Remember when it used to snow in December?

This Winter, watching my three-year old look out the window in Brooklyn for snow that wouldn't fall lent a personal urgency to the climate-change crisis we are facing and sparked the ”Take Back the Weather” billboard campaign initiated in metro-Detroit in 2007.  The mission ­ to appeal to the heart, and to nostalgia, about the way things were. And the way they are not now.  And to get us to the question of, ”Now what?”

Many of us grew up surrounded by beautiful winters, not knowing that soon something so cold and wonderful and magical as snow would be lost in so many places.

Over the past few months, I've sensed a shift in public perception. Past the point of denial, as countries, and as individuals, we are coming to accept that the climate is changing and that humans are the drivers behind it. This country has come together in the past during times of crisis. If we have a blueprint for change, something concrete that will take us back to zero, I believe people will rally. We did it during WWII. We did it during the energy crisis in the 70's. This is a moment for the USA to shine as leaders. We need to insist that our government take a stand, establish and adhere to a blueprint for getting us back in balance. Then we need to do our part. At whatever cost.

If not for us, then for those who follow after us.

-- Margaret Hetherman

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