Earth Day 2008

Earth Day is exactly a week from today! The purpose of Earth Day, which is on April 22, is to provide information about and raise awareness of the Earth's environment, pollution and other environmental problems, resource use, and how to get involved in helping to protect our resources at a community level.

The best way to help our environment and celebrate Earth Day is to tell people to vote. We desperately need new environmental policy in this country, as even our current President has begun to realize.

Senator Obama has promised that when he is elected he will devote himself to reducing carbon emissions 80% by 2050 by implementing a "cap and trade" system(cap emissions with pollution credits that can be auctioned off), similar to those in other developed nations. The money from the sale of the credits will be used for environmental clean-up and protection. He also plans to address the issue of deforestation, invest in clean energy, increase funding for environmental research and technology, and more. Here is a link to his entire plan.

History of Earth Day, courtesy of Wikipedia:
"In September 1969, at a conference in Seattle, Washington, U.S. Senator Gaylord Nelson announced that in the spring of 1970 there would be a nationwide grassroots demonstration on the environment. Senator Nelson first proposed the nationwide environmental protest to thrust the environment onto the national agenda.” "It was a gamble," he recalls, "but it worked." Five months before the first April 22 Earth Day, on Sunday, November 30, 1969, The New York Times carried a lengthy article by Gladwin Hill reporting on the rising tide of environmental events::

"Rising concern about the environmental crisis is sweeping the nation's campuses with an intensity that may be on its way to eclipsing student discontent over the war in Vietnam...a national day of observance of environmental problems...is being planned for next spring...when a nationwide environmental 'teach-in'...coordinated from the office of Senator Gaylord Nelson is planned...." Senator Nelson also hired Denis Hayes as the coordinator.

"Each year, the April 22 Earth Day marks the anniversary of the birth of the modern environmental movement in 1970. Among other things, 1970 in the United States brought with it the Kent State shootings, the advent of fiber optics, "Bridge over Troubled Water," Apollo 13, the Beatles' last album, the death of Jimi Hendrix, and the meltdown of fuel rods in the Savannah River nuclear plant near Aiken, South Carolina -- an incident not acknowledged for 18 years. At the time, Americans were slurping leaded gas through massive V8 sedans. Industry belched out smoke and sludge with little fear of legal consequences or bad press. Air pollution was commonly accepted as the smell of prosperity. Environment was a word that appeared more often in spelling bees than on the evening news. But Earth Day 1970 turned that all around.

On April 22, 20 million Americans took to the streets, parks, and auditoriums to demonstrate for a healthy, sustainable environment. Denis Hayes, the national coordinator, and his youthful staff organized massive coast-to-coast rallies. Thousands of colleges and universities organized protests against the deterioration of the environment. Groups that had been fighting against oil spills, polluting factories and power plants, raw sewage, toxic dumps, pesticides, freeways, the loss of wilderness, and the extinction of wildlife suddenly realized they shared common values."

I'll be at Dandelion Communitea from 4-6 p.m. ("an exciting day of music, educational speakers, sustainable vendors and more in celebration and awareness of Earth Day"), and on Sunday I'm planning to join the Lake Lotus Earth Day invasive plant removal event in Altamonte Springs. It would be great to see a few more familiar faces out there (and of course an Obama pin/t-shirt or two)! The details can be found here.

Other Earth Day events/info/fun:

~YouTube Contest~

~Will Ferrel Bush impersonation, global warming~

~Earth Day Network~

~Current National Policy/ Legislation~

*P.S. Please vote for the most convenient day/time for our bi-monthly group meetings (see below)*

Happy Tuesday,
Necole

Events!!

Here is a list of upcoming events that members of the group will be attending:

Saturday, April 12th Taste of Oviedo. At least two members of our group will be there, and the Seminole Democrats are setting up a booth for the event.

?? Phone banking party at my place. Still waiting on the date- everyone should vote! (see below)


Saturday, April 19th Earth Day at Rock Springs in Apopka, Central Florida Earth Day 2008 at the Florida School of Holistic Living/Dandelion Communitea Cafe in Downtown Orlando (several events throughout the weekend)

Sunday, April 20th Lake Lotus Earth Day Celebration, Altamonte Springs

*We can probably set up a booth for each of these events, so anyone interested in passing out information, talking to people, registering voters, etc. should contact us at I4CorridorforChange@gmail.com or reply to this post

Saturday, April 26th Great Strides Walk-a-thon for cystic fibrosis. We have formed a team for the walk, and will be raising money and encouraging sponsorships for the event.

By the way, for anyone interested: We do have a local Toastmasters group. They meet every Thursday morning from 7:30 to 8:45 at First Watch (GREAT breakfast burritos) near I4 on 436.

See you soon!

~Necole

Montana 4/5/08

Second Meeting

Hello, everyone, and welcome to the I-4 Corridor for Change blog. Here we will post everything that goes out on the listserve, upcoming events, and anything else of use to the group. We will be linking to this blog on the I-4 page located on the Barack Obama campaign website, and vice versa.

We had a great second meeting today (I highly recommend the caramel apple pastry at Panera), though we missed a few people because of the rain. If you were one of those people, fear not!-there will be plenty of opportunities to catch up over the next few weeks. Walking for cystic fibrosis at Crane's Roost Park, a phone banking party, taste of Oviedo, and several other events.

Today we met at Panera Bread on 436 at 5 p.m. This will be our regular meeting time, unless of course we decide to change it, and I will make sure to list any info. about that here. We discussed:

I. T-shirts for the group
Allison and Rob are putting something together. Allison is looking into prices, and when we have a number we will post the exact cost of each shirt for anyone who would like to purchase one. Rob is setting up a PayPal account for the money, and when we have enough to place the order we'll send that out. It would be great to have them for our upcoming walk event. Rob and J. came up with a terrific design for our group, which we should be able to post soon for everyone to see. If anyone has any other design ideas, be sure to let us know! Thanks to everyone who helped with this.

II. Blogspot Site
We decided to set up some sort of site to organize our information and our events, so here we are. We may set up a website for the group, if we find we need one.

III. Events

- April 12 Taste of Oviedo 10 a.m. to 6 p.m.

The Seminole Democrats will have a booth at this event, and at least two members of our group are going to be there.

-April 22 Watch Party
The community room at Galyn's apartment complex *maybe?* Pennsylvania primary night. It's time for Hillary to become a non-issue!

- To help make that happen :D come out to my apartment for a phone banking party. The date and time have yet to be determined, but it will likely be next weekend sometime.



- April 26, Saturday
Great Strides Walk-a-Thon, Crane's Roost Park
Help us raise money to help find a cure for cystic fibrosis. We're trying to get a group together to walk, so if you are interested reply with your RSVP and I will put you on a list. Basically, you just find people to sponsor you- informing those around you about cystic fibrosis- and all funds raised are donated to the charity on the day of the walk. Lunch will be provided at the event, which is very family-friendly *wink wink*

IV. Other Notes
- Galyn will be making phone calls the day before our meetings so everyone has a reminder. The next meeting is April 19th at Panera, 5 p.m. Just let Galyn know if you don't want to hear from her on Friday afternoon.

- Later today or tomorrow I will post info. about local farmer's markets, craft shows, Democratic events and anything else we might be able to join or make an appearance at.

- JoAnn will be organizing a canvassing event very soon!



Thanks to everyone for a great meeting.

~ Necole