Students in Vermont have teamed up with local activists and luminaries to organize an innovative and exciting campaign for this year’s International Day of Climate Action on Nov. 4. If you’re in the area, sign up at www.saveyourvermont.org! But even if you’re far away from Vermont, take a moment to check out the action and make some suggestions or comments. We think its an exciting model for change that emphasizes the local while keeping the message global. Who knows, maybe we’ll be doing a similar thing on a national level sometime soon? (wink, wink). Read on for a letter from environmental writer and activist Bill McKibben:
Dear friends–
A few weeks ago we came together in the largest political demonstration in
Vermont in many years–our fifty mile walk to Burlington for action on global
warming. And what do you know–it worked: many of the candidates stepped up and
signed our pledge to fight for real climate action.
Now we need to remind voters of their part in this effort–remind them to get
out and cast ballots for the candidates they think are most likely to actually
be able to slow global warming. And so we’re coming together for something we
think will be just as much fun and just as important as our trek: a one-day
all-across-Vermont effort to show just how much is at stake.
Instead of asking people to assemble in a single place, we’re asking you to
disperse to beautiful spots around the state. Some of us will be on
mountaintops–Camels Hump, Mansfield, Killington. Others will be in cornfields,
or out on Lake Champlain, or any other spot that you think captures what’s at
stake as we confront this most pressing issue. Our single largest action will be
in Burlington where we will meet the media and politicians. Hundreds of
Chittenden County residents will gather to create aerial art – an image to
embody our “vote to stop global warming” message that will be photographed from
the air. We’ll all have the same sign: “Vote to Stop Global Warming!” And we’ll
all try–depending on our technological abilities–to send live pictures through
cellphones and computers, and participate in a live press conference held in
Burlington. We hope people will go in small groups–our website (www.saveyourvermont.org) is the place to register for where you want to go, to set up your iconic image trek, to sign up for the aerial art, and to help us figure out how we’ll connect.
We’re not exactly sure how it will all work out–expect a certain number of
crossed wires. But we have high hopes it’s going to be a beautiful demonstration
of all we hold dear about this state, and all we fear will suffer unless our
representatives take strong action on global warming. We hope the media will
cover our efforts well–that the pictures and images and sounds will spread our
across Vermont in time to spark people to get to the polls.
When we gathered in Burlington in early September, it was the largest
demonstration yet in this country about global warming. This one will definitely
be the most spread-out demonstration anyone’s yet devised. We won’t be able to
see each other all at once, but we’ll be feeling the pleasure of knowing that
all across Vermont we’re in solidarity with each other. Please join in, and
bring your creativity and your energy to bear on this problem.
Many thanks,
Bill McKibben, the Middlebury College Sunday Night Group, and Project Hot Seat
