Climate conference gets underway in Buenos Aires 09 December 04

I must be the densest person on this board—I didn’t even KNOW! Congrats to you and the wife, Mark! Do you know the gender yet? That kid’s getting first-class parents!

Thanks for the pointers—I’ve been stashing ECOs for years, and visit Climate Ark’s news page almost every day! Glad to see both of them brought to this group’s attention!

It’s due in March – and users of the site will be the first to know name and gender!

You’ll make a fine father from what I can tell.

Hi Mark,

I am happy for you on a personal level and I echo all other comments and I do see a golden opportunity for your own introspection as to how having a child affects your views about climate change and about preventative measures.

I believe that your own unique awareness and involvement must combine in extraordinary ways with the knowing your child will live in a different world than we have been accustomed to.

I am 47 and have never married and will likely never have children so for me it will never become as personal. For you, it is and because you have a caring heart, you will want the best possible future for your child.

When things become more personal for me, I find that it can have an affect on one’s own motivation and for me I tend to get extremely motivated.

As an engineer and knowledgeable about energy physics, I feel deeply inside that we are fully capable of preventing disaster and that I can by my own efforts discover more the means on how we can achieve this.

Preventing climate change to me is mostly a problem of human desire. If we could transfer the same focus (and dollars) that we have on military ingenuity worldwide, then I believe that we could reduce emissions so fast it would make everyone’s head spin. So for me, it is simply a matter of human awareness and desire.

Now for the questions that come to my mind that you may include in your own introspection over the years:

What would worry you the most about what your child might endure with a climate changed world in the UK? Is there any shared collective guilt associated with a decreased standard of living that we all have enjoyed in our past? Do you think about how you will raise your child to better cope with his or her new world? What personal values will you wish to instill on your child because of your unique understanding of the world, your travels, your awareness of climate change, and personal responsibility?

The mother of this child has a unique perspective as well. I am sure she was attracted to you in part because she admired the qualities of your character. She would be someone to champion your cause and may have similar views as you do. As a mother, she will no doubt have her own unique experience and the same questions I raise could easily apply to her?

Now, this leads up to an even more fundamental question. This question assumes the conditions of the state of mind of people who are totally unaware of climate change issues but have a similar level of caring about their children. I would say that at least hundreds of millions of people, both fathers and mothers, fall into this category.

The question is if they had even half of your current awareness of climate change issues, then would they be more open to preventative measures and actually act on this knowledge at some level?

Another question comes to mind and that is your own preventative focus and interaction and communication with others. Since knowing you are to be a father, have any of your views or focus changed significantly? Has your communication style changed in any way with others?

Based on my previous statements, I can say that my views and focus were significantly changed after our initial email and after my reading of High Tide. I have always been leaning toward the current direction I am now going, but your influence has caused me to be more committed personally to this process and accelerated my own research. The influence of others who you have attracted to your website also has made me more committed.

So, I leave it at that. These are simply open ended questions that I think may have value to yourself and others over time. For me, the answers may lead me to better understand how to communicate preventative measures to others by employing their emotional concern for their children’s well being into the future.

Just maybe, as I write, I wonder if it is responsible for some of their denial. The thought of future disaster must be untrue and nothing will happen in a mind of a caring but fearful mind. Can concern over a child’s future create denial of future negative events?

Anyhow my friend, I am with you in your desire for success. I know that you must feel like I do that we can influence more beyond just simple mitigation of future climate change.

We could do a lot more with the concept of prevention if we only understood enough and had the pure desire to prevent future problems. We as a species are capable of incredible accomplishments when we have the collective desire!

I wonder what great accomplishments your child will achieve with you as a father to guide him or her! In the coming decades, you may have a special member added to your team!