Dear Avaazers,

You may know me best as Captain Kirk from Star Trek, but last year I went to space for real. As I looked back at the fragile blue jewel of our planet I promised myself that I would do everything I could to protect our one and only home.

That's why I'm writing -- as you read this, governments from around the world are meeting at a major summit in Montreal to decide whether to massively scale up protections for the environment, or let the planet go.

So I am personally asking you to join me in backing the global call to protect half the Earth, and help make it massive. Add your name, with just one click, and I will work with the Avaaz team to deliver it directly to key leaders during the meeting.

To world leaders:

"We call on you to meet existing targets to protect biodiversity, forge a new agreement so that at least 50% of our lands and oceans are conserved, protected and restored, and ensure our planet is completely sustainably managed. This must take into consideration the needs of human development, and have the active support and leadership of indigenous peoples."

Sign now with one click: Protect our one and only home!

Last year, I had a life-changing experience at 90 years old. I went to space, after decades of playing an iconic science-fiction character who was exploring the universe. I thought I would experience a deep connection with the immensity around us, a deep call for endless exploration.

I was absolutely wrong. The strongest feeling, that dominated everything else by far, was the deepest grief that I had ever experienced.

I understood, in the clearest possible way, that we were living on a tiny oasis of life, surrounded by an immensity of death. I didn’t see infinite possibilities of worlds to explore, of adventures to have, or living creatures to connect with. I saw the deepest darkness I could have ever imagined, contrasting so starkly with the welcoming warmth of our nurturing home planet.

This was an immensely powerful awakening for me. It filled me with sadness. I realized that we had spent decades, if not centuries, being obsessed with looking away, with looking outside. I did my share in popularizing the idea that space was the final frontier. But I had to get to space to understand that Earth is and will stay our only home. And that we have been ravaging it, relentlessly, making it uninhabitable.

I hope you'll join me; if we work together we can convince our leaders to act to reverse the devastation.

Sign now with one click: Protect our one and only home!

With hope and determination,
William Shatner and the Avaaz team

More Information:

• Could we set aside half the Earth for nature? (The Guardian)
• Nature needs half
• UN Secretary-General calls for bold action to end biodiversity crisis (UN)
• Nature crisis: Humans 'threaten 1m species with extinction' (BBC)