“Are you ready? Are you ready for a miracle?” are the words of a song I sing with the Rock My Soul gospel group.

On this Earth Day 2007, the Earth is in urgent need of a miracle. But WE are the ones who must make this miracle happen.

At a conference last week, sponsored by Peace Action Maine, Physicians for Social Responsibility, Sierra Club of Maine, and others, with speakers from across the world, and attended by more than 200 people from across the state of Maine, we learned some of what is needed for this miracle.

First, it means that every sector of civil society must participate. That means you and me. That means local town governments. That means state governments. That means the government of every country.

We heard that Maine is far ahead with the proposal for a regional approach in addressing energy requirements. We heard from the Union of Concerned Scientists about the changes in regional average summer temperatures, and that the Northeast is experiencing rising temperatures with dramatic warming expected later this century if our heat-trapping emissions continue to increase unabated.

We learned from the Institute of Energy and Environmental Research (IEER) the insurmountable risks if we choose to build nuclear power plants rather than choosing other more environmentally-friendly choices such as solar and wind power.

We learned from Mary-Wynne Ashford, M.D., president of International Physicians for Prevention of Nuclear War (IPPNW) something our government should long ago have learned-that the world can no longer afford war, monetarily or environmentally, as a means to resolve conflicts.

We learned from Peace Action Maine that the cost of the war in Iraq is taking away from the priorities at home which include our ability to address our needs for renewable energy.

If we are truly “ready for a miracle,” we can begin at our own personal level of understanding. If we are in the beginning stages of our understanding, we can replace the light bulbs in our home with compact florescent bulbs. If we have been aware for a while of the need to protect our Earth from further harm, we can join the Sierra Club of Maine in their “Cool Communities” initiative, and make a personal commitment to not idle the engines in our cars. If we have been at a higher level of consciousness, we can become involved with bringing this awareness to our churches or other social organizations for the need to replace the use of paper products with cloth napkins and china which are already in our kitchens.

What we all can and must do is contact our state legislators and ask/demand that they vote in favor of LD 1851, which is the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative (RGGI), the first U.S. multi-state cap on carbon emissions, which will require the electric power sector to decrease its emissions 10 percent below current levels by 2019.

Our Earth is ready for this miracle. Let’s make a commitment to make this miracle a reality, and not a moment too soon.

If you are interested in learning more about any of these initiatives, please feel free to e-mail me at sallybreen@msn.com.

Sally Breen lives in Windham.