Finding The Leaders Among Us

Think we’re short on leaders? Then become one. Bill McKibben‘s put out the call through StepItUp.org for an event on Saturday November 3rd. Here’s his letter:

If we’re going to deal with global warming, then we need to go beyond politicians who say the right words and find champions who will actually do the tough work to transform our energy economy. This is an invitation to take one Saturday this fall and use it to build a movement, a movement strong enough to finally put this issue on the table where it can no longer be ignored. If everyone can do this work in their neck of the woods, it will create the momentum that we desperately need.

Here’s the idea. On Saturday November 3, a year before the next election, we’re asking people to organize rallies large and small in their communities. Each one should take place in some spot that commemorates great leaders of the past. Some of these will be nationally famous–people have already committed to climbing New Hampshire’s Mt. Washington, gathering at the site of the Lincoln Douglas debates, even rallying outside the Rhode Island church where John F. Kennedy was married. Others will be locally celebrated leaders–there’ll be a rally, for instance, honoring Navajo elder and activist Roberta Blackgoat, who inspired the fight against coal development on tribal land. But we need hundreds more, gatherings in places that bear the names of people who did the right thing in a moment of great need. You’ll know the person that makes sense in your city or town—they don’t need to be saints, just true leaders, the kind who, faced with the great issues of their day, didn’t punt or compromise.

Once you’ve got your rally registered on www.Stepitup07.org we’ll help you gather a crowd, and invite the politicians from your neck of the woods. We want to ask every Senator and Representative, and every candidate for those offices, to come to these rallies, along with state and local officials. Once they’re there, we’ll present politicians with the four “1 Sky” priorities prepared in the last few months by climate campaigners across the country. They are: an 80% reduction in carbon emissions by 2050, a moratorium on new coal-fired power plants, and a Green Jobs Corps to help fix homes and businesses so those targets can be met. Basically, we want to find out who is simply a politician, and who’s ready to be a leader.

We know these gatherings will be effective. In April, with the help of thousands of people (most of them brand new to organizing) from across the country, we organized 1,400 rallies in places that showed how climate change would affect our lives. Those events were key in putting the demand for real action–80% cuts in carbon emissions by 2050–square in the middle of the Washington debate. But a movement needs to keep moving, and calling for real leadership is the next step.

Don’t worry if you’ve never organized anything before–you’re not putting together a March on Washington, just a gathering of scores or hundreds in your town or neighborhood. It needn’t be slick; homemade is just fine. Put your imagination to work: what would Lincoln do? How would Dr. King take on this challenge? This is a celebration of leadership, and a celebration should be joyful—as focused on the new economies and communities we can create as on the threats we must avoid.

These rallies will be local, but they’ll also have national impact. The website will help draw people to your action, and then on Nov. 3, we’ll be gathering pictures and video from around the country so that by nightfall we’ll have a good online slideshow of how America feels. We’ll do our best to make sure that every candidate is firmly on the record about their plans. By the time the day is done, you’ll have helped change the political landscape.

The best science tells us we have barely a decade to start the fundamental transformation of our economy and to lead the world in the same direction or else, in the words of NASA’s Jim Hansen, we will face a “totally different planet.” (He went on to say that the “1 Sky” priorities “describe just the kind of trajectory we need” to start solving the problem). A decade’s not very long—we’ve got to get going.

I know you’ve already done the obvious things, like changing some of the lightbulbs in your house. Screwing in a lightbulb is important; screwing in a new federal policy to deal with climate change is crucial, especially if we’re ever going to regain enough credibility to help lead the world toward a stable climate. November 3 will be a powerful day, and you can play a vital role. Please sign up on the website to start an action—and thank you so much for caring enough to be a leader yourself.

McKibben also asks us to forward this email as far and wide as possible, to anyone who might possibly be interested. “We’re not really an organization, and we don’t have lists of names—we depend on people like you to take the initiative.” Hope you can help. JULIA WHITTY