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.
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