Colorado Springs

On June 10th we had a very successful rally in Colorado Springs with over 150 people in attendance. Some are saying that it's the best rally we've had so far. Since I haven't been here the whole time, I can't really speak to that, but I can say it was pretty damn awesome!

Marcher Marie with a young local activist! 

 Jerry with a Climate March banner!

Just before the rally started, I got my first care package from home! Thanks Mom!

 The Climate Justice Gypsy Band performing at the rally

First Day: Taos, May 24th

I can’t ever say enough about how incredible my first day was. It was raining all day, and the poor weather really tested me, but I’m proud to say I walked every step and I slept in my tent at the end of the day. Some marchers hitched rides and stayed elsewhere for the night — some in a dance studio with hot showers, others in a hotel if they could afford it — and I certainly didn’t blame them. It was a rough day and I was tempted to follow suit. But, I figured I signed up for all sorts of weather and I’m determined to stick it through, thick and thin. One of my goals while being on the march is to become closer to nature and embrace simple living, and despite getting a little cold in the middle of the night I don’t regret my decision to stay outside.

Despite the beautiful sunny morning on the 24^th — my first official day — when Carol, my Taos host, and I left for the Taos visitor’s center it started to rain, and as I unloaded my things into one of our support vehicles at the center it started to hail! The marchers were just arriving when Carol and I got there, and we took shelter in the center for a while and let the hail pass. Before we set out for the local park, a Buddhist monk, Reverend Yusin Yamato, who has walked across the country three times carrying a prayer of peace, blessed all of us. He proceeded to walk with us the whole way beating a drum. 

Reverend Yusin Yamato

Picture courtesy of: CB Genrich

Walking through downtown Taos

Yesterday also happened to be a global day of action against Monsanto and genetically modified organisms, and the local demonstrators for that movement joined us in our walk. Some were dressed up as bees and corn. Most of the corn produced in the U.S. is genetically modified, and our precious bees are dying off from pesticides. 

A Monsanto protester dressed as a bee walking with us

We walked along a main road and lots of people honked at us. It was only two or three miles, but I was so energized that my body didn’t seem to feel any of it.

Everyone was really excited to see me. They had all seen my picture and followed along with my fundraising progress and they knew exactly who I was. The marchers have all been so kind and generous this first day and I’ve been doing my best to return it. Right now our numbers are around 35.

When we reached the park we were blessed by Lieutenant Governor Lawrence Lujan of the local Taos Native American pueblo, which is apparently very rare! A Native American woman from the Diné (Navaho) tribe, Patricia, also known as Woman Stands Shining, spoke next. She told us how people on pilgrimage journeys always bring rain with them. She said we are pilgrims, and that our walk is a prayer, so it’s no surprise we brought the rain. While it sucked walking in the weather, I wasn’t upset about it because I knew how much this drought-stricken area needed it. Being wet and cold was a small price to pay. 

Lieutenant Governor Lawrence Lujan giving us our blessing 

Woman Stands Shining speaking

Yamato, Lujan, and Woman Stands Shining closing the ceremony together

At the conclusion of the gathering I walked with a handful of others to the Buddhist ashram we are staying at for the weekend. The ashram, or temple, is gorgeous inside and out. There are gardens and statues and the building itself is traditional pueblo style. I can’t describe it well enough with my words, so I have a walk-through video of the temple for you to see for yourself. 

Watch here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eUTKTORnUk8&feature=youtu.be

After I set up my tent and moved my things out of the vehicle, I went in for dinner — Indian style soup, rice, and cornbread — it was the perfect meal after a long day in the cold. 

We were expecting a rainstorm last night, so I prepared and put everything I wouldn’t need indoors and stashed everything else in my waterproof bag. This morning I was fortunate to wake up dry. Many of the people who didn’t sleep in tents last night had to do so because all of their equipment was soaked. When it was dropped off at the temple earlier in the day it wasn’t covered properly. I was one of the few who was lucky enough to have dry equipment. 

Watch here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3uPLWSyzxrY&feature=youtu.be

           

After I was all prepared for the night, I went into the temple’s prayer room and joined in on a few chants. A hand drum, tambourine, and melodeon were played. The chants were beautiful, as was the prayer room. It took me a while to relax, but when I closed my eyes and focused on the music I could feel it swirling all around me and it brought me great peace and actually helped with some of my back pain. 

 Benjamin, a marcher, dancing with a young girl in the prayer room

I’m glad to be staying here at the temple in Taos for another day. This town is lovely and the temple is such a peaceful, rejuvenating place. I am not eager to move on, yet I am so excited to see what comes next. 

 

Free Write: Washington D.C. Sit-In vs. Keystone XL

On August 12^th, I found myself doing something that I never thought I would do. I was in Washington D.C., six hours from home, sitting beneath the beating sun outside of the State Department building, and risking arrest with about sixty other people.

            “One! We are the people! Two! You can’t ignore us! Three! We will not let you build this pipeline!” My voice was growing ragged, but I persisted.

            I was holding a sign that said “Another person who grew up playing outside against the pipeline,” and everyone else risking arrest with me was holding these signs, each personalized to suit their reasons for protesting.

            In front of us was a crowd of about 100 people supporting us, and a swarm of media with their cameras and notepads, running about like a colony of ants. At one point, I looked into the crowd and saw a boy about my age holding up a sign that said “Thank You Climate Heroes.” I almost cried. I typically would consider Bill McKibben or Rachel Carson climate heroes, but today, some thought I was a climate hero.

            Just a couple days before the protest, I was scrambling to get everything together and be on my way. My parents were struggling to swallow the fact that their soon-to-be-college-student was running off to D.C. all by herself, staying at a stranger’s house, and that there was a possibility she would be arrested. And if she was arrested, they couldn’t come get her. They would simply have to leave her there in jail, because that’s how peaceful protesting works.

Crossroads Rally in Albany (June 17th)

Picture courtesy of: http://renewnrg.blogspot.com/2013/05/rally-in-albany-against-fracking-and.html

This was the promotion sign for the rally, dubbed New York Crossroads, that I attended in Albany today, right on the lawn and stairs of the capitol building.  To me, the message of the sign is simple. We have a choice in front of us to make, and it needs to be made now. We have reached the fork in the road. Do we pick dirty energy, fossil fuels, and environmental destruction (which in turn destroys us), or do we choose clean, green energy that will sustain us and our planet for an indefinite amount of time? To me, the choice seems obvious. But if it's as obvious as I think it is, I guess I wouldn't have been rallying in Albany earlier today.

 

Albany's Capitol Building

Ecofriendly Economics & Harsh Facts: Drilling

Harsh Facts of the Week

American offshore oil drilling extracts about 1.5 million barrels a day. In comparison, the current daily oil consumption of the United States is 21 million barrels.

Drilling technologies have improved, leading to less spill occurrences. However, at current extraction rates, predictions indicate that in the Gulf of Mexico over the next forty years, there will be one oil spill per year of at least 1,000 barrels.

An average hydraulic fracturing (fracking) well requires three to eight million gallons of water over its lifetime.

In 2011, France became the first nation to ban hydraulic fracturing. 

Natural gas extracted by fracking may have a significant environmental advantage over coal mining; when burned, shale (natural) gas emits half the carbon dioxide per unit of energy as coal. Regardless, fracking adds greenhouse gases to the atmosphere through extraction leakage and emissions from burning natural gas. Methane, a greenhouse gas about twenty times more effective at trapping heat than carbon dioxide, can leak during hydraulic fracturing. So, it is unclear which is potentially “healthier” for the environment.

Fracking for natural gas provides major economic advantages and allows access to stores of fuel that otherwise would have remained untouched. If you read up on the topic, you’ll find that hydraulic fracturing has disadvantages and advantages, both of which can be heavily and extensively argued. While fracking supporters provide some solid defenses, I still find myself opposed to fracking for one major, overlaying reason.

Our Earth’s fuel resources are limited. Finding new places and ways to obtain it is helpful in the short run. However, in the long run, we’ll eventually be left high and dry, or we’ll suffocate on our own fumes, whichever comes first. Every time the sun shines, a wind blows, and a river flows, there’s raw energy that can be tapped into, perhaps indefinitely so. I want my country, and at the very least, New York State, to realize the superior long term benefits of focusing on renewable energy, rather than temporary solutions to the energy crisis. Instead of pouring oceans of money into lobbying, promoting, developing, and executing fracking, I want the efforts to be shifted to renewable. Developing renewable energy can provide just as many jobs and will be more economical and ethical to carry out than harvesting fossil fuels.

Most importantly, renewable sources are the only reliable way to provide energy to the masses without further damaging the environment. It’s such a simple, healthy concept. So why is a big chunk of society and business fighting back against its evolution? 

We have an addiction to fuel, all of us, myself included.  I’m ready to beat my addiction. That’s why I traveled to Albany today and rallied in the capitol against fracking for over three hours. The details of my experience will be described in a separate post.