Overview

Reagan Kennedy worried. President Trump and his appointees seemed dismissive of climate change and ready to gut the EPA. Adult reaction seemed fatalistic, along the lines of we are all going to you know where in a you know what. Not so fast, responds Reagan. Our 45th President is a father and grandfather who has a stake in the future. Not only that, but he signed onto a letter imploring then President Obama to take swift and decisive action to combat climate change ( no kidding, yes really, see p.9). How could he not care about the air we breathe, the water we drink, the the planet we call home? Isn't safeguarding those things what homeland security is really about? Reagan's plan: 1. President Trump needs to be encouraged to be his best self. 2. A little environmental education might not hurt. 3. Most important- a kids' movement where kids will write the president to let him know they are watching his stewardship of their future. Kids will write and applaud what he gets right (he reacts well to praise) and criticize what he gets wrong pointing him in the right direction. In the process, kids will be shining a bright light on what the administration is doing to the environment. Kids will be the agents of change, safeguarding their future and ours.

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9781545214046

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Meet Reagan Kennedy a/k/a/ LisaMcDougall Version one has Reagan Kennedy as a precocious but naive environmental scientist wannabe. A ten year old who simply believes there is a good chance that Trump will do right by the environment. Seriously? On what possible basis? Reagan's older brother shared a copy of a December 6, 2009 letter that ran as a full page ad in the New York Times. Guess what? Trump and others wrote to Obama acknowledging the scientific basis for climate change and urging action lest there be consequences both imminent and irreversible. The message is loud and clear.. Hat hanger number one for Reagan, apparently unaware that Trump can blow hot and cold. And hat hanger two, as per Reagan's logic -Trump has a personal stake in the future of a healthy planet - look at his loving family, including children and grandchildren. The final convincer for Reagan is that Trump is self proclaimed as smart, very, very smart, even a genius, so Reagan believes duh, of course Trump gets it. Reagan reflects the wonder and awe that a child sees in nature and questions how anyone with power could not use that power for life affirming purposes, taking literally the words that come out of people's mouths because words matter. Version two, maybe Reagan is at heart a Bernie Sanders supporter intent on exposing hypocrisy and the impending ruin of the environment by Trump appointees who possess a slash and burn, take no prisoners mentality, reporting to a president who is complicit, ignorant or doesn't care, or all of the above. The same President who says he is an environmentalist. The passion of Sanders' supporters inspire Reagan to write a letter to the President. Reagan shows some friends. They like it. Say they will also write the President so he knows they are watching, concerned. Reagan then makes the letter into this book. More kids read it. A kids' movement. Lots and lots of kids writing letters to the President. Kids learning more about science to be ready to recognize falsehoods. Kids becoming citizen scientists. Kids educating their families on going green and staying green. Kids visualizing their future. Kids calling out hypocrisy and environmental degradation. Kids mobilizing parents. Kids organizing. They get it.You get it. Truth be told, as it should be, Reagan Kennedy is in a sense both versions. Reagan is the child within Lisa McDougall, who is the adult who transcribed and illustrated Reagan Kennedy's hopes, thoughts and feelings.

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