The news coming from D.C. is pretty depressing. If you've been following the issue at all, you'll know that despite the fact that 60% of Americans favor making BP executives walk the plank into their own slimy waters (okay I made up that statistic but I imagine it's pretty accurate and besides, you get the point), Congress failed to muddle through a single decisive action against climate change. The technical term is, I believe, TOTAL SHIT SHOW. Since I'm not really qualified to explain why the bill failed so dismally, I'm going to recommend you read this analysis by David Roberts of Grist. It's a good article, but please don't get too depressed reading it. The most important thing we can do right now is not shut down, to not tune out, to not disengage. We have to keep asking questions, keep pestering our legislators and keep shouting until our voices are heard. We have to stay in the fight.
Hope is not lost. In fact, on the grassroots level it is alive and kickin' and yowlin'. Yesterday, for example, the Race to Replace team saw a cat riding a bicycle. And, goddamnit, if cats can ride bicycles, switching to clean energy should be a snap for those of us with opposable thumbs.
Friday, July 23, 2010
Over the past few months we've been snapping pictures of the people who care about clean energy. (Almost) all the photos are now online. Check out them on Flickr!
This past weekend the team headed down to beautiful Tinmouth, Vermont for the 16th annual Solarfest, a three day long extravaganza to celebrate "power of positive energy." In addition to having everything you would expect from a sun festival (morning yoga, contra dances, vegan food, dreadlocks), Solarfest attracted politicians, solar companies, green builders and climate rockstars like Bill McKibben.
Solarfest also marked the debut of the Race to Replace Voter Registration Tricycle. While it's not the easiest thing to ride (read: no brakes), the trike is certainly eye-catching and a lot of people came wandering over to see exactly what we were up to. The really loud bicycle horn probably helped here as well. We met some really awesome folks from around the state and we're stoked to work with them in the future.
And now, the moment you've all been waiting for...dun dun dun... Clean energy offs! Okay, maybe you haven't been waiting for it and maybe you have no idea what I'm talking about. Watch the video and then you will understand. Don't worry, it wasn't a one-time-deal. This WILL go down again and if you check out our calender and come hang out with us at an event you too can have your moment in the spotlight as spray foam insulation or, if you're really really lucky, rhubarb.
love in the sun,
the race to replace team.
p.s Wear sunscreen. Especially if the first aid tent is giving it away for free. Wear it. Don't be dumb.
When we asked this guy if he wanted to be part of our photo petition, he said he'd rather do a back flip. Naturally, we were accommodating. Check it out!
Pretty cool, huh?
So, what will you do for clean energy? E-mail racetoreplace@gmail.com with a movie or photo of your clean energy antics and we'll put you up on the site. Juggling, puppies and bike tricks encouraged.
This week we had the awesome opportunity to give a workshop at the Governor's Institute of Vermont Current Issues and Youth Activism Camp. (Eek, that's a mouthful). This is 10 day program for motivated high school students who really want to get into the issues and learn how to be activists. In other words, cool kids like us.
We focused our discussion on narrative--as in, telling astory. This is something we think about a lot at Race to Replace. How do we get people (specifically, young people like us) interested in clean energy? On top of that, how do we get them involved? Telling a good story is half the battle. A lot of the kids at GIV (thank god for acronyms) have experience with activism in high school so this is something they can relate to. And they're also really good at it. Probably better than we are. I mean, they convinced us that we should be making wigs for penguins (see photo), so I'd say they're pretty damn good.
After the workshop we went swimming and hung out in Brattleboro. We also found free bread, which was probably the highlight of the trip. Check out the following baguette inspired shenanigans.
Meet Galen von Wodtke, the 11-year-old candidate for governor. A sixth grader at Guilford Central in Guilford, VT Galen is undeniably a young person's candidate. A resident of Vermont for precisely 11 and 3/4 years, he is more than qualified to run the state. And he cares about young people's issues, like climate change and clean energy. It's our future, after all.
The Galen for Gov float won the Best Political Float award from the Valley Reporter! Yeeeeah!
Saturday, July 3, 2010
It's almost the Fourth of July and here at Race to Replace we are busy preparing for a weekend full of patriotic festivities. Tonight we're heading up to Burlington to hang out on Church Street and watch the fireworks over Lake Champlain. Should be great! We'll be wearing bright green t-shirts, so if you see us, come chat!
The real excitement will be going down tomorrow at the Warren Fourth of July Parade. We'll be there en force with our epic float (a.k.a. Ben Wessel's mini van). It will be exciting and there's a surprise in the works, so make sure you're there. .
On a side note, we've been having a lot of fun with paint this week. Shout out to Liz Robinson and the Old Stone Mill people for being totally cool with spontaneous wall painting. (See photo.)
