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Sparked by the White House’s thoughtful (and wonderfully hilarious and must read) rejection of the petition to build a Death Star (by 2016), actor Mark Ruffalo has posted a White House petition calling for a declaration of war on Climate Change.

I just started a petition. Let’s declare War On Climate Change. Figured if the Death star can get 35,000 sigs we could. wh.gov/EawO

— Mark Ruffalo (@Mruff221) January 13, 2013

• The 1980s were hotter than the 1970s, the 1990s were hotter than the 1980s, 2000s hotter than 1990s, and it looks to be the 2010s will be hotter than the 2000s …
• The hottest ten years in recorded temperature history have all occurred since 1998 …
• 2012 was the hottest year in US temperature records … by a full degree (F) and filled with extreme weather that caused massive damage in multiple ways.
• Australia is burning up with #BigAussieHeat, Arctic Ice mass/extent is falling much faster than climate modeling predicted, climate change impacts are doing damage around the globe, species are going extinct, …
• And, in a sign of #ClimateSilence‘s power, the WH released the terrifying (TERRIFYING) draft climate change futures report on a Friday w/minimal fanfare rather than with a major Presidential statement …

With this in mind, we should be at the White House gates demanding serious attention to climate change rather than simply rumors about potential bipartisan summits (note that there is an interfaith Pray-In on the Climate Cliff to occur on the real MLK, Jr., birthday — 15 Jan).

And, rather than specious calls for Death Stars and secession and …, We the People should be calling on the White House to address the most critical issue that humanity faces …

Here is Mark Ruffalo’s (the Hulk‘s) petition:

WE PETITION THE OBAMA ADMINISTRATION TO:

Declare War On Climate Change. We demand President Obama and Congress accept Climate Change as an enemy of the people.

We, the people, demand the President of the United States and it’s legislative body recognize Climate Change as great and Grave a threat to this nation as they would any other aggressive enemy. We demand that the President and Congress act against Climate Change as they have acted against Saddam Husein, Bin Laden, and Hitler for that matter. We demand a National Energy Policy that quickly begins to ween us off of Carbon Based fuels and expedites the inevitable and necessary transition to Clean Energy. We demand that our leaders act on the recommendations coming from an overwhelming majority of the scientific community to halt Climate Change and save the lives of untold millions.

Now, since Mruff221 only has some 358, 437 followers (at the moment of this writing), it should not be surprising that there were already 738 signatures (as of this writing) w/in hours.

While Ruffalo’s petition might not be what “should” be the petition (Is “War on Climate Change” to be a term to join “War on Poverty”, “The Drug War”, “War on Illiteracy” as a semi-meaningless term?), Ruffalo’s 358,437 followers and prominent place provide a tool to rocket this climate change / clean energy petition above 25,000 signatures and into the zone of promised WH response.

It is (well past) time for the WH, Congress, ‘the Village’, the nation to move past the Fiscal Cliff molehill and work on the Climate Cliff fissure.

Thus, perhaps you can join me (and Mark R) in calling for a Declaration of War on Climate Change.

Of course, there is an essay to be written here about the power of ‘fame’ and how ‘famous’ can trump ‘expert’. However, fame can be used to promote (piss weak) beer on TV … and it can be leveraged in support of social good.

Mark Ruffalo isn’t exactly a one-off, let’s send one joking tweet, actor engaged on environmental, energy, and climate issues. Here is an excellent discussion of Ruffalo’s fight against fracking and another here (for which he won a Global Green award). This is Mark Ruffalo speaking on Climate Change at Occupy Wall Street in 2011.

And, for a taste from Down Under, here is a summary of the Australian situation in one infographic (note: a few days old) …