We Have the Power

Finally, fired up over global warming
By Bill McKibben August 24, 2006

YOU'VE SEEN or heard of Al Gore's movie. The pictures of Hurricane Katrina remain in the back of your mind. You've sweated through this record summer. You sense -- with just a bit of panic -- that there's really no problem more important in the long run than global warming. So what do you do?

Change your light bulbs -- check. Think about a new hybrid Prius -- check.
Go organize a demonstration -- well, maybe.
The movement to tackle climate change is finally growing large in this country, and at least part of it is beginning to get a little more outspoken. In late spring, three activists locked themselves in Senator Max Baucus's Montana office when he refused to answer questions they had submitted about his stand on climate legislation. Later this month, protesters are expected to descend upon the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration in Maryland to demand the resignations of the nation's chief hurricane forecasters, arguing that they have downplayed the threat from climate change.
And over Labor Day weekend, thousands of Vermonters are expected to walk part or all of a five-day, cross-state trek from Robert Frost's old cabin in Ripton to the Federal Building in Burlington to demand that the state's candidates for national office pledge to support the strongest possible legislation to slow US carbon emissions.
These are among the first even slightly militant responses to global warming by average Americans, but I doubt they'll be the last. A small group of us began organizing the Vermont march because we found that we, and others like us, needed some way to make more noise. Most had done the obvious things: made our houses and our cars more energy-efficient, and worked with our businesses or campuses to find better ways of heating and cooling. We've lobbied hard in state houses and city halls to get local action for change. But it's not adding up to anywhere near enough -- and the reason is clear: Washington, unlike every other capital in the developed world, simply won't do anything. [italics by sutton]

http://www.boston.com/news/globe/editorial_opinion/oped/articles/2006/08/24/finally_fired_up_over_global_warming/

p.s. One doesn't need permission to do the right thing. MS