Recently, Mothers & Others For Clean Air co-founder, Laura Turner Seydel, had the opportunity to travel to D.C with her two daughters and nieces to participate in a rally to draw attention to the urgent crisis of climate change and to call for immediate and substantial action by our nation’s leaders. The rally was organized by Jane Fonda, who was inspired by youth climate activist, Greta Thunberg, to hold weekly rallies known as Fire Drill Fridays.
Laura Turner Seydel joined Jane Fonda, Dolores Huerta, Gloria Steinem, and other climate activists calling for swift and immediate climate action. She spoke about the positive influence her father and long-time legendary environmentalist, Ted Turner, impressed upon her at a young age, as well as listening to the advice of her Atlanta hometown hero, Congressman John Lewis.
“So, what can we do? My hometown hero, Congressman John Lewis, advises us in these dangerous times to create trouble, good trouble, necessary trouble. We can take the powerful lessons from Atlanta’s own, Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., and lead our movement through peaceful non-violence demonstrations. We can create good trouble, necessary trouble by taking Fire Drill Friday protests home to our state capitals, city councils, and schools. As a result, there will be more powerful, diverse coalitions that raise awareness, back strong climate solutions, and continue to build momentum and inspiration for more to join.”
Join Laura in raising your voice and tell your legislator that you support climate action now!
Please enjoy Laura’s speech, below.
“Good morning. I’m Laura Turner Seydel and I’m honored to be with you today standing in solidarity with Greta Thunberg, Jane, on her birthday weekend no less, and the millions of young climate strikers around the globe, including my two daughters and nieces who are also here.
My life’s passion and work has been centered on creating a sustainable and healthy planet for our children and future generations. It is no surprise that I have developed into a motivated planeteer having been raised by a real live Captain Planet. My environmentalist superhero father, Ted Turner, has for decades sounded the alarm and taken action on climate change, which he deemed to be the biggest existential threat to humanity besides nuclear weapons.
Jane, it is fitting that on your birthday that so many have answered the call to join at this critically important time in which every hour of everyday matters. As Greta has emphatically stated, our house is on fire and we must take action as if our lives depend on it because our lives do depend upon it.
Everyday, there are more extreme weather events, devastating fires, more days of smoggy polluted skies, more illness transmitted by disease carriers such as mosquitoes and ticks and reductions in the oxygen levels in our oceans and in our atmosphere.
The former director general of the World Health Organization, Dr Margaret Chan, declared that climate change poses the single greatest threat to human health in the 21st century.
The truth has been told and we now know there are people and communities that have been, and continue to be, disproportionately adversely affected by climate change….. the elderly, the sick, communities of color, the poor and our poor children.
Children unjustly bear 88% of the burden of disease from climate change. Today asthma attacks are one of the top reasons for emergency room visits, causing children to miss school and parents to miss work. In my hometown of Atlanta alone in one year, there was an estimated cost of 50 million dollars.
So when Atlanta was named the number one asthma capital AND the most polluted city in the nation, a partnership was created called Mothers and Others for clean air. For 15 years parents, medical professionals and institutions, scientists, teachers and youth leaders have come together to advocate for no brainer policies that will help us transition to a clean affordable energy economy resulting in cleaner air and healthier lungs.
The work we do individually is important but, to really move the needle we must work together to form partnerships, alliances and coalitions to drive collective action. Our Kids Climate, is such an organization that has coalesced 252 parent-climate groups from 29 countries, many of which are represented here today. The mission is to drive policies that protect our air, our climate, and our kids.
Right now, our government is in the back pocket of polluters who are making our children and communities sick. We have a president who is trying to fool us by lying about how wonderfully clean our air is when during his first two years in office, bad air days increased by 15 percent. We need leaders who put our children’s health and welfare before profit
If we are to make progress, our leaders have to change. AND if our leaders won’t change, we must change our leaders!
The scientists are with us. The moms are with us. Fortune 500 companies are with us. Thousands of Mayors and Governors are with us. The children and youth leaders of the world are with us. The only thing standing in our way are the politicians who refuse to acknowledge the climate crisis and basic science.
So, what can we do? My hometown hero, Congressman John Lewis advises us to in these dangerous times to create trouble, good trouble, necessary trouble. We can take the powerful lessons from Atlanta’s own, Dr. Martin Luther King, and lead our movement through peaceful non-violence demonstrations. We can create good trouble, necessary trouble by taking fire drill Friday protests home to our state capitals, city councils, and schools. As a result there will be more powerful, diverse coalitions that raise awareness, back strong climate solutions policies, and continue to build momentum and inspiration for more to join.
We can eat a plant rich diet which is better for our health and the planet. We can create zero waste zones in our homes, offices, schools and houses of worship, that help ensure healthier air and water. We can buy more clean energy from our power companies
And we should inspire and elect new leaders who are prepared to take massive action on the climate and public health crisis from day one when they take office.
We can and we must. Because when it is all said and done, we will want our children to know we did everything in our power to pass down a healthy, livable planet.
Thank you.”
