Article: There May Still Be Hope for the World, but NOT for the USA

I still believe that there is hope that human beings will establish a true civilization on this planet. A friend of mine in Scotland just sent me the mass e-mail cited below, and after I went to the site and signed the petition, a screen popped up showing who else was signing it in real time. The cavalacade of names and locations was moving quite fast, and of the hundred or so I saw march by, I was the ONLY American. I urge everyone who reads this to click on the link and sign the petition, but this is not the reason I'm starting this thread.

While people in all of the more civilized countries and quite a number of the "emerging" nations are signing this petition, it looks like we Americans are about to go to the polls and take a big step backwards, AWAY from joining the movement to save the world. I believe that the revolution that will do this is already underway, but that it operates from the bottom up, not the top down. It's mostly non-violent, non-coercive, and non-destructive, and it operates outside of the present control structure based on big business and big government. But DAMN few Americans seem to be joining it, and I'm trying to find out why.

So I'd like to know how many of the people reading this clicked on the link, how many signed the petition, and a brief summary of why or why not...

http://www.avaaz.org/en/the_end_of_whales/?cl=805012839&v=7423

A third of all animals and plants on earth face extinction -- endangered blue whales, coral reefs, and a vast array of other species. The wave of human-driven extinction has reached a rate not seen since the fall of the dinosaurs 65 million years ago.

But there is a plan to save them -- a global agreement to create, fund and enforce protected areas covering 20% of our seas and lands by 2020. Right now, 193 governments are meeting in Japan to address this crisis. But without public pressure, they are likely to fall short of the bold action needed to avert the collapse of ecosystems the world over.

This summit ends on Friday, October 29 -- we have no time to lose. Let's rapidly build a global public outcry urging governments to save all life on earth from runaway decline. Sign the petition below and it will be delivered directly to the meeting:

To all parties of the Convention on Biodiversity:
One third of Earth's species face extinction. We call on you to urgently agree to create, execute and fund the protection of 20% of our oceans and lands by 2020. Only bold and immediate action will protect our planet's rich diversity of life.

530,565 have signed the petition! Let's get to 600,000