While I was chained to a desk for three hours on Saturday morning taking a Psychology GRE Exam, millions of people across the country united to spur Congressional action against climate change. Thousand of New Yorkers clad in blue gathered in Battery Park to create a "sea of people," just one of the many stunts that colored the first National Day of Climate Action. They lined the edge of lower Manhattan to create an aerial image of what the island will look like after the effects of climate change set in-- significantly shrunken, as sea levels are projected to one day rise 10-20 feet.
The organization behind this grassroots effort is Step It Up, and the goal is to persuade Congress to pass pass a bill to cut carbon emissions by 80 percent by the year 2050. Though it sounds like a radical request, it would only mean a 2% decrease per year-- and we're clearly facing a problem that calls for drastic measures.
The nation saw more than 1300 rallies on Saturday, covering all 50 states on the map. Scuba divers in Florida went under water and held a Step It Up sign to draw attention to the damage that climate change will incur on coral reefs. Folks in the San Francisco area created a caravan of clean fueled cars and went to a Hummer dealership to protest the gas guzzlers. New Orleans saw citizens form a human chain that spelled out Step It Up, while students at Middlebury College in Vermont rose before dawn to send out a Step It Up message with flashlights.
Bill McKibben is the guy behind the movement-- a Middlebury Alum and environmental guru. Hes the author of "The End of Nature," a global warming treatise, and has organized several other similar events, including leading a 50 mile walk across Vermont to attend an environmental rally in Burlington.
The impressive turnout on Saturday was the first step in the appeal to Congress. The group is now in the process of sending all the pictures to Capitol Hill. They will send each U.S. Senator a copy of every picture that was taken at a rally in their state, and each U.S. rep will receive the same from all rallies in their district.
This action incited wild national and international media, and will likely be a significant push for legislative action thats already on the table in D.C. Step It Up is teaming up with Moveon.org to circulate a national e-petition for Congress, and encouraging all to make a pledge to put climate change on the front burner in the 2008 elections. Voters can pledge themselves at ClimateVoters.org. Step It Up's websites has many other ways that regular citizens can make a difference by working together-- I guess it just takes a bunch of hippies from Vermont to cultivate the grassroots approach.
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