"Step It Up" promotes action on climate

New Canaan Advertiser, Thursday, April 19, 2007 Page 8A
85 people "Step It Up" to call for climate action

At least 85 people walked through downtown New Canaan Saturday afternoon to call for global climate action.

“Step It Up New Canaan” was part of a national “Step It Up” campaign, organized by Bill McKibben. The event coincided with the day in 1964 that Rachel Carson, author of “Silent Spring” and one of the pioneers of the environmental movement, died of breast cancer.

The New Canaan Environmental Group took the discussion of climate change from Internet suites to the steps of Town Hall and New Canaan’s streets on a partly sunny, somewhat mild afternoon a day before a nor’easter swept the Eastern seaboard.

Organizers called the local walk “the largest ever-environmental action to take place in New Canaan.”

Don Strait, executive director of the Connecticut Fund for the Environment joined a number of Town officials — Selectman Johnny Potts, Democratic candidate for first selectman and Board of Education member Sally Hines, Town Council members Kit Deveraux and John Emert, Park & Recreation Commissioner Liz Livingston, Historic District Commissioner Terry Cody Spring, Environmental Commission alternate Marcus Smith and Democratic Registrar of Voters George Cody in the march. Beth Jones, chairman of the Democratic Town Committee, also took part.

The group gathered at Town Hall, then walked past the firehouse to God’s Acre, down to the train station and past the New Canaan Playhouse.

The walk ended at the New Canaan Library, where acoustic guitar singer-songwriter Michael Greenberg, a 20-year-old Berklee student, kicked off post-walk action with a new song, “The Best of Us Die.”

In his speech, Attorney General Richard Blumenthal acknowledged the importance of the 1,400 “Step It Up” events taking place across the United States on Saturday. He said that Saturday’s nationwide action challenged the notion of many public officials that “global warming is just a figment of someone’s imagination” and that “environmentalists don’t know how to get things done politically.”

He also spoke about the precedent that two recent Supreme Court decisions: Massachusetts, et al., v. Environmental Protection Agency, et al., and a New Source Review case — would likely have on future lawsuits, particularly a case called Connecticut v. AET, American Electric Power. Mr. Blumenthal also expressed support for passage of Federal legislation on climate legislation. In particular, he cited a Senate bill known as the Safe Climate Act. (Click here for the complete text of Mr. Blumenthal’s speech.)

Mr. Strait followed Mr. Blumenthal. He spoke about proposing future legislation in Connecticut similar to California’s legislation reducing carbon emissions 80 percent by 2050. He also spoke about how the Connecticut General Assembly Finance Committee recently stripped the tax credit section of the green buildings bill and how we can get the legislature to put it back into the bill.

New Canaan Environmental Group President Richard Stowe, a principal organizer of “Step It Up New Canaan,” read a letter from U.S. Rep. Shays in support of the event.

The walk concluded with a second set by Mr. Greenberg who began his set by praising a “Step It Up” rally sign made by Ben Strait, Mr. Strait’s son.

After the event, Mr. Stowe reflected on “the global challenge that awaits humanity.”
“Our global energy plan going forward needs to sip, not slurp fossil fuels and that will require a new way of looking at everything,” Mr. Stowe said. “A ‘nega-barrel’ and ‘nega-watt’ energy strategy must be at the core of any strategy to effectively meet the climate change challenge. If done so prudently and equitably, addressing climate change presents exciting opportunities for the future health of our economy and our quality of life.”

Mr. Blumenthal said that the Connecticut General Assembly recently raided the Connecticut Light & Power Clean Energy Fund to the tune of $60 million. He has recommended that the Clean Energy Fund be made sacrosanct.

Text of Attorney General Richard Blumenthal’s speech at the New Canaan Library on April 14, 2007

Thank you. This has really been an inspiring and very motivating day. I have been to a number of the events and you should know, and I hope particularly the young people who are here know, that really you’re part of history today; you’re part of a very historic occasion. Across the country, as you know, about 1400 of these events are taking place and people are mobilizing at the grassroots to show and to say that very simply, we will not take more of global warming. We will not tolerate emissions. We will not only be angry, but we will act on it. And that’s a very, very important statement because a lot of the politicians, a lot of public officials feel that global warming is just a figment of someone’s imagination. That politically it’s sort of a fringe issue; that it has no real traction in the political process and that the environmentalist’s don’t know how to get things done politically.

I’m here to tell you that as someone in political life, someone who is an elected official, you are part of a growing, powerful movement that will change the face of America, and it will help save the planet. You may think I am exaggerating when I put it that way, but I truly believe there is no more important cause to the future of this nation and the world than CO2 emissions, pollution generally, environmental causes, but this one in particular because it really threatens our way of life, our planet, not just the quality of life, but the ability to live as we think human beings should live.

So let me talk first about the various fronts of the battle. This is one of them - the streets, the playgrounds, the places where people are gathering today - the Green in New Haven where I was, the park in Hamden, the library in New Canaan, the Town Hall in Greenwich and across the country on peaks, on shores. That’s one front, the popular front.

We are also fighting in courts. We have a number of lawsuits. One of them has just been decided by the United States Supreme Court that basically involves not only the issue of standing, we said the states have standing because we are damaged by global warming to assert our right in court, but furthermore, the administration is breaking the law. The EPA is violating the clean air act by failing to classify CO2 as a pollutant; mercury is a pollutant, nitrogen oxide, sulfur dioxide. We’re fighting those pollutants as well and as a matter of fact, just as a footnote and lawyers always have footnotes.

In a 9-0 decision on that same day the Supreme Court decided in another hugely important case when it said that the administration had also broken the law by diluting and eviscerating the clean air act as it applies to nitrogen oxide and sulfur dioxide under the new source review standards and if it were not for the incredible magnitude of the Supreme Court decision on global warming that decision on new source review would have made the headlines.

We’re fighting on that front in court and we’re having success. The court essentially says you look at there are a few pages of this, the opinion, that there really is powerful, credible scientific evidence to show that CO2 causes global warming and global warming endangers people’s lives. You may think that’s a given, that ought to be obvious to everyone. But of course, the Bush administration’s defense was that there wasn’t enough evidence and that the EPA was entitled to deference in deciding that global warming is not a problem and the court, in effect, gave the EPA no choice, but to issue regulations that govern CO2 emissions.

But I'm a realist and I know this administration will delay. And so we need to keep the pressure up in the courts. Connecticut, in a case called Connecticut versus AET - American Electric Power is in the courts against the power companies. Remember the Supreme Court’s decision concerned the states and environmental groups versus the EPA. This one is against the power companies. They also involve the states. I argued it recently in front of the New York court - the Federal Court of Appeals in the 2nd Circuit. This Supreme Court opinion gives us additional ammunition in that front.

And of course, right now, in Vermont it’s automobile emissions standards are in litigation under challenge by the automobile manufacturers. This battle will continue. We haven’t won it by any means in the courts and, of course, it’s continuing in the legislature.

The legislature, our national legislature, our state legislature, the Congress is considering the Safe Climate Act. We need to mobilize opinion in support of that kind of additional legislation because we simply cannot wait for the Administration to obey the law. It will essentially delay.

We need to keep the momentum going and that brings me back to today. Today is hugely important because it is really a step in that battle: in mobilizing opinion, sending a message and making sure that politicians, columnists, journalists, everyone in any position to do something about this problem understands that people are engaged and involved and informed.

Let me say just finally that I am very proud of the young people who are involved today. I hope that this event is simply a step for them. That they will take today’s event and not only remember it, but use it as a lesson because people can make a difference. One person can make a difference and this kind of action at the grassroots level certainly can make a difference. So today I think we’re all learning. I hope that the ones who will learn the most are the people who are the elected representatives who will take from today the important lesson that people care. They know to care. They will care. They are going to act on that caring. They care about the world we leave behind, the world in which we live and the legacy of what we leave behind.

There is the Margaret Mead quote about “A small group of determined, committed people make a difference and nothing else ever has.” That’s a lesson we can all take from this battle because a small group of determined, committed people are making a difference. It is absolutely essential that in this room and outside it that people continue this fight. So thank you for having me today. I apologize that I have to go to another event. Forgive me. But maybe we will do it again.

Step It Up New Canaan making history: largest ever environmental rally in New Canaan

April 14, 1964. It was on this day Rachel Carson succumbed to breast cancer at the age of 56. Ms. Carson is best known as author of Silent Spring, a book that took on the pesticide industry and sparked the growth of the modern environmental movement.

April 14, 2007. Dateline New Canaan.

Riding on a tidal wave of grassroots climate action organizing emanating from Bill McKibben and company in the Green Mountain State, the New Canaan Environmental Group took the discussion of climate change from Internet suites to the steps of Town Hall and New Canaan's streets on a partly sunny, somewhat mild afternoon a day before a Northeaster swept the Eastern seaboard.

Step It Up New Canaan had at least 85 participants, making it the largest ever-environmental action to take place in New Canaan.



Don Strait, Executive Director of the Connecticut Fund for the Environment joined a number of Town officials - Selectman Johnny Potts, Democratic First Selectman candidate and Board of Education member Sally Hines, Town Council representatives Kit Deveraux and John Emert, Park and Recreation Commissioner Liz Livingston, Historic District Commissioner Terry Cody Spring, Environmental Commission alternate Marcus Smith and Town Registrar George Cody in yesterday's climate action march. Beth Jones, the Chair of the Democratic Town Committee also took part in Saturday's Step It Up New Canaan walk.

Including Town Hall, the walk traveled past five iconic locations in downtown New Canaan - the New Canaan Fire Station, God's Acre, the New Canaan train station and New Canaan Playhouse.

The walk ended at the New Canaan Library, where budding acoustic guitar singer-songwriter talent, Michael Greenberg kicked off the post-walk action with a new song "The Best of Us Die." The 20-year-old Berklee student wowed the age-diverse audience. Attorney General Richard Blumenthal followed him. Mr. Blumenthal acknowledged the importance of the 1400 Step It Up actions taking place across the United States on Saturday. He felt that Saturday's nationwide action challenged many public officials notion that "global warming is just a figment of someone's imagination" and that "environmentalists don't know how to get things done politically." He also spoke about the precedent that two recent Supreme Court decisions - Massachusetts et al. v. Environmental Protection Agency et al. and a New Source Review case - would likely have on future lawsuits, particularly a case called Connecticut v. AET - American Electric Power. Mr. Blumenthal also expressed support for passage of Federal legislation on climate legislation. In particular, he cited a Senate bill known as the Safe Climate Act.

Mr. Strait followed Mr. Blumenthal. Mr. Strait spoke about proposing future legislation in Connecticut similar to California's legislation reducing carbon emissions 80% by 2050. He also spoke about how the Connecticut General Assembly Finance Committee recently stripped the tax credit section of the green buildings bill and how we can get the legislature to put it back into the bill. Mr. Stowe read a letter by Congressman Shays in support of the Step It Up action in New Canaan. The event concluded with a second set by Michael Greenberg who began his set by praising a Step It Up rally sign made by Ben Strait, Don's son.

Mr. Stowe, president of the New Canaan Environmental Group and principal organizer of Step It Up New Canaan, reflected on the global challenge that awaits humanity, "Our global energy plan going forward needs to sip, not slurp fossil fuels and that will require a new way of looking at everything. A nega-barrel and nega-watt energy strategy must be at the core of any strategy to effectively meet the climate change challenge. If done so prudently and equitably, addressing climate change presents exciting opportunities for the future health of our economy and our quality of life."

Mr. Blumenthal noted that the Connecticut General Assembly has in the recent past raided the Connecticut Light & Power Clean Energy Fund to the tune of 60 million dollars. He has recommended that the Clean Energy Fund be made sacrosanct.

Michael Greenberg: Live at Town Hall

Step It Up 2007 has arrived and its bright sunshine before the storm - the warmest day in weeks!
Nine hours left to get the word out about Step It New Canaan. It's Michael Greenberg's first ever appearance in New Canaan!

Today, April 14 is the day environmental icon Rachel Carson, 56, died of breast cancer in 1964. She penned Silent Spring.
Yesterday the Hartford Courant ran a story about Step It Up rallies in Connecticut, but made no mention of Fairfield County.

Step It Up New Canaan is just about to happen

With less than twenty four hours before Step It Up New Canaan (CT) begin gathering at Town Hall in New Canaan, Step It Up New Canaan is shaping up to be the most significant environmental action taking place in New Canaan in years, decades and possibly ever.

Attorney General Richard Blumenthal is the featured keynote speaker at Step It Up New Canaan rally Saturday afternoon April 14, 2007

Don Strait, Executive Director for Connecticut Fund for the Environment, the state's most influential environmental advocacy organization, will also speak.

Michael Greenberg, a talented, young acoustic guitarist singer-songwriter, will perform a Step It Up New Canaan.

The New Canaan Environmental Group is organizing Step It Up New Canaan, which will take place this Saturday April 14th in front of Town Hall at 77 Main Street in New Canaan. It is one of many local actions taking place on April 14th and one of at least 1350 actions taking place nationwide in all 50 states.

Bill McKibben and seven Middlebury College graduates, the Step It Up 2007 organizers, have set Saturday April 14th as a National Day for Climate Action.

Step It Up 2007 has gained so much momentum in recent weeks that it is shaping up to be the largest grassroots environmental action since Earth Day in 1970.

The goal set by Step It Up organizers is to get Congress to pass legislation to cut carbon emissions by 80 percent by 2050.

Where, when

“Step it Up New Canaan” participants will gather in front of Town Hall at 77 Main Street between 4:30 p.m. and 5 p.m.

The New Canaan action will commence at 5 p.m.

What

The walk

At 5 p.m. a walk, highlighting some of New Canaan’s most iconic places, will commence in front of Town Hall. It will head up Main Street. At the bottom of God's Acre the walk will turn left on St. John’s Place, go down Park Street where a view of the New Canaan Train Station unfolds; then the walk turns left on Elm Street – past New Canaan Playhouse and left onto Main Street – back to Town Hall.

At about 5:15 p.m. the walk will conclude on the steps of Town Hall, where a group photo will be taken. After the event the group photo will be downloaded onto the website http://stepitup2007.org/.

Weather

The walk takes place rain or shine, but in case of inclement weather – rain or cold, the post-walk section of Step It Up New Canaan will be moved to the Adrian Lamb room in the New Canaan Library at 151 Main Street.

Two keynote speakers at Step It Up New Canaan

About Don Strait

Donald S. Strait, Executive Director of Connecticut Fund for the Environment will talk about how we can respond effectively to the climate change challenges we face.

Mr. Strait has served as Executive Director of Connecticut Fund for the Environment (CFE) for fifteen years and prior to that was CFE’s Legal Director, and was Legal Director from 1990 to 1992. Mr. Strait also served as a Staff Attorney in the New York office of the Natural Resources Defense Council.
A co-founder of the Connecticut League of Conservation Voters, Mr. Strait currently serves on its board of directors and the Greenwich Land Trust board.

Mr. Strait is a 1981 graduate of Amherst College and a 1985 graduate of Harvard Law School.

Step It Up participants will then have an opportunity to take part in a letter writing action to support two bills, Senate bill S. 309, Global Warming Pollution Reduction Act and House bill H.R. 1590 Safe Climate Act of 2007. These two bills set greenhouse gas emission reduction goals, set by Step It Up organizers to reduce carbon emissions by 80 percent by 2050.

Attorney General Richard Blumenthal

Attorney General Richard Blumenthal will speak about Massachusetts et. al. v. Environmental Protection Agency et. al., a groundbreaking climate change case decided by the Supreme Court on April 2nd.

About Michael Greenberg

Super talented acoustic guitarist, singer-songwriter Michael Greenberg (http://www.michaelgreenbergmusic.com / and http://www.myspace.com/michaelgreenbergmusic ) will follow the letter writing action. Check out those sample tracks!

20 year-old Michael Greenberg has been playing acoustic guitar since he turned three years old. His first onstage appearance was at Toad’s Place in New Haven when he was 8 years old.

After playing in bands in middle school and high school, he went solo at the age of sixteen. His self released debut CD The Truth of Bees and Birds (selected songs may be heard on his website) was released in 2005.

Contact info

For more information about Step It Up New Canaan contact ncenvironmentalpolitics@yahoo.com, connecticutlady@aol.com or indiapug@aol.com or phone Richard Stowe at 966-4387, Lily Gruver at 966-1711 or Inga Smith at 966-5056.

About Bill McKibben

Mr. McKibben, the driving force behind Step It Up, was president of the Harvard Crimson in his senior year. As a staff writer at the New Yorker Mr. McKibben wrote the Talk of the Town column for five years between 1982 and 1987. His first book, The End of Nature published in 1989 has been published in more than twenty languages.

Aside from writing for the New York Times and the Atlantic Monthly, Mr. Mc Kibben is a board member and contributor to Grist, an online magazine. He and his wife Sue Halpern write a column in House & Garden.

Thank you