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I'm an LA citizen, voter, and green advocate. I am educated and
active about the science and politics of climate change, and I'm a
founding member of the sustainability committee at my children's
elementary school. I have bicycle-commuted for over 20 years, and
have painstakingly designed my work, travel, and home life to
minimize my family's carbon footprint.

These changes have not come easily for me or my family. We are
constantly (but eagerly) compromising convenience and cost in all
our consumer and business decisions. My wife and I are self-made
small business owners and it is especially difficult in this long
recession to 'go slow' and 'take the high road' for the
environment: biking instead of driving; video conferencing with
clients instead of flying to meetings; sourcing materials locally,
manufacturing more sustainably, at a higher cost and lower profit;
ambitious reduction / reuse / recycling at home and work.

It is a faith, a calling, an act of patriotism, integrity, and
duty. We know minimizing our impact on the climate is an urgent
challenge of unprecedented scale, and we are proud to model
thoughtful and responsible living for our children, and to inspire
the 'green' in our family, peers, and co-workers.

We must also recognize the overwhelming role the US industrial
revolution and globalized Western consumer economy has had in
pushing all our climate to the tipping point. I am by no means
anti-corporation or anti-business. Nor am I anti-fossil fuel. These
ideas and innovations have fundamentally advanced civilization in
every imaginable way.

But they have also had an unsustainable cost which is now well
understood, and for which we have the responsibility to correct.

A greener economy is inevitable. The US can either lead the charge
and confirm it's place as a 'can do' world leader, or it can whine
and hide and deny. If we do the latter, not only will we suffer the
shame of having set this disaster in motion and not being willing
to do a damned thing about it, but also the exponential 'catch up'
costs of rebuilding our rusting industries to match the new world
standards being adopted everywhere else.

So me and my family are voluntarily making sweeping changes in our
lives, trying to 'live Kyoto' every single hour of every single
day. And most of the rest of the world is waking up and starting to
do the same. 

The buzz at this week's COP16 summit in Cancun has made it
blatantly clear that world opinion is so disparaging and
disappointed about the US stance on climate change that IT WOULD BE
BETTER FOR THE WORLD IF WE DIDN'T SHOW UP AT ALL.

What?! This isn't the US anyone wants.

Yet somehow, with almost no practical political power in the last
two years, the foot-dragging, obstructionist, climate-denying,
profit-above-all Republicans have been phenomenally successful at
keeping US citizens and gullible politicians both confused and
apathetic. The results of their ambitious and disingenuous schemes
have paid off:

IT WOULD BE BETTER FOR THE WORLD IF WE DIDN'T SHOW UP AT ALL.

I can't wait to see what they do with the additional leverage they
gained by controlling the House in 2011.

Meanwhile, those of us that see the light and know what integrity
and patriotism mean are willing and eager to shoulder the task of
evolving. So it is unconscionable that the largest corporate and
industrial polluters - with the collusion of their republican
climate deniers and lobbyists - would be given billions of dollars
of giveaways.

The entire world knows the 'non-negotiable' American / western /
consumerist way of life is at the heart of this crisis - and it is
utterly unsustainable. Facing our responsibility, stepping back
into a leadership position, and evolving won't destroy our way of
life - it will make it better than ever, and ensure that it can go
on for many generations to come.

Thank you for your careful consideration.