More Action → Less Hot Air

I’d like to attend local events. Please send me info without using “would you like this program to open your…” That’s such an annoyance/

Science at the Theater event at Berkeley Rep on Earth Day, 4/22. Berkeley Lab climate scientists will discuss their recent findings and how they relate to the current thinking of climate change.

Germany shut down their nukes by starting with a solar feed in tariff .
We could do the same?

Hayward talk to address global warming
By Rebecca Parr The Daily Review
Tonight!

HAYWARD — A common-sense approach to addressing global warming will be discussed by an environmental scientist Friday.

UC Berkeley professor John Harte will talk about “Solving the Climate Crisis,” before the Hayward Demos Democratic Club. The lecture is open to the public.

Harte will give an update of a message he delivered to the Demos in 2008, when he said that scientific research had shown unequivocally that global warming is human-made and that there needs to be a shift from fossil fuels.

The research scientist and his work have been featured in Mother Jones, on Bill Moyers’ television show “Now” and on the PBS Newshour. He has written several books, including “Cool the Earth, Save the Economy: Solving the Climate Crisis Is Easy,” which he co-wrote with his wife, Mary Ellen Harte, a biologist.

The talk begins at 7 p.m. at Westminster Hills Outreach Center, 27287 Patrick Ave. Tonight!

The Bay Area Forward on Climate rally was truly a collaboration across many groups and regions around the Bay and northern California. Thanks especially to the young people attending their first climate rally (students and their representatives speaking from Alliance for Climate Education)—we need and will support your growing leadership. Thanks to all the volunteers, speakers, musicians and people who came from far away to be with us. It was a privilege to work with so many dedicated people and see the hope and deep commitment to growing this movement and to standing up. There really is no turning back on this issue or on each other. Forward together/Adelante juntos.

Reply to Damian Luzzo’s response to dharmasyd.

I certainly agree with your enthusiasm and hope. At 80, having been an activist since the 1950s when I protested the A-Bomb tests in the Pacific, HUAC, and the execution of Caryll Chessman until now, I am still out there trying.

My statement about the, up until now, futility of our actions, is based on many long years of witnessing the multiple ways TPTB dismiss us. At 80, with emphysema, exacerbated by my four years at the Concord Naval Weapons station Nuremberg Actions, less than a mile downwind from what the Chronicle named the entire Bay Area’s worst air polluter, the Tosco Refinery (now sold to another company), I am on oxygen and use an electically powered breathing machine and a nebulizer to deliver albuterol medication 4 times a day.

In spite of this, I still go to the righteous rallies, and will so long as I have the health to do so.

When they got discouraged that we weren’t accomplishing our goal of stopping the armament shipments to Central America, I used to tell younger activists who came to the Nuremberg Actions at CNWS, that even though the goal was important, we shouldn’t focus on it. We act because it is the right thing to do. If we focus too much on achieving the goal, we aren’t equiped to survive the disappointments.

As much as I hope for the success of the “Forward on Climate” movement, because without success here, the evolution of homo sapiens is over; and we take many more with us, I still think we must recognize the intransigence of “the other side”.

This is protection from the discouragement and burn out. I commend and honor your passion.

Respectfully,
dharmasyd (aka: Sydney Vilen, Berkeley, CA.)

It was an inspiring and well-organized rally, but I was very disappointed in the march. Why did I even bother marching? Most people seemed absorbed in their individual conversations, with hardly anyone chanting to the anti-XL-pipeline messages coming from the bullhorns. I tried to make up for my quiet neighbors by shouting, and quickly got hoarse and had to quit.
We could have electrified audiences worldwide with our messages if we had chanted them in unison, loudly, clearly, and passionately for sustained periods. How about some “marcher training” before the next rally?

I loved seeing all the generations coming together.

A labor organizer friend sent this message to unions supporting the pipeline – There are no jobs on a dead planet."

I was there and More like 10,000 plus!!! Nothing is more important!!!! We can not eat $$$ or Oil or Carbon!!! Care about your family and kids PAY ATTENTION!!!

We can’t stop climate change without a movement, and Sunday’s rallies were a giant step forward in building that movement.

Now 350 Bay Area needs volunteers to move forward in all our campaigns—divestment, carbon fee, warning labels on gas pumps—dump the pump, Chevron Watch, and No Tar Sands. Email me if you want to join our Dump the Pump campaign—lucerofleck@gmail.com

I was happy to hear one of the San Francisco speakers, member of the Board of Supervisors, John Avalos, not only support the demand to say no to the Keystone XL pipeline, but also call for San Francisco to divest from oil, coal, and gas company stocks.

I was also impressed by a comment from Washington DC where Rev. Lennox Yearwood, Jr. declared, "This is as important as when Dr. King marched in 1963,” he said, except more so. “It’s not just about equality. It’s about existence.”

—Jack Lucero Fleck

From all of us here at SaveWithSunlight, we want to thank 350.org and the Sierra Club for coordinating an absolutely outstanding campaign for this Forward On Climate day of action. It was absolutely amazing to see over 5000 people participate in this event. Not only was this event created from a purely consorted grassroots effort, but this San Francisco based rally was deemed a ‘localized’ event. Seeing such overwhelming activism at a secondary rally such as this one in SF and seeing over 40,000 people attend the largest climate change demonstration in history in DC has restored my optimism in the true power of the people. I feel as though the collective inspiration to be proactive and diligent with our daily actions is somehow evolving at an exponential rate. The virtuosity of activism and collaboration are becoming viral throughout the nation and these values are, day after day, polarizing themselves with the values of comfort and self-determination. At the same time, activism absorbs the virtue of comfort when activism is done together, collectively; And collaboration, when done for a common cause, fulfills our individual agendas while abstaining itself from selfishness and arrogance.

Together, our ideas are far more thoughtful and vetted. Our motivation is collectively strengthened and our sustainability as a movement is far more resilient. The undertaking of collective responsibility, as shown in this very rally, evaporates our superficial differences such as age, ethnicity, gender, sexual orientation, political standing, attire, weight, height, and even our day jobs. All that remains is a collective love for this earth, a simultaneity of imperative necessity to rise to mother nature’s defense, and above all, a revelation of our most fundamental nature which we had somehow forgotten til now : that we are all human beings.

This event has reinvigorated my spirit of optimism and given me more hope for a sustainable future for me and for all successive generations hereafter. While we may recognize the prevalence of these virtues among each other, we must be resilient to the hangovers induced by pivotal occasions and ends. While we may have had an outstanding victory on the 17th with respect to visible solidarity and rising to the occasion when we were called upon to protest the Keystone XL Pipeline, we must remain ardent and passionate with our movement. Each new checkpoint must not only be celebrated, but it must never subject itself to the definition of an end accomplishment. The reality is that we will likely fight on behalf of the environment for our entire lives. There will be more Keystone XL pipelines, more developments like fracking, more catastrophes like the BP oil spill, more mountain top removal, more deforestation, more invasive species, more endangered species, more oil and coal dollars, more propaganda like ‘clean coal’, etc. And we have to be persistent, passionate and committed to our collective ambition to see a cleaner future for this planet.

Let’s use this accomplishment of solidarity and protest as a summit for a new beginning. Let’s continue to rally with Bill McKibben and the great movement he has generated. Let’s continue to divest our schools and cities one by one until every last one of them is #FossilFree. And let’s allocate these funds to energy sources like Solar, which is now more affordable than ever and in dire need of an industrial re-boot and consumer enthusiasm. Let’s invest in solar as a nation and procure it’s mainstream acquisition as a collective community. Let’s continue to say no to the Keystone XL Pipeline even if Obama ends up saying yes. As you might recall from the first Lord of The Rings installment, we must stop big Oil and Coal in the fragile bridge of intimidation and say : “you shall not pass!” While i am hopeful that Obama will stand up against the overwhelming pressure of fossil fuel companies and reject the pipeline, I am nonetheless willing to stand on that bridge, toe to toe with the soul-less billionaires from the oil industry, to let them know how deeply i treasure this planet’s integrity. I will put my life on the line in the form of peaceful protest. I will tie myself to their fences, i will glue myself to the very pipes they are trying to seal, and i will gladly take arrest until there is no one left to bail me out.

While this may indeed seem drastic to some and impractical to many, I know i am certainly not alone with this commitment. While this position is indeed impractical for the enjoyment of an individual day-to-day life, it is something that needs to be done, as the President himself has eloquently established, “because it’s the right thing to do.” So let’s do the right thing and keep this movement alive until, once and for all, we can finally grant the earth it’s due justice.

Respectfully and Passionately,

Damien Luzzo
CEO, SaveWithSunlight, Inc.
www.facebook.com/savewithsunlight
Follow us on Twitter: @savewsunlight
www.savewithsunlight.com

I am so proud of us! Being a high school student, I am stoked to be part of our collective and my personal future, and that heavily involves a healthy climate.

The rally was great: well organized and full of positive energy. This month is the 10 year anniversary of the rallies against war on Iraq when we got millions of people into the streets world wide and in the USA to say “no” to war. Turnout was so great that NYT reporter Patrick Tyler wrote in his first page article: “The world now has 2 Super Powers—The United States and World Public Opinion.” The second power, World Public Opinion, proved to be powerless in that battle; it mean’t nothing to the powers that be. This was the first and strongest indication that we no longer live in a democracy. The will of ‘We the People’ is of no consequence to the rulers; it has no effect. So I can only wait to see if TPTB will remain so intransigent and ignorant.

Evolution demands that we grow and learn. The people have learned. Will the rulers do the same, do what is required?

A marvelous and invigorating day. Good to see people of all ages, from little ones in stroller to the"Ragin’ Grannies. All the hard work put in paid off; everything was very well organized and the rally ran very smoothly.

My warmest and most heartfelt thanks to all who were there. The way the size of climate actions here in the Bay and throughout the US seem to be growing exponentially makes me feel like our movement may just reach a scale proportional to the crisis we face.

We are tasked with halting one of the greatest catastrophes our species and this planet have ever faced—a huge burden, but in a sense also a great honor. I am grateful to share it with so many other talented and energetic people.

One must ask: how many of us will there need to be before the Obama administration and other policymakers find the resolve to take the rapid, decisive action that is necessary on climate change? If not 5,000 in San Francisco and 50,000 in Washington, D.C., what about 10,000 here and 100,000 there? Or 20,000 and 200,000? Whatever the number is, that’s how big we need to get!!!

The crowd was huge and great. But the press coverage was disappointing, especially in major papers. Perhaps there is a way we could bring more pressure to bear on the media to improve their coverage?

There are many Indigenous prophesies about this time and the people of all colors who will rise up to protect Mother Earth. Forward On Climate brought these Rainbow Warriors together. We are one people with one dream: to ensure a sustainable future for the next seven generations. Sending gratitude to the organizers and all of our brother’s and sisters who are answering the call of Mother Earth. We are many, we are strong, we are the ones we’ve been waiting for.

The Bay Area event surpassed my wildest expectation. While it was intended as a solidarity rally to the big one in D.C. it really felt big and powerful all on its own. People from all over the Bay Area really WANTED to come out and show their support, there’s such a thirst for action and community around this most important issue of our time. The amount of creativity, passion, and spirit on display was heartening, it sure felt like the one big family we humans are and should once again become. Thanks for everyone who organized this, you guys did an amazing job, especially with so many more folks showing up than anticipated!

Here are all of my pics that go with the Daily Kos post linked to above:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/11217210@N08/sets/72157632790415905/

I was among Americana that showed up to support taking care of our Planet. A true rainbow of people!!! A wake up call to our Legislators " We must act to save our Planet" Failure will make our economy, the Sequestor and the Debt inconsequential!!! The keystone Pipeline is a disaster and should be stopped. Tar Sands are not the answer they only will make $$$ at the expense of our Land and Water. You only have to look to the Gulf of Mexico to see the results.

It’s wonderful to hear how great the rally was.

Like Rand, I was among the contingent from 350BA who attended the DC rally. I had the privilege of catching up with Unitarian Universalists and other friends throughout the country and engaging with Bill, Mike, and Van (including telling the first two what wonderful work you are doing and complementing Mike for promoting Michelle who hired Jess :) ) and meeting and speaking with Allison Chin (Sierra Club), Rev. Yearwood, Tom Steyer, Joe Romm, Mike Tidwell & Ted Glick (CCAN) and and many, many others. Special shoutouts to Rachele Huennekens (Sierra Club & Moving Planet), and Allison Fisher (Common Cause & the Climate Reality Check Coalition) for their networking and movement building and to all the wonderful, wonderful volunteers at All Souls Unitarian DC, 350.org, Sierra Club, etc., etc., etc.

We’re on a roll. Gaia has our back. Time to continue building the relationships, the love and the justice, which inspire this movement.