target: Paige Alexander, Chief Executive Officer of Carter Center
Goal: Incorporate environmental activism into center’s stated mission of relieving human suffering.
Long before the term climate change entered the popular consciousness, the 39th president of the United States – Jimmy Carter – was attempting to shepherd the United States into a new era of energy and natural conservation. Solar panels appeared at Carter’s inauguration, and he even had the structures installed on the White House. They would be taken down by his successor: a symbolic sign of America’s abandonment of environmentalism and conservation in the years that would follow.
President Carter’s legacy included the largest expansion of the national park system in American history and the subsequent protections of lands and wildlife that came with the expansion. Carter also created the Department of Energy, which helps implement many of the climate policies in use today. He also invested heavily in research of alternative energy sources after a trusted advisor warned him of the significant threat fossil fuel consumption posed to the planet. The president’s dedication to exploring clean energy was so strong that he set a goal for 20 percent of America’s energy output to be driven by non-fossil fuel sources by the year 2000.
Sign the petition below to encourage a continued commitment to the late president’s trail-blazing environmental goals.
PETITION LETTER:
Dear Ms. Alexander,
“A generation from now, this solar heater can either be a curiosity, a museum piece, an example of a road not taken, or it can be just a small part of one of the greatest and most exciting adventures ever undertaken by the American people.” President Carter made this statement in one of his many appeals to the people to take energy conservation to heart. Up until his final days, President Carter still paved this road. The president’s active involvement in a solar project that helped power his hometown is testament to the scope and longevity of his environmental stewardship.
This center should be commended for how much good it has done for the people of the world. You can add another facet to this legacy by supporting the fight against a force that has caused and will cause so much human suffering: climate change. Please honor President Carter’s enduring and forward-thinking legacy by advancing his mission to take America and the world down the road toward a cleaner, healthier world.
Sincerely,
[Your Name Here]
Photo Credit: Bubba73 at English Wikipedia
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