I recently joined the Basking Ridge chapter of Toastmaster International. Its chapter name is Speech Meisters. Below is a talk I gave yesterday. It was called the Ice Breaker, because it was my first and its purpose was to introduce me to the members.
I post it here because it deals with a subject discussed many times on this website: climate change. It also explains the quotation posted on the home page of this website.
Bill Allen, 05-04-17
Madame Toastmaster, fellow Toastmasters, and guests:
“The ultimate test of a moral society is the kind of world that it leaves for its children.”
These words are attributed to the German theologian Dietrich Bonhoeffer, and they define what I believe.
We may accomplish a lot in our lives. We may raise healthy, well-adjusted children, and give them a good education. But, if we leave them a world worse than the one we received, we will have failed.
“The ultimate test of a moral society is the kind of world that it leaves for its children.”
I read these words ten years ago in a book by financier Peter G. Peterson. He was very concerned about the large and growing national debt, and what this would mean for our children.
This problem. and many similar problems, can be resolved easily if people of good faith set aside ideology, look at the facts, and apply common sense.
But the changes that we are making in our natural environment are different.
When we cut down tropical rain forests, they will not regrow in the lifetimes of our children or their children’s children, no matter how much common sense we apply.
When we make the earth warmer, and ice melts on mountain glaciers and Greenland and Antarctica, and that raises sea levels, we will not restore the ice and reduce sea levels again for thousands of years.
When we drive a species to extinction, it will never come back.
The most serious environmental problem, I believe, is climate change.
I’m a member of the Citizens’ Climate Lobby, a national organization with chapters in most Congressional districts. Our mission is to persuade Congress to adopt legislation to slow climate change. We have two strategies:
First: Talk directly to our members of Congress. For example, I am a member of the Raritan Valley chapter of Citizens’ Climate Lobby. We have several times talked directly to our Congressman Leonard Lance and his staff.
Second: Communicate with our citizens and try to persuade them to support our program. For example, we had a booth last year at the Charter Day street fair here in Basking Ridge, and talked to many people about climate change and our recommendation for action.
We also want to talk to local groups like Rotary clubs, Chambers of Commerce, garden clubs, and environmental commissions.
That’s why I am here. I have joined Speech Meisters to learn to speak effectively to these groups.
Now a little background.
My family has been in in Basking Ridge since 1968. My two daughters went thru the local school system. My wife was active for many years in community organizations like the Girl Scouts. I served two terms on the Township Committee in the 70s and two more in the 90s.
When planning for retirement I decided to spend the rest of my life working to protect the environment. As I have noted, I believe climate change is our most important environmental challenge.
But you will be relieved to hear that I won’t always talk here about climate change. I have in mind two stories I want to share about growing up in rural Hunterdon County. I am thinking of a talk on the connection between the deer population and Lyme disease, and another on income and wealth inequality.
But–I will talk next about the potential for a 40-acre lake for fishing, swimming, and non-motorized boating– right here in Bernards Township.
Stay tuned!