"Are We Going To The Moon, Then?" asks Onalenna

photo: Desmond Tutu with his grandchildren: Mungi Ngomane (left), 17, Onalenna Burris (center) 3 and Nyaniso Burris, 13. Flickr - TheElders.

Archbishop Desmond Tutu’s 3-year-old granddaughter, Onalenna, was puzzled.

Her older cousin, Mungi, had just deflated a large, blow-up globe to demonstrate the imminent danger of climate change.

“Are we going to go the moon then?” Onalenna asked her grandfather.

“I don’t know, I will not be here,” Archbishop Tutu, 78, whispered in his granddaughter’s ear.

- from yesterday's New York Times article Bridging the Generation Gap on Climate.

The Elders, an independent group of eminent global leaders, brought together by Nelson Mandela, who offer their collective influence and experience to support peace building, help address major causes of human suffering and promote the shared interests of humanity.

The global Elders enlisted their grandchildren's help to warn of the perils of climate change. Martti Ahtisaari, Ela Bhatt, Lakhdar Brahimi, Gro Brundtland, Jimmy Carter, Mary Robinson and Desmond Tutu invited their grandchildren to join them on October 29th to remind the world of the catastrophic risk of climate change to future generations. The seven Elders and their thirteen grandchildren from Asia, Africa, Europe and America met in Istanbul - the group ranged in age from 3 to 85.

Elders’ Chair, Archbishop Desmond Tutu said: "No one is immune – rich, poor, developed and developing countries. We are all in this together. I will probably be spared the worst effects of climate change but I worry for our children’s future and for the millions of people who are already being impoverished and displaced."

To read their list of goals for Copenhagen, go here.

To view a slideshow of photos from the event, go here.