On a prompt from my pal Tonya, I looked into the Step It Up! organization events. I can’t make it out to Seattle on the National Day of Climate (April 14) to be with her in person, but I can take advantage of an active local community in Bloomington and make a similar event here.
On Saturday, April 14, local groups representing religious organizations, neighborhood associations, service clubs, schools, families, student organizations, and other Monroe County communities will march through the streets of Bloomington to the Farmers Market for the Step It Up rally. From 10a to 1p, Step It Up Bloomington! will facilitate presentations by area organizations and businesses with tables of information to help us all find ways to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. During the course of the event we will hear from Bloomington’s Mayor Mark Kruzan, Congressman Baron Hill, and author Scott Russell Sanders. There will also be music by a capella singing group Kaia and singer/songwriter Carrie Newcomer. Brad Wilhelm of Rhinos’ Youth Center (and other things) will emcee the event.
If it rains, the event will set up in the atrium, hallway, and council chambers of City Hall.
Also, there will be a tree planting ceremony at 1:30pm following the event, at 6th & Lincoln (next to the Monroe County Public Library). Two oak trees will be planted to help beautify the City and to illustrate proper tree-planting techniques.
One of the current projects for Step It Up! is supporting current legislation to cut carbon emissions by 80% by 2050. It’s a bit sad our Congressional goals are so modest, but for a country that never ratified Kyoto (which arguably is flawed), it’s a major initiative to combat global climate change. Even so, it represents only a 2% reduction per year.
Step It Up! also has a resource page with links to various plans to help us change our underlying behaviors to become more sustainable. Most of these things reflect broad goals, not tangible actions. However, here is a list of the common suggestions that each person can do to help contribute to collective behavior change (in order of likely personal investment):
- Reduce Driving. Walk, ride a bike, or take public transportation.
- Support local, organic farming and eat less meat.
- Use compact fluorescent light bulbs.
- Insulate and weatherstrip your home.
- Buy and use EnergyStar appliances.
- If you drive, buy fuel-efficient vehicles and use them efficiently.
Easiest of all, attend local events such as the one on April 14 to increase your own awareness of the problem. Don’t accept the statistics thrown around without looking into their source and understanding their limitations. Even without making sustainability a personal research project, make an effort to change your own behaviors in some positive way. Small changes have big impact if enough people make them.