ClimateFast Day 2

Today we split into two groups and went to places where we could reach people with our message.  After talking with groups at Centertown United Church and First Unitarian Congregation of Ottawa we carried forward to our respective posts in the afternoon.

Betty and Frances attended Car free day in Westborough and handed out information.  We met an interesting variety of people.  I was delighted how many people were aware including all ages from 8 years old to elders.  We visited Ecology Ottawa and other eco-friendly groups.  I had a lovely conversation with four preteens who told me they’d write a letter.  Lisa Pepper, co-founder of 350.org Ottawa, told us how she had been transformed into an activist in spite of all her better instincts.  She had been already guiding the ecoclub of the Elmdale elementary school.  Her 10-year old son was a fount of information about Bidder 70 and all the pipeline issues.  They talked about getting a letter campaign going amongst the school kids and an article on their website. 

Vela Comber told us about her new music video, Tar Free 613.  You can google it on U-Tube.  We invited her to sing her song in our closing ritual.  We picked up lots of information on bike paths in Ottawa and how to drive occasionally without owning a car.  Lots of people took our handouts.  It was pretty windy but 5 layers of clothing kept us warm and we luckily escaped any serious rain.

Meanwhile, on Parliament Hill, Rita, Margaret and Amelia-Rose battled the rain most of the afternoon.  In spite of this they had many good conversations.  One woman returned to visit after attending our wet and soggy opening ritual the night before, and brought a friend.  As soon as we brought out the banner, a man and his young son became engaged.  Our presence is generating real conversation between one generation and the next.

Our Movie night at First Unitarian drew about 22 people most of whom were already deeply engaged with the issues.  In the movie, Do the Math, Bill McKibben shows how the behaviour of oil companies to continue exploration in risky areas like the arctic, and to exploit known reserves that are 5 times larger than any acceptable level of emissions into our limited atmosphere, is totally unethical.  He calls them rogue companies that must be curtailed and proposed divestment of oil stocks as a serious first step.  Several people had already divested their Investment portfolios of energy stocks.  We had an excellent discussion on what kind of quality of life we can build without carbon energy and how we can develop the political will to do it.  Muthanna Subbaiah, the other co-founder of 350.org, has done an excellent job getting this movie out there in Ottawa, and in building this new chapter of 350.org from scratch.  In Ottawa we see an excellent level of cooperation from different groups all working on climate change issues and this coalition can only get stronger.

All in all a long day, but the energy is out there and growing.