Our area's Rise for Climate was held in conjunction with thousands of rallies the world over voicing demands about working towards a fossil fuel free world. World leaders were holding a summit being held in San Francisco this week. ( see link:Summit)
It's actually a funny story as I parked at the far end of the park after seeing food trucks and tents. The attendance seemed ok with about a hundred folks walking around visiting the tents.
There were a lot of kids in their teens running around with rainbow flags as capes. I kept thinking every time I looked into a tent that I didn't get the association with the climate issues. One tent had LGBTQ center pamphlets, another was the hospital had info about AIDs and the largest tent had a lot of X rated candles and those rainbow banners and flags to purchase.
I just didn't get it until I ran into a friend and commented on the fact this didn't look like a Climate Fest to me. She laughed and said "Well, that's because this is Pridefest." So this societal climate gathering was not the one I was supposed to be attending. Perhaps Natureman was misinformed and the Rise For Climate rally wasn't this weekend after all. Well, it sure wasn't there on the north end so I decided to give it another shot and walked over to the park's south side.
There in the fountain was a flag indicating I had found the correct Climate gathering and sitting on the grass were some 30 folks listening attentively to the dozen speakers.Our gathering like other
rallies included speakers on renewable energy and sustainability in addition to candidates/ their representatives who support related legislation and policy.
Speakers included :* Ho-Chunk Nation Member Bill Greendeer who spoke about holding leaders in society responsible for the well-being of existing and next generations (Seven Generations principle) and also the ethical idea of the Rights of Nature* Yer Xiang of La Crosse's Hmoob/Hmong Community to share Hmoob environmental concepts that apply to climate protection
* UWL Professor Paul Reyerson spoke on the latest global and national climate science and impacts
* Sustainability Institute's Casey Meehan Midwestern state impacts & some of the many opportunities and benefits of sustainability
* Sustainability leader Glen Jenkins shared the city and county's emissions reductions progress as part of their Sustainability Indicators and related goals
* Coulee Region Sierra Club Vice Chair Kathy Allen shared candidate endorsements and to share CRSC's Ready for 100 effort (100% renewables by 2050 or sooner)
* La Crosse Democrats spokesperson Avery VanGaard read a climate-related statement from WI Gubernatorial candidate Tony Evers & WI Rep. Jill Billings
* Ken Tschumper, Former Minnesota State Representative talked about MN's clean energy legislation and MN's 2018 Candidates
* Charles (Chuck) Davis, Sr. of Tomah - Oglala Lakota, of the Oceti Sakowin speaker and main musician led singing, dancing and chanting in a circle around the fountain. Ironically, the Waters of Life had a bit more meaning as the fountain had been drained...
Although small in attendance due to publicity, the message was still loud and clear, we need to RISE to protect this planet we call home...
*One IMPORTANT action that Midwesterners can take immediately today is to call Minnesota's Governor Mark Dayton to continue his important efforts asking his state agencies for diligent caution and more thorough reviews of the PUC's new Certificate of Need and all existing state permit regulations before any new Enbridge Line 3 pipeline is built. A larger, new pipeline would simply allow more tar sands oil to harm our local, state and global environments and climate. Please use this short and informative Telephone Call Script from Power Shift Network: https://actionnetwork.org/forms/call-minnesotas-governor-dayton-to-stop-the-line-3-tar-sands-pipeline. (Governor Dayton has also wisely urged Minnesota's Legislature to increase its important Renewable Energy Standard (RES) to 50% by 2030 which new MN Governor candidate Tim Walz also strongly supports: https://mn.gov/governor/blog/?id=1055-337049. Wisconsin's RES/RPS is still stuck at 10% by 2015: http://ncsolarcen-prod.s3.amazonaws.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/03/Renewable-Portfolio-Standards.pdf
No comments:
Post a Comment