For immediate release
October 31, 2006
For more information:
Raya Ariella, 413-243-5665
Ted Glick, 973-338-5398
Actions on the Climate Crisis To Be Held Nov. 4th in 21 States Around the USA
In Concert With 48 Other Countries for the International Day of Climate Action
Just three days before the November 7th election, thousands of Americans will be participating in local actions in 21 states calling for the federal government to take action now to address the global warming climate crisis.
November 4th is the second International Day of Climate Action. Last year, on December 3rd, 80,000 people internationally in 20 countries participated in the first international day. This year there are 48 countries where actions are being organized.
November 4th was chosen as the day of action this year because it falls just before a major United Nations Climate Conference taking place Nov. 6-17 in Nairobi, Kenya. Activists within this mushrooming, grassroots international movement are calling for delegates in Nairobi and the nations of the world to respond to the accelerated pace of climate change by dramatically strengthening the Kyoto Protocol.
In the USA, activists will be calling upon the U.S. government to join the 166 other countries of the world that have endorsed the Kyoto Protocol. They will be demanding that the federal government enact legislation next year to cap and reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 80% as soon as possible.
They are also calling for an end to all federal subsidies for coal, oil, natural gas and carbon-intensive agriculture and for those monies to be used instead to jump-start a renewable energy economy based on wind, solar, tidal power, biomass, small-scale hydropower and other non-nuclear, sustainable energy technologies.
A wide range of actions will be taking place on November 4th.
In Boston, Massachusetts a coalition of groups is organizing the “Boston Coal Party,” channeling the spirit of the Boston Tea Party by featuring colonial-themed street theater in which participants dump boxes of coal, just as our ancestors dumped British tea over 200 years ago.
In Essex County, N.J. scores of bicyclists will ride for 7 ½ miles through the towns of Montclair and Bloomfield in a Bike Ride for a Healthy Planet.
In Virginia 250 or more young people will converge for a youth environmental summit at the College of William and Mary organized by the Chesapeake Climate Action Network.
In Pennsylvania, Florida, Colorado, Michigan, Vermont and Washington, Greenpeace USA’s Hot Seat campaign is organizing “aerial art” actions involving large numbers of people arranged on the ground to make a statement about the need for action to reduce greenhouse gas emissions.
In St. Louis, Mo. the World Aquarium has set up a Global Warming Display, is providing information about their sustainable actions via lighting, insulation, food choices, etc., and encouraging visitors to take action.
The University of California at Berkeley will experience a Climate Change Fair on campus the evening of November 3rd.
And in Boothbay Harbor and Damariscotta, Maine, activists in both communities will be out with a clothesline filled with “dirty laundry” that exposes the environmental rollbacks and contributions to global warming.
Further information on these and the many other local actions in the USA can be found at
http://www.climateusa.org .
Information on what is happening internationally can be found at
http://www.globalclimatecampaign.org .
