Tipping Point (2013 Walk For Our Grandchildren) from Jay Mallin on Vimeo.

Featured in this video, CAAV founder Cathy Strickler participated in the 60 mile Walk For Our Grandchildren from Harpers Ferry, WV to the White House July 22- 27.

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CAAV members Cathy and Charlie Strickler will be among the 100 concerned climate activists walking 60 miles from Harpers Ferry, W.V. to the White House July 22-27 “to tell President Obama and other policy makers that enough is enough. We must keep the majority of fossil fuels in the ground. We demand climate action now! ” Please consider joining them for all 6 days or any single day of the walk.

from Greg with the Walk For Our Grandchildren organizing group:

I admit it’s a bit odd. Climate change is daunting—rising temperatures, extreme weather, powerful political and economic forces which work against finding solutions—and I’m proposing to do something about this by taking a walk? It wouldn’t surprise me to have someone point and laugh, but there’s more going on with this Walk For Our Grandchildren than meets the eye.

I used to be isolated. I’d sit in front of a computer screen and read scientists’ predictions about the consequences of carbon pollution and I’d feel so low, not just because the predictions were depressing, but also because it seemed no one was paying attention. It was difficult to talk about, to be that guy who brought it up to friends and family, at work or at church. Good, otherwise emotionally healthy people have filters in place to screen the stuff that is depressing or scary, and especially if they feel like there’s nothing they can do about it, anyway. For a long time, climate change was simply getting caught in the filters.

But that’s been changing. At some point in the last few years I feel like the tiny little trickle of awareness I had about the enormity of the climate challenge became one tributary to a gathering river of people. These folks aren’t just worried or wringing their hands, either. Like any good river, they’re moving. We’re taking action. I’ve even learned how to do it myself and it’s actually not so hard. You just empty your hands, setting aside a few parts of your life for a moment to ready yourself for work that needs doing. Then you think about what you love and want to protect, you roll up your sleeves, and you wade in.

I’ll be walking on this Walk with one of the things I love, my fourteen year old daughter, Anna. She and my son, Will, are reason enough to make any sacrifice I need to make in order to know they’ll live lives safe from catastrophic climate disruption. But the reasons I’ll walk don’t end there. I’m a public school teacher who just completed his first year in the classroom. Unlike my own kids who’ve grown up with a daddy who rambles at the dinner table about Keeling curves and ocean acidification, my students are as yet largely and blissfully unaware of such things. And I don’t begrudge them that. I love it when they shyly tell me of their dreams of becoming a marine biologist, a nurse, or a chaplain. It didn’t take many days in my new job for me to realize that the least part of my calling is teaching them algebra. My real job is leaving them a world in which such dreams as they have can still come true.

Here, to me, is the meaning of this Walk:  it’s not about what will be said by us, or about us, or how someone important will pay attention and do what we ask with respect to the Keystone XL, or how our voices may get lost in the clamor of the moment. It’s that I’m marking a moment in my personal history when my intentions began to align themselves with my knowledge and my convictions. It’s about marking a larger historical moment, based not on wishful thinking but rather on mounting evidence, that a critical mass of my fellow citizens are on a similar path. Protest is a word that doesn’t even begin to capture the seriousness of my intent. I am walking because I mean to leave behind a time when I was the willing and pliant accomplice to corporate ecocide. I and those I’ll be walking with intend much more than what our sweaty, sunburned faces will suggest we’re capable of.  Using the proven power of nonviolence in action, we aim to dismantle those institutions and petty, profit-grubbing kingdoms which entertain such insanity as part of their agenda.

We’re not fools. We know it won’t happen on July 27, 2013 when we reach the White House. But our journey doesn’t end at the White House. Yet neither will it extend far into some far flung, quasi-mythical future of human perfection. Because we understand somewhat the physics of greenhouse gases on a warming planet, we also understand the rules of this game. Like the fossil fuel mega-corporations which are the principal architects of our climatic ruin, we know we’ll be going all in. Win or lose, we’ll be laying down our cards very soon. So that’s why I’m walking. I’m building the hand that we’re going to play.

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Hello All,

As climate activists, it’s easy to feel hopeless in the face of reality.  The saving grace is that we don’t know what future developments will be and how they will affect the climate crisis.  Our job is to push the public into activism, just like us.  To do that we need to increase the strength of our work.

There is a place and plan where we can do this.  You may have already heard of the Walk for Our Grandchildren that is planned for July 22^nd-27^th, going from Harpers Ferry to DC, 60 miles. (A small group will have already walked from Camp David to Harpers Ferry but that leg of the walk can’t easily accommodate a large number of hikers).

This event is being sponsored by CCAN and 350.org and is very well organized with lots of support built in.  CAAV thought it would be helpful to have a local meeting of those who like the idea but who are wondering if the logistics are too complicated and so might decide not to attempt it.

By getting together we can all look at the plan and see how we may want to participate and possibly team up with others for a one or more day hike.  Even one day will help swell the numbers.

Gandhi had his 240-mile salt march to the sea in 1930 for Indian independence from Britain.  This event is for energy independence from the strangle hold the fossil fuel companies have on our grandchildren.

The Walk for our Grandchildren organizational meeting will be Tuesday, July 2^nd at the Massanutten Regional Library, downtown Harrisonburg at 7:00 PM.

We hope you can come.  Many of us marched in Harrisonburg when Sen. Warner was here.  Now it’s time to take all the energy we have to march to Washington, many steps in an even longer journey.

Find more details about the walk including route and registration information here.

Following the meeting, please join us as we cross the street to watch a 16 minute segment of the movie A Fierce Green Fire: The Battle for a Living Planet at Clementine’s Ruby’s Lounge. We look forward to finding some inspiration in this short review of the climate change movement and how far it has come.

With gratitude,

Legislative and Elections Committee

CAAV

Candace Sipos covered Art <=> Climate Chaos: the Artist’s Response for the Daily-News Record on November 7, 2013, here: DNRonline _ Climate Chaos.

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Ralph Bolgiano stands in front of the electric boxes on his house that connect 17 rooftop solar panels to the grid. He and his wife, Chris Bolgiano, local environmentalist and self-proclaimed “Mildly Amusing Nature Writer,” went 100% solar in 2008. Nine sealed lead acid batteries in the basement provide power when the grid goes down. (Go solar!) (The title refers to both a literal and figurative description.) – Janet Lee Wright

This piece was patterned after a NASA image of sunset over Earth taken from the International Space Station in 2008 (http://fettss.arc.nasa.gov/collection/details/earth-atmosphere/).

Earth’s atmosphere is seen against the cold, dark void of space. The lower, lighter layer is the troposphere, where we live. It is 10 miles high and is where the greenhouse lies that regulates Earth’s temperature. Without that greenhouse, the average temperature on Earth would be 0°F, hardly a welcoming place for life. Because water vapor is responsible for about half of the greenhouse effect, carbon dioxide plays a critical role by regulating the amount of water vapor in the atmosphere, thereby preventing the greenhouse from collapsing. However, as the carbon dioxide concentrations in the atmosphere increases, the greenhouse effect becomes stronger and Earth gets warmer.

The motivation for this piece was to remind us just how thin our atmosphere is.  We truly live in a tiny bubble that protects us from space. As we emit more and more carbon dioxide into the atmosphere we run the risk of raising Earth’s temperature above the optimal zone in which civilization developed.  I hope all viewing this piece will realize just how fragile our home on earth is. – Les Grady

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Thanks to everyone who submitted artwork!

Come to the opening at Ruby’s on Friday, November 1 from 4-6 PM!

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Driven by man’s overuse of fossil fuels, the world’s climate is changing in many ways.  When you as an artist read about floods, drought, huge wildfires, record-breaking heat, or ocean acidification, and see the devastation wrought on the natural world, as well as on human life, as it comes over television and the internet, how does it impact you?  Do you try to envision a better future; do you mourn what’s lost? And how do you respond through your art?

These are the two-way questions that the Climate Action Alliance of the Valley is asking you to address in your entries for                 ART ↔ CLIMATE CHAOS                            – an art exhibit at Clementine Café‘s downstairs Ruby’s Lounge for the month of November 2013.  Personal reactions to the threat of climate chaos are often emotional, and are an essential component of what we learn and wish to pass on to others. Art can convey our emotional responses to this crisis, and we invite you to submit your original work to provoke the viewer as well and raise awareness.

All entries are welcome, but space is limited. CAAV Show organizers will accept up to 30 entries depending on the size of the works. Art pieces should be able to hang flat against the wall.

To enter a piece for Art ↔ Climate Chaos:

1. Submit up to three pictures of your original art work, its dimensions, and your contact information by October 10th to:

• Lynn Smith ( if you have a Mac computer) at tracksmith[at]aol.com,
• Joni Grady at jonigrad[at]shentel.net or
• Cathy Strickler at 1225 Hillcrest Dr., Harrisonburg, VA 22801.

2. If your work is accepted you will be notified by October 17th.

3.  All artwork must be ready to hang from wire or other something similar: all photographs and drawings must be matted and framed and have a hanging system attached; paintings on stretched canvas or other medium should have wire or other hanging system attached.

4. Deliver your art to the home of:                                                                                      Cathy and Charlie Strickler                                                                                               1225 Hillcrest Dr., Harrisonburg, VA 22801                                                                  between Thursday, October 24 and Sunday, October 27.

Include with your artwork:

• Your signed Liability Waiver below – (click for stand alone page to print)
• A label attached to the work which includes:
  • your name
  • the title of the piece,
  • the medium used, and
  • the price if you intend to offer it for sale. Selling art is between you and the purchaser, so please include contact information on the label for customers’ convenience.
• A brief statement relating your work to the theme of the show.

5. Installation of the art by CAAV and the juror will take place on Monday, October 28 from 12 noon -4 PM . It will be taken down on Monday, December 2.  You may pick up your art at Clementine between 10 AM and 12 noon on December 2, or pick it up from the Stricklers’ home after this time.

Opening reception for the Show is on Friday, November 1 from 4-6 PM (please note this time change from the original 5-7 PM time). You are invited! Please invite others to attend!

If you have any questions about this Show and/or this information, please contact:

• Lynn Smith at 540-746-8183 or tracksmith[at]aol.com or
• Joni Grady at 864-350-8972 or jonigrad[at]shentel.net

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Liability Waiver:
While Clementine does everything they can to best preserve your piece(s) and to keep guests from tampering with artwork, neither they nor the Climate Action Alliance of the Valley are responsible for theft or damage to your artwork during the month long show.  We will work to avoid this scenario and ensure all work is securely hung and lies flat on the wall.  We or Clementine will contact you immediately if any of your pieces need attention.

By signing below you agree that to this waiver of responsibility for Clementine and the Climate Action Alliance of the Valley.

Artist Name:___________________________________________
Artist Signature:________________________________________
Date Signed:__________________

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A printable trifold version of this information is available here (outside) and here (inside).

Check out CAAV member and passionate Mail Artist Judith Hollowood’s call for Climate Chaos mail art through her newly launched Climate Change Mail Art blog. “If you’re worried about climate change and you make mail art, this blog is for you. If you’re worried about climate change and are curious about mail art, it’s for you, too.” This is a fun way to contribute to the ART ↔ CLIMATE CHAOS  show!

On Sunday, April 21st — what they’re calling “Earth Night” — 350.org will premiere a film about their work and growing movement.

Featuring and named after the big tour 350.org conducted across the country last fall, Do the Math is a 42-minute documentary about the rising movement to change the terrifying math of the climate crisis and challenge the fossil fuel industry … an inspiring, beautiful, and fast-paced story that shows the power of the growing climate movement.

On the night of April 21st, people will gather in hundreds of living rooms and libraries across the country for the premiere of the movie.

Be in that number here in Harrisonburg, Sunday, April 21, 7PM!

In the Unitarian Universalist Building, 4101 Rawley Pike, Harrisonburg

Meet and join other interested people to find out the facts that will answer your questions and support your thinking into action! Our numbers are growing and we want you to be a part of our movement. Come at 6:30 for a social with light snacks.  Do the Math screening is at 7 PM. At 8 PM there will be a 30 minute live streaming panel of climate experts from New York City. Together we find strength and comfort and build trust. FREE

April 21st is one day before the end of the State Department’s public comment period on the Keystone XL pipeline — comments will be collected and submitted.

CAAV collaborated with 350.org, the Chesapeake Climate Action Network, Kids vs. Global Warming/ iMatter Campaign and other local groups to stage a public rally around Senator Warner’s visit to Harrisonburg on Wednesday, March 27. 

On March 22, 62 Senators, including Virginia’s Mark Warner, voted for a resolution supporting construction of the Keystone XL tar sands pipeline.

Sen. Warner chose to stand with the oil industry, rather than the thousands of Virginians that have worked so hard to stop this project. In CAAV chairperson Les Grady’s words, we urge Sen. Warner to: “Please think again about your decision and help us work to reduce CO₂ emissions before we condemn our children and grandchildren to a much less hospitable world.”

The Daily News Record‘s Alex Rohr covered the downtown march and meeting with Warner’s chief of staff Luke Albee:

Time Is Melting Away

Pipeline Protesters Crash Visitor’s Party To ‘Hold Him Accountable’

HARRISONBURG — A long row of signs, banners, flags and hand-held windmills wound around in circles on Main Street Wednesday afternoon, waving to get the attention of U.S. Sen. Mark Warner, D-Va., who was meeting with entrepreneurs in downtown Harrisonburg.

“We’re here today to make sure that we can reach Warner and hold him accountable for his actions supporting the pipeline,” said Emily Heffling, Virginia campus organizer for the Chesapeake Climate Action Network.

By actions, Heffling meant Warner’s vote on a nonbinding budget amendment made by the Senate on Friday expressing support for the Keystone XL pipeline. The resolution passed easily on a 62-37 vote.

The proposed $5.3 billion pipeline would carry tar sands oil from Alberta, Canada, through America’s heartland to refineries in the Gulf of Mexico.

“Hey, Senator Warner, the planet’s getting warmer,” the protesters chanted as they marched, one dressed in a polar bear costume with a sign that read “Time is melting away.”

When a coalition of 22 Virginia residents visited Warner’s office to lobby against the pipeline before the vote, they were told they’d receive a response within a week, said Heffling and Kara Dodson of 350.org.

This statement was not confirmed with Warner’s representatives.

“He didn’t [respond] …  so we’re back,” Heffling said. “And we’ll keep coming back until he rejects the pipeline.”

And they came back with muscle.

“The Keystone pipeline’s got to go. Hey, hey, ho, ho,” the chanting continued.

About 70 protesters, including members of climate action groups Climate Action Alliance of the Valley, the Shenandoah Group of the Sierra Club, 350.org and Kids vs. Global Warming/iMatter Campaign, didn’t leave until they got a response from their senator.

When Warner pulled up in front of Ruby’s, the basement lounge below Clementine Restaurant on South Main Street, he talked with marchers for a few moments before going to the scheduled business roundtable with local entrepreneurs.

Warner said he voted for the amendment because of the results of an updated U.S. State Department environmental impact statement, which concluded the pipeline’s effect would be minimal because the oil sands would be developed with or without Keystone.

President Barack Obama denied a permit for  the pipeline’s construction in  January 2012, citing environmental concerns over the pipeline’s proposed route. He did sign an executive order allowing the southern portion of the pipe from Oklahoma to the Texas Gulf Coast to be built.

While Warner didn’t stay long to chat, he sent his chief of staff, Luke Albee, to talk with the protesters across the street at Massanutten Regional Library.

“I am your response,” said Albee, who listened to the concerns of a room filled with residents of Harrisonburg, Broadway, Mount Crawford, Penn Laird, Dayton, Grottoes, Bridgewater, Keezletown, Charlottesville and Richmond.

At their own roundtable discussion, albeit last-minute, protesters said their march was not just about this particular stretch of proposed oil pipeline, but about switching to sustainable forms of energy, including wind and solar.

“The Keystone XL pipeline is important for what it is and what it represents,” said Les Grady, part of the Climate Action Alliance of the Valley’s organizing body. “We are so addicted to fossil fuels that there are no limits to where we will go in getting them.”

Grady explained that the tar sands oil is particularly unfriendly to the environment because of the energy required to make it usable.

One concern that protesters practically shouted at Albee was their accusation that the State Department study was performed by a business with financial ties to TransCanada, the company wanting to build the pipeline.

“It’s like the fox guarding the henhouse,” said Herbet Fitzel of Chester, who came to Harrisonburg as a volunteer with 350.org.

In the wake of widespread social media protests against the pipeline, some people at Wednesday’s march said it was important to show up physically.

“Anybody can push a button,” said Annie Long who works at Little Grill. “I wanted to be in a physical body here.”

“You elect people and if you don’t push what you elected them for, then they have their own agenda,” said Elise Benusa, a JMU senior in the international studies program. “You can’t just sit back, complain about it, and not get your hands dirty.”

Contact Alex Rohr at 574-6293 or arohr@dnronline.com

View rally photos by CAAV steering committee member Pete Mahoney in this Picasa web album.

Warner Rally, March 27, 2013