Greenpeace

Hey Greenpeacers,

Some folks in Southern Indiana reminded me yesterday that we are changing this country.

I joined about a dozen Indianans – Hoosiers, as they are proudly known here – who are sick and tired of being ignored by their politicians when it comes to the most important issue of our time: global warming.

For close to two years, these volunteers have been working with Greenpeace to convince Democratic Congressman Baron hill, as well as his Republican challenger, Mike Sodrel, that they must act to stop global warming.

Our message has been crystal clear: Global warming is here, and it is damaging Indiana’s farms and its way of life. The solutions we want Hill and Sodrel to support are based on strong science. They will bolster Indiana’s economy and create tens of thousands of new green jobs. And most importantly, they are what voters here are demanding.

Yesterday, just twelve days before the election, these Greenpeace volunteers decided they would not wait any longer.

About a dozen residents paid a surprise visit to Hill and Sodrel’s offices. They calmly stated that we have waited too long already, and that we would not be leaving the premises until we heard the candidates’ responses to the Global Warming Statement of Principles, a letter endorsing science-based global warming solutions that has already been signed by 152 members of Congress.

Staffers tried stalling more. They gave us platitudes and boilerplate. But volunteers like Brenda, Steve and Rick refused to be stalled. For them, this is personal. Brenda talked about how she has seen the effects of global warming already on Indiana’s land, in her garden. Steve said he was still making repairs from recent storms and flooding that swept across the state, and that he didn’t want Indiana’s weather to grow more and more extreme. Rick explained that as a Christian, he believes that we must stop global warming to protect his children, grandchildren and future generations.

Then, to top it all off, the residents started reading names. They read the names of over 650 of Greenpeace’s volunteers in Southern Indiana communities – just 10% of the 6,000 Hoosiers who have signed up to work with Greenpeace here.

You could see the frustration creeping into the faces of the candidates’ staff as we just kept reading names. But there was nothing they could do but listen. This election will be close, and 6,000 people could easily decide the outcome. They knew they could not ignore the names of all these residents as cameras rolled, capturing every second for the evening news.

In the end, while the candidates themselves were not there to respond, both campaigns made commitments that the candidates would be releasing their answers to the global warming statement of principles, with Hill to do so by Election Day and Sodrel to do so tomorrow.
 
We made incredible progress today. Two candidates for Congress here who have been totally ignoring their voters were scared senseless. I think they are starting to realize that global warming is not going anywhere, and that the call for action that is echoing across this country is only getting stronger.

Watching these local activists seize their democracy in their own hands, forcing their politicians to take action, inspired me. I can’t wait to get back to Ohio and keep applying the lessons that folks like Brenda, Steve and Rick taught me yesterday – that we must never take no for an answer when our cause is just, and that politicians work for us. If they want to keep doing so, they better start listening.