SUBSCRIBE TO OUR FREE NEWSLETTER
Daily news & progressive opinion—funded by the people, not the corporations—delivered straight to your inbox.
5
#000000
#FFFFFF
5
#000000
#FFFFFF
We started a new movement called "Save Santa's Home,"--to give parents a tool to discuss climate change with their kids in a way that's encouraging, empowering, and extremely not terrifying. (Photo: Courtesy of Andrew Slack and Sean Presant)
Save Santa's Home
In a single night, he defies space and time as he travels to every country on a flying sled and somehow fits down every chimney. The least we could do in exchange is not melt his natural habitat.
Dec 21, 2020
In 1897, eight year old Virginia O'Hanlon wrote the New York Sun to ask if her friends were right and that there was no Santa Claus. The lead editor, Francis Pharcellus Church, replied with a letter that has struck a chord for generations: "Yes, VIRGINIA, there is a Santa Claus."
It is an astounding piece of writing that invited a little girl to understand that there is a mystery to life that cannot be seen by the naked eye. And "Santa Claus" is the name we give to that mystery, one which 85% of America's children believe in. But that myth is now threatened, not by naysayers, but by aggressive steps to melt Santa's home in the Arctic in the form of climate change.
Making matters worse is the Trump administration's brazen attempt to sell oil leases in The Arctic National Wildlife Refuge, threatening our planet, our people, our wildlife, and our mythology. If the administration gets its way, an Indigenous tribe will face a human rights emergency, polar bear and caribou will become even more endangered, and Santa's home will forever be lost. Given the timing, it's a pretty Grinchy move. But it's not the first time this has happened.
"When a people start killing off their own symbols, they are in a bad way." These were the words of John Fire Lame Deer describing how Americans nearly killed off the bald eagle, the proud symbol of our nation. Lost habitat and the pesticide DDT were the main culprits, and the majestic birds would have gone away completely were it not for their symbolic status and the public outcry at their potential demise. The side effect of this victory was more forest land and less poison floating around, a massive win for life itself.
We're in a similar situation with Santa Claus. For many, he is the symbol of childhood. When we talk about bespectacled wise old men with magical powers, he predates Dumbledore and Gandalf by a few hundred years. In a single night, he defies space and time as he travels to every country on a flying sled and somehow fits down every chimney. In the midst of this adventure, he devours milk and cookies, fills each stocking with candy, and puts Elf-made toys under each tree. The least we could do in exchange is not melt his natural habitat.
That 's why we started a new movement called "Save Santa's Home,"--to give parents a tool to discuss climate change with their kids in a way that's encouraging, empowering, and extremely not terrifying. Led by a Santa Squad full of parents and kids, and Santa Claus himself, we have been publicly endorsed by fifteen Congresspeople. Last week, we held a livestream with Marianne Williamson, Alyssa Milano, and the Chair of the Committee on Natural Resources, Congressman Raul Grijalva.
The star of the show, though, was Santa and the kids. They wrote letters to Joe Biden insisting that the president-elect undo Trump's Arctic policies and do his best to #SaveSantasHome. They promised to follow the strategies of an accompanying children's book and signed a rhyming petition asking Mr. Biden:
Before Christmas Eve, announce you're on track,
To stop mean Mr. Trump and his plans to attack
The Arctic where bears and the caribou roam,
Tell Trump you will stop him, you'll Save Santa's Home!
It's a whimsical look at how to save the planet, and that's strategic. Somehow something every real scientist agrees on, that human activity is causing a dangerous increase in global temperatures, has become political. When we make it narrative, we remove it from that world. All we're doing is saving Santa's home. If, in the process, we prevent sea level from rising and wiping out Florida, well that's just a bonus.
Recent history gives us hope in this regard. We didn't just bring back the bald eagle. We also beat acid rain and closed the hole in the ozone layer. These should be reminders to us that, even in our darkest hour, when all hope seems lost, it's not. The spirit of Santa is in each of us even when we are full of doubt. After all, in the words of the September 21, 1897 edition of the New York Sun:
"Is it all real? Ah, VIRGINIA, in all this world there is nothing else real and abiding.
No Santa Claus! Thank God! he lives, and he lives forever. A thousand years from now, Virginia, nay, ten times ten thousand years from now, he will continue to make glad the heart of childhood."
Together, we can protect and cherish our sense of wonder, our planet, and each other. We can save Santa's home, and with it, we can save our own.
An Urgent Message From Our Co-Founder
Dear Common Dreams reader, It’s been nearly 30 years since I co-founded Common Dreams with my late wife, Lina Newhouser. We had the radical notion that journalism should serve the public good, not corporate profits. It was clear to us from the outset what it would take to build such a project. No paid advertisements. No corporate sponsors. No millionaire publisher telling us what to think or do. Many people said we wouldn't last a year, but we proved those doubters wrong. Together with a tremendous team of journalists and dedicated staff, we built an independent media outlet free from the constraints of profits and corporate control. Our mission has always been simple: To inform. To inspire. To ignite change for the common good. Building Common Dreams was not easy. Our survival was never guaranteed. When you take on the most powerful forces—Wall Street greed, fossil fuel industry destruction, Big Tech lobbyists, and uber-rich oligarchs who have spent billions upon billions rigging the economy and democracy in their favor—the only bulwark you have is supporters who believe in your work. But here’s the urgent message from me today. It's never been this bad out there. And it's never been this hard to keep us going. At the very moment Common Dreams is most needed, the threats we face are intensifying. We need your support now more than ever. We don't accept corporate advertising and never will. We don't have a paywall because we don't think people should be blocked from critical news based on their ability to pay. Everything we do is funded by the donations of readers like you. When everyone does the little they can afford, we are strong. But if that support retreats or dries up, so do we. Will you donate now to make sure Common Dreams not only survives but thrives? —Craig Brown, Co-founder |
Our work is licensed under Creative Commons (CC BY-NC-ND 3.0). Feel free to republish and share widely.
Andrew Slack
Andrew Slack is the co-founder and co-director of the Save Santa's Home movement and co-author of the Save Santa's Home book, both of which encourage youth activism by enlisting children to help save Santa's home in the Arctic. He is also the co-founder and founding Executive Director of the Harry Potter Alliance, an Ashoka fellow, a Nathan Cummings Foundation fellow in social justice innovation, and a Civic Imagination fellow at Civic Hall. A Phi Beta Kappa graduate of Brandeis University, Andrew started his career in comedy, performing and producing online videos. Follow him on Twitter @andrewslack.
Sean Presant
Sean Presant is the co-founder and co-director of the Save Santa's Home movement and co-author of the Save Santa's Home book, both of which encourage youth activism by enlisting children to help save Santa's home in the Arctic. He is also a film and TV writer who has written and produced shows for Nickelodeon, ABC, NBC, TVLand, WGN, BET, and MTV, and is a co-founder of Writer's Action, an organization of professional writers dedicated to teaching effective storytelling to Democratic and Progressive political candidates and humanitarian leadership. A former journalist, travel writer, and stand-up comic, Sean holds degrees from Harvard University and the University of Southern California School of Cinematic Arts. Follow him on Twitter @seanpresant.
In 1897, eight year old Virginia O'Hanlon wrote the New York Sun to ask if her friends were right and that there was no Santa Claus. The lead editor, Francis Pharcellus Church, replied with a letter that has struck a chord for generations: "Yes, VIRGINIA, there is a Santa Claus."
It is an astounding piece of writing that invited a little girl to understand that there is a mystery to life that cannot be seen by the naked eye. And "Santa Claus" is the name we give to that mystery, one which 85% of America's children believe in. But that myth is now threatened, not by naysayers, but by aggressive steps to melt Santa's home in the Arctic in the form of climate change.
Making matters worse is the Trump administration's brazen attempt to sell oil leases in The Arctic National Wildlife Refuge, threatening our planet, our people, our wildlife, and our mythology. If the administration gets its way, an Indigenous tribe will face a human rights emergency, polar bear and caribou will become even more endangered, and Santa's home will forever be lost. Given the timing, it's a pretty Grinchy move. But it's not the first time this has happened.
"When a people start killing off their own symbols, they are in a bad way." These were the words of John Fire Lame Deer describing how Americans nearly killed off the bald eagle, the proud symbol of our nation. Lost habitat and the pesticide DDT were the main culprits, and the majestic birds would have gone away completely were it not for their symbolic status and the public outcry at their potential demise. The side effect of this victory was more forest land and less poison floating around, a massive win for life itself.
We're in a similar situation with Santa Claus. For many, he is the symbol of childhood. When we talk about bespectacled wise old men with magical powers, he predates Dumbledore and Gandalf by a few hundred years. In a single night, he defies space and time as he travels to every country on a flying sled and somehow fits down every chimney. In the midst of this adventure, he devours milk and cookies, fills each stocking with candy, and puts Elf-made toys under each tree. The least we could do in exchange is not melt his natural habitat.
That 's why we started a new movement called "Save Santa's Home,"--to give parents a tool to discuss climate change with their kids in a way that's encouraging, empowering, and extremely not terrifying. Led by a Santa Squad full of parents and kids, and Santa Claus himself, we have been publicly endorsed by fifteen Congresspeople. Last week, we held a livestream with Marianne Williamson, Alyssa Milano, and the Chair of the Committee on Natural Resources, Congressman Raul Grijalva.
The star of the show, though, was Santa and the kids. They wrote letters to Joe Biden insisting that the president-elect undo Trump's Arctic policies and do his best to #SaveSantasHome. They promised to follow the strategies of an accompanying children's book and signed a rhyming petition asking Mr. Biden:
Before Christmas Eve, announce you're on track,
To stop mean Mr. Trump and his plans to attack
The Arctic where bears and the caribou roam,
Tell Trump you will stop him, you'll Save Santa's Home!
It's a whimsical look at how to save the planet, and that's strategic. Somehow something every real scientist agrees on, that human activity is causing a dangerous increase in global temperatures, has become political. When we make it narrative, we remove it from that world. All we're doing is saving Santa's home. If, in the process, we prevent sea level from rising and wiping out Florida, well that's just a bonus.
Recent history gives us hope in this regard. We didn't just bring back the bald eagle. We also beat acid rain and closed the hole in the ozone layer. These should be reminders to us that, even in our darkest hour, when all hope seems lost, it's not. The spirit of Santa is in each of us even when we are full of doubt. After all, in the words of the September 21, 1897 edition of the New York Sun:
"Is it all real? Ah, VIRGINIA, in all this world there is nothing else real and abiding.
No Santa Claus! Thank God! he lives, and he lives forever. A thousand years from now, Virginia, nay, ten times ten thousand years from now, he will continue to make glad the heart of childhood."
Together, we can protect and cherish our sense of wonder, our planet, and each other. We can save Santa's home, and with it, we can save our own.
Andrew Slack
Andrew Slack is the co-founder and co-director of the Save Santa's Home movement and co-author of the Save Santa's Home book, both of which encourage youth activism by enlisting children to help save Santa's home in the Arctic. He is also the co-founder and founding Executive Director of the Harry Potter Alliance, an Ashoka fellow, a Nathan Cummings Foundation fellow in social justice innovation, and a Civic Imagination fellow at Civic Hall. A Phi Beta Kappa graduate of Brandeis University, Andrew started his career in comedy, performing and producing online videos. Follow him on Twitter @andrewslack.
Sean Presant
Sean Presant is the co-founder and co-director of the Save Santa's Home movement and co-author of the Save Santa's Home book, both of which encourage youth activism by enlisting children to help save Santa's home in the Arctic. He is also a film and TV writer who has written and produced shows for Nickelodeon, ABC, NBC, TVLand, WGN, BET, and MTV, and is a co-founder of Writer's Action, an organization of professional writers dedicated to teaching effective storytelling to Democratic and Progressive political candidates and humanitarian leadership. A former journalist, travel writer, and stand-up comic, Sean holds degrees from Harvard University and the University of Southern California School of Cinematic Arts. Follow him on Twitter @seanpresant.
In 1897, eight year old Virginia O'Hanlon wrote the New York Sun to ask if her friends were right and that there was no Santa Claus. The lead editor, Francis Pharcellus Church, replied with a letter that has struck a chord for generations: "Yes, VIRGINIA, there is a Santa Claus."
It is an astounding piece of writing that invited a little girl to understand that there is a mystery to life that cannot be seen by the naked eye. And "Santa Claus" is the name we give to that mystery, one which 85% of America's children believe in. But that myth is now threatened, not by naysayers, but by aggressive steps to melt Santa's home in the Arctic in the form of climate change.
Making matters worse is the Trump administration's brazen attempt to sell oil leases in The Arctic National Wildlife Refuge, threatening our planet, our people, our wildlife, and our mythology. If the administration gets its way, an Indigenous tribe will face a human rights emergency, polar bear and caribou will become even more endangered, and Santa's home will forever be lost. Given the timing, it's a pretty Grinchy move. But it's not the first time this has happened.
"When a people start killing off their own symbols, they are in a bad way." These were the words of John Fire Lame Deer describing how Americans nearly killed off the bald eagle, the proud symbol of our nation. Lost habitat and the pesticide DDT were the main culprits, and the majestic birds would have gone away completely were it not for their symbolic status and the public outcry at their potential demise. The side effect of this victory was more forest land and less poison floating around, a massive win for life itself.
We're in a similar situation with Santa Claus. For many, he is the symbol of childhood. When we talk about bespectacled wise old men with magical powers, he predates Dumbledore and Gandalf by a few hundred years. In a single night, he defies space and time as he travels to every country on a flying sled and somehow fits down every chimney. In the midst of this adventure, he devours milk and cookies, fills each stocking with candy, and puts Elf-made toys under each tree. The least we could do in exchange is not melt his natural habitat.
That 's why we started a new movement called "Save Santa's Home,"--to give parents a tool to discuss climate change with their kids in a way that's encouraging, empowering, and extremely not terrifying. Led by a Santa Squad full of parents and kids, and Santa Claus himself, we have been publicly endorsed by fifteen Congresspeople. Last week, we held a livestream with Marianne Williamson, Alyssa Milano, and the Chair of the Committee on Natural Resources, Congressman Raul Grijalva.
The star of the show, though, was Santa and the kids. They wrote letters to Joe Biden insisting that the president-elect undo Trump's Arctic policies and do his best to #SaveSantasHome. They promised to follow the strategies of an accompanying children's book and signed a rhyming petition asking Mr. Biden:
Before Christmas Eve, announce you're on track,
To stop mean Mr. Trump and his plans to attack
The Arctic where bears and the caribou roam,
Tell Trump you will stop him, you'll Save Santa's Home!
It's a whimsical look at how to save the planet, and that's strategic. Somehow something every real scientist agrees on, that human activity is causing a dangerous increase in global temperatures, has become political. When we make it narrative, we remove it from that world. All we're doing is saving Santa's home. If, in the process, we prevent sea level from rising and wiping out Florida, well that's just a bonus.
Recent history gives us hope in this regard. We didn't just bring back the bald eagle. We also beat acid rain and closed the hole in the ozone layer. These should be reminders to us that, even in our darkest hour, when all hope seems lost, it's not. The spirit of Santa is in each of us even when we are full of doubt. After all, in the words of the September 21, 1897 edition of the New York Sun:
"Is it all real? Ah, VIRGINIA, in all this world there is nothing else real and abiding.
No Santa Claus! Thank God! he lives, and he lives forever. A thousand years from now, Virginia, nay, ten times ten thousand years from now, he will continue to make glad the heart of childhood."
Together, we can protect and cherish our sense of wonder, our planet, and each other. We can save Santa's home, and with it, we can save our own.
We've had enough. The 1% own and operate the corporate media. They are doing everything they can to defend the status quo, squash dissent and protect the wealthy and the powerful. The Common Dreams media model is different. We cover the news that matters to the 99%. Our mission? To inform. To inspire. To ignite change for the common good. How? Nonprofit. Independent. Reader-supported. Free to read. Free to republish. Free to share. With no advertising. No paywalls. No selling of your data. Thousands of small donations fund our newsroom and allow us to continue publishing. Can you chip in? We can't do it without you. Thank you.