Climate Change, People Power, and the Upcoming Event “Who’s A Leader?”
By Elie Chachoua
MPA 2009
As the largest greenhouse gas emitter in the world, the US will need to get involved for the solution to climate change to reach a global scale. For this to happen soon, there needs to be more public action to put Climate Change on the US political agenda. Margo Bettencourt (CU Alumni 2006), is a great example of the public taking action. I asked her to comment on how she came to grassroots activism, and on the importance of "Who’s a Leader?", an upcoming event she is involved with.
Can I be an eco-American? I didn’t think so last October when I
returned from a two year stint in Paris. Seeing our culture through a
fresh lens, I was struck by what seemed like a contradictory stance on
climate change. On the one hand, I was overwhelmed by the non-profits,
businesses, policies and citizens bathed in various shades of ‘green’,
promising to end the climate crisis. Yet, I was still trapped, like
most people who can’t afford to live sustainably, in the consumption
cycle that fuels climate change.
This begged the questions: Is the
eco-American another marketing scheme or a real cultural shift in the
making? On the individual level: Can my individual actions have a global impact?
Plagued by the personal conundrum of reconciling my environmental
values with my American life, I felt powerless against the problem yet
empowered by new avenues of action.
Luckily, I wasn’t the only one feeling this way. More and more
Americans are voicing their desire for action against (as they have
been for decades) and are being heard by a growing national audience.
Many of us have thrown our support behind Step It Up (www.stepitup2007.org):
a geographically dispersed organization/social movement/ political
lobby / national eco-mosaic of environmental activists. It is hard to
define this Internet-born, volunteer-driven, stubbornly optimistic
movement that is hell bent on spurring an about face in America’s
position on climate change via local rallies/marches/art installations
all across the country. But who cares, as long as it works!
And that it does. Since the first set of over 1,000 actions
occurred across all 50 States last April real progress has been made.
Numerous congressmen and women have signed on to the Step It Up
endorsed bills that would be legislated to cut GHG emissions 80% by
2050–including Hillary Clinton! Suddenly, achieving Step It Up’s
goals—reduction in US GHG emissions, no new coal plants, and 5 million
green jobs—seems possible. What’s more, the locally-rooted actions are
having an impact. It seems there is something to be said for harnessing
the local creative capital behind each Step It Up action. We’re
thinking globally and acting locally and we are making a difference
across the nation. All of us owe a big thank you to Al Gore for
explaining this geographic jigsaw in a user-friendly way. Alas, one man
can’t do it all. We need a continued effort to demand political
solutions, not just awareness of the problem. Thanks to Step It Up,
we’ve got it.
ome of you may have seen this for yourself if you were part of the
“sea of people” that flooded Battery Park on April 14th. Maybe you read
about it in the NY Times, or saw it on Good Morning America, or caught
it on any of the other media outlets that were ready and willing to
talk about people working to SOLVE the climate crisis. If not, you
missed an amazing show. Shark dogs, mermaids, human waves and Nicole
Cordero (the 12-yr old NY version of Rachel Carson) all came together
in Battery Park and formed a veritable “sea of people” along what could
be NYC’s new southern most tip. It was a sight to behold: normal
people (abnormally dressed) coming together, representing NYC in all
it’s vibrant diversity from church groups dressed as Noah’s Ark to
Greenpeace’s blue whales. And not only occupying the same space but
speaking with one voice, declaring loud and clear: “Enough! Enough
talk, enough pollution, enough waiting! It’s time for Congress to step
it up!” Its success is a testament to the homegrown desire for new
policies that will take America in a new direction on climate change.
Despite the great turnout and response to April’s events, the road
ahead bears many pitfalls. But not to fear, Step It Up is still here!
And you can still be part of it. Come out to Washington Square Park at
Noon on November 3rd and be a green leader, be part of the solution, be
an Eco-American. Plant the seeds of change in the eco-alter that will
represent the collective will of New Yorkers to take political action
against climate change while literally sucking CO2 out of our air. It’s
art in action, it’s people power, it’s so NY and I heart it all!
For more info: http://stepitup.w3promotions.com/connect.html
Hasn’t China passed the U.S. in greenhouse gas emissions – or am I thinking “pollution” overall?
In any case… so, Elie… what are you calling for – U.S. hegemony perhaps? A “real” American Empire where Washington dictates to the world?
I ask this because absent U.S. *control* over the industrial and environmental policies of Russia, China, Indonesia, India…
Well, you get the idea.
Anyway… I don’t want to start a back and forth on global warming, what causes it, what contributes to it, is it good or bad overall… blah, blah, blah. The web is full of such discussions. My point is simply that focusing on the U.S. and what we do or don’t do sidesteps the 21st century reality of a world where even as the developed West focuses more and more upon dealing with environmental problems, developing command economies are creating more and more environmental damage and will continue to do so as they further develop.
Hey… don’t let me stop you from going out and buying a new hybred! Go nuclear – that’s what I say! Biodiesil… by all means – it beats ethanol hands down! Give a hoot – don’t pollute! (*GRIN*) Clean water makes for clean beer and scotch! (Hmm… fine bumpersticker, no?) Just remember… the U.S. can only “lead” so far as other nations are willing to be led.
BILL