DECLARATION OF FOSSIL FUEL INDEPENDENCE 

        If religion claims to love a Creator, then it follows that all people who consider themselves religious, should do all they can to help protect “Creation” which is the handiwork and the best evidence of the God they claim to worship.  By such reasoning, environmental destruction is the worst form or sacrilege, remaining silent to this sin against nature is blasphemy, and protecting our sacred planet is our highest religious calling. 

       It is therefore incumbent upon us as we approach the year 2020 to use 20/20 foresight by declaring fossil fuel independence and unleashing the power of religious fervor and devotion to promote the ideals expressed therein.

    When in the course of human events it becomes necessary for one species to dissolve the bonds that have connected it with fossil fuels and to assume among all living beings on Earth a more responsible and harmonious station, a decent respect for the beauty and majesty of all life forms requires that we declare the reasons which impel this separation.

    We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all species are fashioned exquisitely, that they have evolved through natural selection with awe inspiring adaptations which render them spectacularly well suited for survival, and integral to the survival of all life on Earth, that they are endowed with certain inalienable rights, that among these are the right to live in a clean unpolluted environment.  That to secure this right, responsible governments derive their just power from concern for the planet; that whenever any government becomes destructive of this goal, whether through deliberate acts, reckless indifference or greed, it is the right and the responsibility of the citizenry to abolish the political careers of such individuals and replace them with wise leaders who will institute new policies that will protect us from ourselves.  Prudence will dictate that policies long established will not easily be changed due to the corrupting influence of money and power upon elected officials, but when a long train of abuses and usurpations pursuing invariably the same object, evinces a design to subject us to domination by profit driven and environmentally oblivious corporations and to subject us to intolerable risks of devastating ecological harm, then it is the right, it is the sacred duty of the people to throw out such individuals and replace them with wise and thoughtful leaders.  Such has been the patient suffering of all life on Earth, and such is now the necessity which constrains us to vote for new leaders and institute new policies to protect our future.  The history of government is a history of consistent injuries and usurpations of nature, all having in direct object the establishment of an absolute tyranny of fossil fuel interests and environmentally destructive corporations over our economy, our political institutions and our ecosystems.  To prove this, let facts be submitted to a candid world. 

1.   We have allowed our scientific achievements and technology to outstrip our wisdom and used them against people, plants and animals. 

2.   Humans have become the most dangerous species ever to inhabit planet Earth, and now pose an unprecedented risk to all other living beings on the planet and to ourselves.

3.    We have treated mother Earth as a sewer and garbage dump, contaminating the air, polluting the land, and poisoning the seas.

4.    We have treated other species as commodities to be consumed, used and exploited without regard for their feelings and dignity as unique and precious life forms.

5.   Our addiction to fossil fuels has caused significant and sudden climate change and poses a grave threat to all future life on this planet.

6.     We have left a despoiled planet to our descendants and failed to leave this Earth better than we found it.

7.    We have enriched our enemies and increased their power

We therefore solemnly declare our goal to use 20/20 foresight as we approach the year 2020 and to take swift, effective action to free the planet of fossil fuels and respect mother Earth.  In support of this Declaration, and with a firm reliance upon our species’ survival instinct, we mutually pledge our lives, our fortune and our sacred honor.