Friends - our world, this precious gift from God, is becoming victim to our abuse of it. Global warming isn't just a funny hypothesis anymore, people- liberal, conservative, inside the church and outside - are acknowledging it. There is something we can do....take a look at the info for Step It Up 2007. This is the baby of 8 Middleburry students in Vermont who said, enough is enough.
Please join me in St. Pete on the 14th.
Blessings & Happy Easter
This is our organizing hub for a National Day of Climate Action--April 14th, 2007. On this one spring day, there will be hundreds and hundreds of rallies all across the country. We hope to have gatherings in every state, and in many of America's most iconic places: on the levees in New Orleans, on top of the melting glaciers on Mt. Rainier, even underwater on the endangered coral reefs off Key West.
We also need rallies outside churches, along the tide lines in our coastal cities, in cornfields and forests and on statehouse steps. Every group will be saying the same thing: "Step it up, Congress! Cut Carbon 80% by 2050." As people gather, we'll link pictures of the protests together electronically via the web--before the weekend is out, we'll have the largest protest the country has ever seen, not in numbers but in extent. From every corner of the nation we'll start to shake things up.
Step It UP Tampa Bay!!
Pinellas Park, FL
April 14, 2007 12:00PM to 02:00PM
Event Description:
Come learn about global warming and speak out for change! Renewable Energy Fair! Bring a picnic lunch and/or Frisbee, etc... Live local music (band and DJ) Educational displays on renewable energy Fun environmental crafts for kids Ride a bike, walk, take the bus or carpool to the rally (Please use the lowest emission method possible for your transportation to the event.) Feel free to bring your own sign. You can find tips on making signs on this web site. After the festivities, we will all be gathering in mass to take a group photo that will be posted on the Step It Up web site and sent to Congress. Come help us make an impact!!! We need your support.
Location:
Pinellas Park Town Square Plaza 5121 80th Terrace North Pinellas Park, FL. 33781
Directions:
Please note, map on this web site is incorrect. The event is in Pinellas Park, not Largo. England Brothers Bandshell (Town Square Plaza) Near the intersection of 49th St. and 66th St. If you are traveling East on Park Blvd. from 66 street, you turn left on 52nd Street. If you are going West on Park Blvd, you turn right on 52nd Street. From 52nd Street you will come to a red light. City Hall will be on the right hand side. Go through the red light, and right as you pass City Hall, you will see a big open park, that is the venue. The location is right on the corner of 52nd Street and 80th Avenue.
Our request of Congress is simple: that they put America on a course to cut carbon emissions 80% by the middle of the century.
This sounds like a lot-but in fact, it's less than a two percent reduction a year. It won't be easy: it will take commitment and resources to switch from fossil fuels to new sources of energy. But it needs to be done: the latest science tells us that temperatures are increasing faster than expected, and the results are showing up in melting ice caps, intensifying storms, and rising sea levels. America's foremost climatologist, NASA scientist James Hansen, has said that we have just a few years to start reducing carbon emissions, and he's endorsed our goal of 80% by 2050. That won't prevent global warming-it's already too late for that-but it may be enough to stave off the most catastrophic effects.
While few experts have said explicitly "we need to reduce carbon emissions 80% by 2050," we're sticking to this message. Here's why: Scientists have resisted in nearly every case prescribing policy because they don't want to enter the political realm. That's why the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) and others won't suggest policy, but rather leave it up to legislators to do the dirty work. That said, Jim Hansen, the Stern Report, the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), a number of European countries, the State of California and others (including the new USCAP business-environmental partnership) have either suggested or explicitly referred to 80% carbon cuts by 2050 as a solution commensurate to the scale of the problem.
And it's possible. The cost of renewable energy is falling fast. New conservation technologies, like hybrid cars, are becoming more available. Many Americans are starting to switch already, but only leadership from Washington can allow this transformation to happen fast enough. And if we begin to get our house in order, then we can play some role in helping China and India steer away from cataclysm as well.
There are no guarantees we'll succeed. But if we act ambitiously, we have reason to hope.
