Handing out flyers after "The Day After Tomorrow"

[Physicist]

I liked Moveon's idea of handing out flyers after the climate disaster movie, "The Day After Tomorrow," but I did not like their flyer. Their flyer is good for getting people to join their online petition, but I wanted something more low-key that would help build consensus. If I figure out how to post my flyer I will post it.

My flyer says "The movie is fictional, but climate change is real." I include the international climate symbol at www.saveourclimate.org.
Then I continue with a quote from the National Academy of Sciences:
"Greenhouse gases are accumulating in Earth's atmosphere as a result of human activities, causing surface air temperatures and subsurface ocean temperatures to rise. Temperatures are, in fact, rising. The changes observed over the last several decades are likely mostly due to human activities, but we cannot rule out that some significant part of these changes is also a reflection of natural variability. Human-induced warming and associated sea level rises are expected to continue through the 21st century." - National Academy of Sciences, Climate Change Science: An Analysis of Some Key Questions, 2001. (http://books.nap.edu/books/0309075742/html/1.html#pagetop)

Then I paraphrase from the March 2004 issue of Scientific American (www.sciam.com): By taking practical actions now, we can prevent "dangerous" climate change from disrupting human society in the future.

Then I include suggestions on energy efficiency, buying some of your electricity from renewable power, and contacting your state office of energy for help and financial assistance.

Then I say "get your church and community involved." I link to a faith-based global warming campaign in my state, and to a local solar photovoltaic project in my city.

Finally, "Call your Senators to support the Climate Stewardship Act." (get their phone numbers from www.senate.gov.

Here is the e-mail from moveon.org, also discussed in the thread below:

On Memorial Day weekend, Hollywood is releasing a summer blockbuster movie that's making the Bush administration very nervous. In fact, they'd rather you didn't see it at all.Why? Because it's a disaster movie about global warming.

While "The Day After Tomorrow" is more science fiction than science fact, everyone will be talking about it -- and asking "Could it really happen?" This is an unprecedented opportunity to talk to millions of Americans about the real dangers of global warming and expose President Bush's foot-dragging on the issue.

It's also a fun movie to see with friends over the holiday weekend.

So here's the plan: On Memorial Day weekend, grab a few friends and go see "The Day After Tomorrow" -- the movie the White House doesn't want you to see. At the theater, meet up with other MoveOn members to give out flyers that explain, in everyday language, what causes global warming, how Bush's environmental policies could lead us into a real-life climate crisis, and what we can do together to meet this challenge.

Join in today at:

http://www.moveon.org/dayafter /

Please also sign our petition calling on Bush and Congress to prevent a climate crisis, at:

http://www.moveon.org/climatecrisis /

Maybe you've already seen the trailer for "The Day After Tomorrow": tornadoes whip through Los Angeles and Manhattan is frozen over as global warming triggers an Ice Age across North America.

Nearly 20 million Americans are expected to see this movie, with as many as 7 or 8 million over Memorial Day weekend alone. Because the movie capitalizes on our real-life concerns over climate change, audiences are likely to walk out of the theater asking themselves: "Could it really happen?" We'll be there to answer that question with our flyers.

The right wing has already cranked up its PR machine to discredit the movie as "fright flick" propaganda cooked up by climate change conspiracy theorists. Never mind that they're relying on stone-age science, or that they're light-years behind the curve on the public's acceptance of global warming as a real environmental threat.

The news media are already buzzing about our plans. Yesterday, we held a press conference to officially launch the campaign, and stories have already appeared in the Associated Press, the New York Times, and the Los Angeles Times.

We can't afford to wait until the day after tomorrow to address the climate crisis. We hope you'll be part of this fun summer campaign to elevate global warming from movie-house thrill-ride to White House priority.

http://www.moveon.org/dayafter /