Obama, did you hear us knocking?

If you received word that there was a group of people walking 3,000 miles across the United States, and their end destination was your house, would you take the time to greet them when they arrived? If one of these cross-country adventurers wrote you a letter every day of this journey, describing to you in detail the lands she traveled through and the beautiful stories of the hundreds of people she met, would you write back to her?

First Amendment Rights Don’t Come First

The day after the largest climate march in history flooded the streets of New York City, a group of 3,000 impassioned citizens flooded Broadway outside the entrance of Wall Street, and a little over 100 of them were arrested after a long day of occupation. Five of the people arrested were my fellow Climate Marchers. 

Here are Marchers Sean Glenn and Mack McDonald, two of the five arrested

Marcher Kelsey Juliana carrying Simon, 6, on her shoulders during Flood Wall Street

Comment sent to Secretary of State John Kerry

The following is a comment I submitted to John Kerry, who will be advising President Obama on his decision about Keystone XL. I wrote this shortly after I returned home from D.C. I was sending out a pre-written message to Secretary Kerry through an activist organization, and there was an option to add in my own words. I ended up writing a small letter while the inspiration from XL Dissent was still coursing through me.

The deadline for the final comment period on KXL was March 7th. According to 350.org, over 2 million people submitted comments opposing KXL, outnumbering supporters 2 to 1.

I wanted to share my message to John Kerry with you. Here it is:

Weekly Green Challenge: Get Vocal

I can’t stress enough how important being vocal about the environment is. The big dogs in the capitol are making bills that deal with the environment. Big corporations are going to keep doing what they’re doing if they think everything is running smoothly. Legislators and business owners won’t know what you want unless you tell them, and if they don’t know something is wrong, nothing will change.

This week, I want you to practice being vocal. It’s really easy, and if you’re shy, that’s okay too. Contacting people doesn’t actually require a lot of speaking- it’s mostly writing. In a lot of cases, it’s just signing something. Organizations like WWF, 350.org, and the League of Women voters often provide pre-written letters. All you have to do is sign them and alter them, if you so choose. Then hit a “send” button.
It seems like I’ve been giving a lot of challenges that aren’t that hard… maybe I’m being too soft on you guys!

Anyways, on each post day this week (Monday, Wednesday, Friday) I want you to either send a letter, an email, or make a phone call for an environmental cause that you care about. I’ll provide something that you can do each day, but please, feel free to do your own.