350 was well-chosen as a powerful and sobering reminder of where we are at this very moment. You make a good point about the "wrong 117 countries" being on board with this, Bill. Have you seen any openness so far with the powers that be, either here in America, or elsewhere among the "right countries"?
Bonn Germany
Real action in the richest countries waits on a movement that demands it. In the U.S., we're finally starting to see the beginning of Congressional action--spurred in large part by the horror in the Gulf, the Senate seems as if it may be girding itself for a bill that at least begins to put a price on carbon, which is the first essential step. It's a weak bill and a low price, but maybe the logjam is starting to break a little. And if it breaks in the US, there may be real willingness in the rest of the world to match us. We have been the largest source of the problem; the solution needs to start here.
Cairo, Egypt
The 350 project has been a massive, grassroots effort across the globe. But, this isn't the first time you've done something large-scale. Can you tell our readers about what you and six of your Middlebury students did with Step It Up 2007?
In January of that year, we started sending out emails asking people to organize rallies in their communities for April of 2007, demanding that the federal government commit to large cuts in carbon emissions by mid-century. In that 90 days, we managed to organize 1400 rallies in all 50 states, to that point by far the biggest outpouring of clean energy action in the United States. Both Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton changed their campaign platforms a few days later to adopt our goals. So we were feeling very good--until the summer of 2007, with its very rapid ice melt, when it became clear we needed tougher targets still, not to mention a global-scale campaign.
You've been involved in environmental issues for twenty-five years. It sounds like "lots of bad news, interspersed with occasional promising developments" is the way it goes when it's going well. I asked before what do you do to keep yourself from burning out altogether, but you didn't really answer. What keeps you going, Bill?
The millions of people all over the world who are standing up to say
they want a future. What we showed last October is that environmentalists aren't rich white people. Most of them are poor, black, brown, Asian, young--because that's what most of the world is. We don't have as much money as the oil companies but we're going to fight them with what we do have--bodies, spirit, hope.
If people want to know more about this environmental crisis and what they can do about it, where should they go, Bill?
If people want to know more, there are an almost infinite number of websites and books to choose from: I might start with Jim Hansen's recent Storms of My Grandchildren. If people want to do something--something large enough to matter--join us over at 350.org
Thanks for talking with me, Bill. Your success - our success - at turning this around is critical to us all.
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