by Melanie Lowe

Created on: November 27, 2008   Last Updated: November 29, 2008

We are living on borrowed time. As dramatic as this sounds, I have never been more sure than I am now, that it is the absolute truth. I was having a quiet dinner with some close friends, one of whom is a scientist working very closely with various government's around the world and she deals specifically with the global warming crisis. I had a question burning in my mind but I was loathe to ask it out of fear that I wouldn't like the answer. This was one of those rare moments where I hated being right! My question was, "How long do we have before it's too late?" She hesitated for a few seconds and I could see her inner battle as she debated with herself whether to ease my mind or to give me the brutal, honest truth. "Give me the truthful answer, not the candy-coated one," I said. Her answer? Five years. We have five years to reverse the damage already inflicted on the planet. After those five years, it will be too late to undo what has already been done. She looked me straight in the eye and, with a frighteningly solemn voice, said to me, "My advice to you? Don't have children."

My mind began racing. I've been putting off having children because I had a career to get off the ground and I wanted to be able to give them the kind of childhood I hadn't been able to have due to lack of money. Now she was telling me that, if I had children, they would be the one's suffering the consequences of our generation's selfishness and thoughtlessness. Perhaps she was exaggerating. How does one really know for sure? All I know is that this is her job. She travels the world assessing these situations and she's a scientist. They have an obsession with facts and numbers and don't lend themselves to the dramatic. It scared me enough to stir me to action.

I have been recycling for about 3 years and trying to find ways to conserve energy and I have tried to get my friends to do it too but it has been a half-hearted attempt because I am not the type to force my beliefs on anyone. I've now come to realise that this is not a belief. It is a fact of life and everyone is responsible for the situation and is required to do their bit. I began a group called Green Celebrities and sent the word out. I had a plan and a very specific reason for focusing on celebrities.

Celebrities have more power than politicians when it comes to influencing people. It is a sad truth that, while a lot of these people are plastic, superficial and self-involved, the world has put them on a pedestal and goes out

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