Congrats, Earth!

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Arguably the most important news of the new Millennium–by some standards, by far the most important news since the onset of the Industrial Revolution–seems to be landing with much less of a splash than I expected.

Reason enough in itself for world-wide celebration, immense fireworks (well, maybe not those), gallons of champagne, and an unprecedented baby boom nine months from now, the fact that the entire world has come to an accord regarding climate change has so far caused none of these things (though we’ll have to wait and see in September about one of them).

This is a big deal, people!

  • Almost every single country in the world has agreed to fight climate change.
  • The agreement was reached unanymously, by acclamation.
  • The accord is binding for all undersigning countries.
  • These countries include the worst polluters in the world: the USA, Russia, and China.
  • Perhaps most importantly: climate change is now official.

I’d like to see climate change deniers talk their way out of this one.

While I do understand their point of view, I was disappointed at the responses of the environmental organizations and lobby groups. Yes, this is not enough yet. No, we’re not out of trouble yet. But the sheer size and importance of this accord would have warranted a week of celebration even from them, before their justified party-pooping.

Celebrate, people!

And to show the world you’re celebrating, join me in changing your Facebook profile picture to a heartfelt congratulations for that gorgeous big blue marble, that patiently threatened to throw us out as tenants persistently enough in the last decades for us to finally come to our collective senses, and promise to do better in the future.