We had a celebration! We had a parade! We had flowers and animals and a band. Lead by the World on Fire Truck, kids and parents and others rallied and danced and marched through the streets. Folks on bicycles known as corkers, monitored the intersections as our journey took us across the neighborhoods of south east Portland. Check us out in the Portland Mercury!
After the Parade we settled down for our Earth “church” time. The space was marvelously decorated by Making Earth Cool. There was an array of speakers tempering the day with poetry and meaningful words. The event ended with a reading by Scientist Rebellion member, Jennifer Krauel which follows here:
Scientist “REALITY CHECK”
We are scientists and we would like to talk with you about something very important.
First, I want to say that scientists are trained how to carefully measure things and double-check our data, and our math. Then we have others check our results, so that we know that our facts are correct. What I’m sharing today are not opinions. We give you facts and data. That is what scientists do.
Second, we know that some of the facts about climate change are complicated and difficult to explain. Yet, others are very simple, like this one.
We know that the earth is getting hotter, and this causes the weather to change. We know that hurricanes and blizzards are more frequent now and they even show up at the wrong time of the year. We know that weather emergencies cause terrifying forest fires and tornados. The oceans have over-heated, and this is killing fish and coral reefs faster than we ever expected. Sea ice and icebergs are melting, and this affects our climate in complicated ways. The weather machine is broken, it’s worse than we thought, and it will affect you, your friends and family, and all the people that you have ever met.
We know why this is happening. [pause to let that sink in] – Our leaders and politicians are allowing big corporations to burn huge amounts of coal, oil, and gas to make energy. When they burn these fossil fuels, our pollution gets worse, and our planet gets hotter and hotter. They are getting richer while our planet burns.
Because of this, we have suffered weather emergencies right here, and across the country. Outside our country, people have to abandon their farms and towns because there is no water. They have become weather refugees and are desperately looking for somewhere safe to live with drinkable water. How would you think and feel if you were a weather refugee?
A lot of people don’t like to talk about this because it is scary. But sometimes it’s good to be scared, because that helps us to see that it is important to do something. We already know what to do to stop climate change and protect our planet. It’s simple: we come together and demand that our leaders stop supporting fossil fuels and switch everything to clean energy, like solar and wind power, right now. That’s it!
There are plenty of groups working on this, many fine ones have tables in the other room. Pick one and join them, get your whole family to join, and attend meetings regularly. Taking action together is the best way to feel good, and the only way it’s going to work.
Whether we like it or not, this has become the most important job of our lives!
