It is past time to move towards a broader view of our shared responsibility to protect our environment, seek improved prosperity, and leave a better world than the one to which we were born.

The political boundary lines that seem to have been hardened in recent years are preventing us from cooperating, even in areas where we share many aspirations.

There is a scene in Robert Stone’s Pandora’s Promise, a documentary made by a life-long liberal in support of a new look at nuclear energy, a powerful energy technology has somehow gained the reputation of being supported by conservatives and frowned on by liberals, in which Margaret Thatcher is seen giving a speech to the United Nations on the need to work together to prevent global climate change, protect biodiversity, and reduce all forms of pollution. That clip is cogent, but far too short.

Stone recently shared a link to the full speech on an email list to which we both subscribe and contribute. Please take the time to listen carefully to a heartfelt, well-written and well-delivered speech. Please ask why we have let more than a quarter of a century pass since that speech without engaging in the productive, cooperative effort that she outlines. More importantly, please ask yourself what we should do, starting today, to work together on items of common interest to us all.

PS – Yes, I know I can be almost irrationally optimistic — from a conventional point of view.