Climate Action

The tag line for FSP is "Inquiry • Reflection • Action" and I these seem like guiding principals for lifelong learning for all of us!  What do we know, what does it mean to us, how can we best respond? With the withering heat and crazy rains happening across the planet, climate change is often on my mind and I find I move pretty quickly to action -- the inquiry and reflection parts can stir such panic!  Nevertheless, responsible action requires some clarity about the problem... Here are a few resources I've been drawing on:

Inquiry :  Bill McKibbon's latest piece "Reckoning"  in Rolling Stone lays out the problem and his sense of solution.  If nothing else, it should be read! 

Reflection : As I mentioned earlier, I am reading Joanna Macy's newest book "Active Hope" which could be subtitled "how to not look away."  I'm finding it useful and provocative - a friend and I are going to have a study-supper to discuss it in early September if anyone would like to join us!

Action: There is a lot going on right now.  Kate and I attended the rally at bug light park and found huge comfort in the crowd (100 people showed up!) -- the petition can be signed here.

Tar sands rally in South Portland (photo by Beth Dimond) NRCM

 Tomorrow, New England Activists will protest in front of the New England Conference of Governors' in Burlington.  And next week, Climate Riders will be in Cumberland, preparing for an August 4th action.

Team Maine will take part in the Break the Trailbreaker Pipeline action in Monument Square, Portland from 11am-2pm.  Download flyer (4mb jpg).
Meet us. Come discuss the trailbreaker pipeline’s potential impact on you and all of Maine.
Support us. Make a deadly energy tag detailing what you stand to lose if New England supports the Trailbreaker Pipeline tar sands.  Make a tag at Monument Square.  Email tag to amcrawf@bu.edu.  Mail a tag to Apt. 2, 1439 Congress St, Portland, ME.
Join us. Stand against tar sands oil as we attach our deadly energy tags to the pipeline fence.  Ride your bike with us from Monument Square at 2:00 pm to the source of the Trailbreaker Pipeline, near SMCC Campus.

Many organizations are working together on enviornmental protection in Maine, including the Sierra Club, NRCM & 350.Org -- I get the emails, and tend to do what they ask me.  I appreciate all the criticisms of "clicktivists" but still feel like something is better than nothing right now, and as is true for so many of us, motherhood both fuels and limits my participation.

In the coming year, I'm curious if FSP might get more involved with Interfaith Power and Light which brings a spiritual element to the inquiry?

And, of course, there are the questions about how to best engage kids... that will be tomorrow's post!