"It's a love of this world that allows us to imagine creating another
one."
Sam Burbank in response to my post on Earth Day
Address to Fellow Mars Society Members:
This past April 22, 2000 was Earth Day (http://www.earthday.net), the 30th Earth Day since the first Earth Day in 1970 was organized by former Senator Gaylord Nelson. There was an estimated 500 million people who participated in Earth Day 2000 around the globe. Several thousand people came from all over the country to Washington, D.C. to take part in the Earth Day Political Rally. It was quite a remarkable sight to see all those people demonstrating for the future of Earth in front of the Nation's Capital Building. There were many speakers (politicians, environmentalists, political activists, etc.) and live music and entertainment.
Seeing such an outpouring of popular political support for the environment was mind-boggling and heart-throbbing. And knowing that only thirty years ago, the environment was not even a minor political issue. Seeing the environment in such a central stage in today's politics is a testament to the power of a truly egalitarian people's movement. It is only through a similarly broad appeal that the Mars Society can hope to attract enough popular support to its cause to succeed on the political stage. The Mars Society must begin to reach out to people not already inspired to go to space; it must begin to reach out to the average American with little or no background in science. Noting the strong influence and enthusiasm of the environmental movement, the Mars Society can benefit enormously by reaching out and recruiting environmentally-conscious people.
In order to form a strong partnership with environmental groups, the Mars Society needs to make its position absolutely clear on the environment. The Mars Society must understand and appreciate the importance of the environment on our lives, and must support every effort for an environmentally-sound Mars mission.
In order to further investigate these possibilities, I have launched a new Taskforce called Greens4Mars. The taskforce will initially consist of a group of people actively interested in this arena who would participate in an e-list discussion group on this issue. A formal meeting of interested members at the Third International Mars Society Convention would follow in August. During the meeting, a discussion will take place on how to better engage people's environmental instincts. Perhaps an invitation to several environmental leaders would bring first-hand experience to the table.
If you would like to join this taskforce, please send your full name, email address, and affiliation (separated by white space on a single line in your message) to daniarh@yahoo.com.
Or you can join the discussion list directly by sending email to greens4mars-subscribe@egroups.com.
Or by visiting the website http://www.egroups.com/group/greens4mars/.
Plans are currently underway to establish an official website at www.greens4mars.org, which would act as a source of information on any research done by the Taskforce and as a communication site for interested members. We are awaiting official endorsement by the International Mars Society.
For more information, feel free to email me at daniarh@yahoo.com.
Your fellow Earthling-yearning-to-go-to-Mars,
Dan Hussain
daniarh@yahoo.com
Chapter Contact, Mars Society of Pittsburgh
Moderator, Greens4Mars Taskforce