‘Step It Up’ plans to step it up again this fall

“A movement needs to keep moving”

By SANDY LONG

UPPER DELAWARE REGION — One year before America elects its next officials, a nationwide event will draw attention to its National Day of Climate Action on November 3, 2007. Step It Up 2007 kicked off an initiative to cut carbon emissions 80 percent by 2050 earlier this year with 1,400 special events staged by people and organizations across the country. By scheduling Step It Up 2, organizers of the effort will continue pushing for fast action in support of their conviction that when it comes to climate change, there’s no time to wait.

Looking for leaders

When the list of events being organized for Step It Up 2 was posted to the Internet ( www.stepitup2007.org ) on August 23, it opened with six scheduled actions. By day’s end, the number had climbed to 22. On the eve of The River Reporter’s press run on September 4, 90 actions in 26 states were already listed.

With 60 days to go, founder and renowned environmental author Bill McKibben is urging ordinary citizens across America to get involved by organizing rallies at places that commemorate great leaders of the past, or “locally celebrated men and women who did the right thing in a moment of great need,” writes McKibben. “You’ll know the person that makes sense in your city or town—they don’t need to be saints, just true leaders, the kind who, faced with the great issues of their day, didn’t punt or compromise.”

In an open letter of encouragement, McKibben writes, “There are occasional moments in history when we desperately need leadership, and this is one of them. If we’re going to deal with global warming, then we need to go beyond politicians who say the right words and find champions who will actually do the tough work to transform our energy economy.”

Step It Up 2 supports the science-based

1-Sky initiative whose four key priorities are to cut carbon dioxide 80 percent by 2050, achieve 10 percent cuts in three years, place a moratorium on new coal-fired power plants and establish a green jobs corps. Organizers are encouraged to invite current politicians to attend the events and to discuss how they plan to address these priorities.

Step It Up events were locally organized by the Himalayan Institute in Honesdale, PA, the Upper Delaware Community Network in Narrowsburg, NY and a group of residents, business owners and farmers in Livingston Manor, NY earlier this year.

For the November 3 event, people are planning to climb New Hampshire’s Mt. Washington, to gather at the Rhode Island church where John F. Kennedy was married, or at a site honoring Navajo elder and activist Roberta Blackgoat, according to McKibben. The organizer of an event scheduled in New York City’s Union Square noted the presence of various statues of George Washington, the Marquis de Lafayette, Abraham Lincoln, James Fountain and Mahatma Gandhi and decided it would be an appropriate location to hold a Step It Up 2 rally. Senators Hillary Clinton and Chuck Schumer, Mayor Michael Bloomberg and Governor Eliot Spitzer are being invited to speak at the rally.

Host a Step It Up 2007 event

in your community

Organizers of events are encouraged to be creative and to submit their ideas for inclusion on the Step It Up website.

Materials and email support for planning an action or organizing a rally are provided on the Step It Up website, www.stepitup2007.org. To see activities scheduled nearby, click the “Find an action” button.