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Kathryn Gilje

Kathryn Gilje

Your voice echoed, and the world changed

As I look back on 2011, I am truly struck that this year, we worked together to indeed leave a better world for our children, our nieces, nephews and grandchildren — even in the face of intractable resistance on concerns of utmost importance for the future of our world. All of us at PAN are deeply grateful, if aching for greater transformation, too.

The stark contrast of government caught in the claws of corporate influence makes it that much clearer: your engagement, and the networked actions of people around the world, are the only way to make this world right. Thank you for staying connected, and taking action. Your voice and support is critical for the work ahead. And if you are not yet a PAN member, I invite you to join this community in staying the course.

A few notes of deeply felt gratitude for you and for the PAN family:

  • webCapping a decade-long campaign fueled by network power, you helped secure a global ban on the DDT-era pesticide endosulfan. Most uses will be gone — around the world — by this time next year. The impact will be profound: children living in India's cashew plantation communities will have fewer birth defects, autism will be less likely in California's Central Valley, and fewer African cotton farmers will suffer deadly poisonings. Arctic mothers will carry a lighter load of this contaminant in their breastmilk. Thank you.

I am overwhelmed by the many ways this community came together for a better world in 2011. As I think toward 2012, the upcoming election, and so much on the line, my hope and my energy are fueled by the pockets and places where groups of neighbors, and ordinary people, continue to reclaim our communities and our nation. Thank you for making PAN one such place.

Best wishes to you and yours as we welcome in 2012 together.

Kathryn Gilje

Kathryn Gilje

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