Step It Up 2007 is organizing a National Day of Climate Action on April 14, 2007. Their goal for this day is to hold rallies across the U.S. at some of the country’s most iconic locations, such as the levees in New Orleans and Battery Park in New York City (where thousands of people will make a “blue line” to represent the city’s new beachfront that could result from the effects of global warming). In each city, the same message will be delivered:

Step it up, Congress! Cut Carbon 80% by 2050.

Groups have already been forming, including a few in Orange County. On their Events Search page, you can plug in your zip code to find groups and their planned activities for your area. Right now, there are groups in Los Alamitos, Fullerton, Irvine, and Huntington Beach. (There are also a bunch more in LA County.)

Now, since I’ll be demonstrating in LA tomorrow, I figure it would be best to stay local for this one. I’ll probably hit up the one in HB that’s being organized by the Orange County Interfaith Coalition for the Environment. I have no prior experiences or communications with the group, but I’m actually quite intrigued right now so I’m looking forward to joining them on the 14th.

Categories: activism, environment
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Since I’m not Irish and I’m not fond of beer, I’ll be spending St. Patrick’s Day participating in a mass anti-war protest in Los Angeles organized by the A.N.S.W.E.R. Coalition. This event starts at noon on the corner of Hollywood and Vine and will coordinate with a mass protest in Washington, D.C.

This month also marks the 4th anniversary of the start of the war in Iraq, so there are many other demonstrations going on across the country. For Orange County, there is a Candlelight Vigil and Protest in Irvine starting at 6:30pm, the Orange County Peace Rally in Garden Grove starting at noon, and the Sisters of St. Joseph Pray for Peace in Orange starting at 5:00pm.

Categories: activism, politics
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The League of Conservation Voters has got a great site going to help make global warming a priority in the 2008 presidential elections. Check out The Heat is On. The site has news updates related to climate issues, but what I find really neat (and helpful) are the profiles of the candidates. Quick bios are followed by any recent statements about global warming, offering a kind of CliffsNotes guide for each candidate (granted, many are still just possible candidates at this point). Some have statements as recent as January 2007, a few have quotes from articles published a couple of years ago, while at least one has zlich. There’s also an events calendar with a way to search by location; from this I found that Giuliani, my old hometown’s former mayor, is having a golf fundraiser this Monday in Palm Springs.

Speaking of politics and the LCV, from their site, you can look up how your Congress representatives scored in 2006. I’m quite embarrassed at my district’s rep, what with his 17% score and all. It’s nice to see that he voted yes to prevent offshore drilling one month, and then also vote yes to increase offshore drilling the following month. Honestly, sometimes I’m embarrassed to admit I live in Orange County.

In other insomnia-induced ramblings … this week I’ve made the decision to wean myself off my dependency on Swiffer products. Half of our house has bamboo flooring, which has been made so much easier to clean with the SweeprVac and Wet Jet. Unfortunately, using and then throwing away all those dirty pads make me feel rotten, so I have GOT to quit whining and switch to less wasteful (and less toxic) methods. I’m thinking mops with washable pads. While I’m at it, I’m also going to wean myself off of Swiffer Dusters, opting for microfiber cloths for de-dusting purposes. My husband is skeptical, but I’m hopeful I can curb my Swiffer addiction.

Categories: activism, home, politics, environment
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