Hello friends–this is a wonderful site–there have been many times over the past two decades when I’ve wished for just such communities, and to see them start forming and getting to work is truly an inspiration.

This winter, a few of us decided the time for mass action on climate change had finally arrived in this country. We’d organized a walk across Vermont last summer–fifty miles in five days–which drew a thousand people. That was great, but it was dismaying to learn that a thousand people was the largest crowd that had ever gathered anywhere in the U.S. about climate issues. So a week ago we launched stepitup07.org. Our plan is to get local people and groups to host rallies in hundreds of places across the country on April 14, and then link them together electronically. And so far it seems to be working–in that week, 111 rallies in 32 states have already been set up. There’s no question that this will turn out to be the largest demonstration on global warming in U.S. history.

Many of the rallies will be on church steps or in city parks. But others will highlight the iconic places most at risk. Reef divers in Hawaii and Florida have agreed to rally underwater, hoisting their banners near endangered coral. Others will rally on top of the dwin=dling ice sheets at glacier park, or on the someday-tideline in lower Manhattan, or on the levees above the Ninth Ward in New Orleans. We think the cascade of images we’ll have by day’s end will be powerful.

And we think thy’ll translate into political power too. Washington is finally waking up from its denial, but its impulse will be to do as little as possible–we need to make it clear that we want strong action now. Our march in Vermont managed to convince all our candidates for federal office, even the rightest of the Republicans, to sign on for 80 percent cuts in carbon by 2050. That’s our goal here too.

Please visit the website; please sign up to host a rally where you are. You don’t need to be “an organizer,” you just need to be able to gather some people for an event, and hoist a banner, and take a picture. This thing is already spreading like wildfire, but your involvement would be an enormous help!

-- BillMcKibben