The World Wildlife Fund and Climate Change

The mission of the World Wildlife Fund is to “Speak up for those who can’t speak for themselves.” And certainly that’s the idea — standing up for biodiversity — that most of us conjure when we call the WWF to mind.

What most of us probably do not think of, however, is the passion with which this wonderful group embraces the issue of climate change. And I’m not sure of the reason for this gap in understanding. Perhaps it’s that when most of us think of the glaciers melting, the ocean levels rising, and storms rising to new record levels of destruction, we think of the human misery, and neglect the thousands of species whose habitat – and thus whose entire populations – will be wiped out in fairly short order.

To change this perception, the WWF’s Joe Pouliot, a hearty and dedicated young man, called upon me to urge readers to check out “Act For Our Future,” a robust section of the organization’s website that is focused on getting people by the thousands involved with climate change legislation. When you visit the site, you’ll notice that the intro video is warm and inviting. Any intimidation or fear of calling one’s senators and petitioning them for action is gently but effectively removed. And every aspect of social media from Twitter to FaceBook to blogging is addressed in an easy, engaging way.

Ironically, I was considering asking my web-guru partner at 2GreenEnergy what he thought about building all this functionality on our site (and I still may entertain the idea). But I really don’t know how we can top the WWF in terms of calling for action. Great job.