Moving Planet: International Day of Climate Action
Hey all,
This Saturday, I am attending an event called Moving Planet hosted by 350.org (an international climate action website) along with thousands of others worldwide. What is Moving Planet, you ask? It is a day for communities across the globe to come together to show our leaders that we support a safe, responsible, and fast transition to move beyond fossil fuels. Luckily for us, Boston is holding one of the largest events in the country, and we have been organizing a group of Brandeis and Waltham community members to come together to join this momentous event.
Moving beyond fossil fuels towards cleaner energy sources is a critical issue we face today. Burning fossil fuels is spewing carbon into the atmosphere, which causes climate change. And while many understand climate change as how it affects the environment and weather (who doesn’t like warm weather?), it is even more serious. Climate change is predicted to decrease access to food and clean water, to increase severe (and hazardous) weather patterns, dislocate people from their homes as sea levels rise, and for example, articles have linked climate change as playing a role in the war in Darfur. Not to mention that those who will first beat the brunt of these effects are the poorer areas in the world, who have little to do with the cause of these problems.
And these are the critical years we have to slow down the effects of climate change before they spiral out of control.
Besides climate change, the way of extracting fossil fuels is usually not so safe for the workers and is harmful to the environment (which is the same environment that we rely on to sustain us). And when we actually burn them, they have been linked to higher asthma rates and other health issues.
These are the reasons I will be at Moving Planet on Saturday (though others have their own). Communities and countries all over the world are working to stop the burning of fossil fuels in their own way every day. But on September 24th, we can come together to show stronger support than each community can alone that burning fossil fuels is wrong. Can you join us?
There are three main parts for the day.
1. For those interested, we will be volunteering with the Waltham Land Trust to clear a bike path on an old rail trail (sign up here).
2. We will be leaving from Brandeis campus at 12:40 (meet at the info booth at the entrance) to walk together to Christ Church Episcopal (750 Main St) for a gathering with speakers from the Waltham community, Brandeis, and Bentley, plus some music!
3. From there, some will bike and others will take the commuter rail into Boston for the large event. We will be joining thousands of others is speaking out about the dangers of fossil fuels (we’ll be taking the commuter rail that arrives in Boston by 3:16). Those concerned about the Guster concert will be back in time to see them (you can take either 5:30 or 8:00 commuter rail back).Please check the facebook event for more information, and contact brandeisclimate@gmail.com with any questions. Hope to see you there!
Tali