Serving as Sentinels in the Polycrisis

Dear Friends,

When you are traveling in unfamiliar terrain with no familiar landmarks and no path, you use all available means to get your bearings. A compass, the location of moss on trees, the position of the sun, maps, all of the possible tools for helping you avoid danger and find your way home. And you check your compass and map repeatedly so you can course correct.

The polycrisis has been made infinitely worse by the administration currently in Washington, D.C. Whether it is climate, economics, or public health, we are facing unfamiliar terrain. We have lost our way as a nation. At SEHN we work to both map the terrain communities are traversing and to make a path through the treacherous places.

Early in our work on the law of future generations, which is grounded in the precautionary principle, I looked for all the kinds of guardians for future generations we would need. I found many kinds of archetypal guardians that defend and protect: people like keepers of seeds and water protectors. But the group that stands out for me in this moment are the sentinels and scouts who are crucial for seeing what is ahead.

I think of SEHN serving as sentinels in the polycrisis. We have responsibilities to various organizations we work with in coalition and to communities that need to understand the science and law of noxious projects planned for their neighborhoods. We have a duty to scout the horizon for upcoming threats like those resulting from abruptly changed public health policies in Washington, D.C. We have a duty to warn of public health consequences of, say, fracking or CO2 pipelines, or using single-use plastics in health care. We have a duty to help prevent suffering if it is at all possible.

I come to you today to ask for money to support this work. Recently, we convened a group to research and respond to the really terrible plans to inject CO2 into deep wells in the Ocean. This is an example of fulfilling our duty to scout the horizon. In the past month, SEHN was a lead organization on an amicus brief to a state court fulfilling our duty to warn. We have also been working with a frontline community group in Texas to use new and horrific public health data on fracking to get Texas to clean up its act and thereby fulfill our duty to prevent suffering.

If you are reading this, then I am pretty sure you are familiar with our work and dedicated staff. I am also fairly certain that you are keenly aware of the terribly difficult political terrain we are in and doing all you can to prevent the preventable suffering. Will you make common cause with us as we use the navigation tools of science and ethics to help us get to a future with healthy communities, clean water and air, a stable climate worthy of our great grandchildren? Will you make a donation to SEHN so we can serve as guardians of future generations?

Thank you, both for all you do and for considering this request.