Cold day, warm hopes for a cool planet

We gathered near the City Park lagoon this afternoon, all 500-or-so of us, part of a global series of rallies on the eve of the Paris Climate Talks (COP21). Millennials, boomers like me, even-older folks, a mom with her infant bundled against her chest, young families, a few quiet dogs (in arms or on leashes), campaigners for Bernie Sanders, anti-frackers, members of interfaith or environmental groups. Almost everyone in warm hats and boots, as it was below freezing and patches of ice and snow still covered the ground. My "peeps", in other words. These days I love being in intergenerational groups, a reminder that all of us have a stake in the future of the planet.

Sometimes, with people my own age, it’s easy for conversations to bog down in the failures of the past, the many efforts at social change that we’ve participated in or watched, either derailed or co-opted. Buddhists might say we should not be "attached to outcomes". Yet, we need, if not successful outcomes, signposts that we're part of the good fight, the struggle, the human need to nourish the sprouts of a better world. We might see short-term results, but not the long-term results. As my former grad school prof, the late Dr. Marie Wirsing, used to say, “If you’re going to work for social change, you’d better be in it for the long haul.” A decade-plus older than I was, she had seen even more failures, but at the same time the value and necessity of standing up for what’s right and what’s possible.

It seems like thousands of people were doing that today around the world, and there are many photos of them at this site. No Denver photos at the time I posted this, but there should be later. My favorite is this news photo from Paris, where all demonstrations were banned following the recent terrorist tragedy. Shoes took the place of people. Likewise, perhaps every person who marched represents someone who could not, for one reason or another. 

In Denver, the bandshell was draped in Tibetan prayer flags, filled with notes and hopes and intentions from community groups and schools, dating back to ’09 when hopes were riding on the Copenhagen climate talks. Lots of talk at that one. Today the same sentiments infused hopes for the COP21, which starts tomorrow, convening in a climate-worsened world. There were two banners, one from Fossil Fuel Free Denver, a group working working to push the city toward more renewable energy, and the other from the Colorado chapter of Interfaith Power and Light, “a religious response to global warming”. The group whose mailing list I’m on—350.org—was one of the 10 sponsors of this event. Many other signs popped up amid the woolly hats, including those with puns I never tire of: “Don’t say frack to your mother”, and “There’s no Planet B.” Host emcee was Rev. Peter Sawtell from Eco-Justice Ministries, who promised that the rally would be exactly one hour long, and it was, a relief to those of us who found our fingertips and toes giving us grief near the end point. 

I thought back to the pre-Internet era, starting in the 60s when I came of age politically. The digital age has brought benefits amid the distractibility it promotes. I mused on rallies I had attended, usually starting on “anarchist time” or “feminist time” or whatever other time signaled it wouldn’t start at the appointed time. Speakers often spoke way too long on subjects the audience already knew about. The end point was usually on “counterculture time” also. Today’s event featured a number of speakers, all of whom spoke succinctly. Organizers were ready for the inevitable sound system glitch, which was fixed promptly. During the fixing process, we were distracted with chants, such as, “What do we want? Climate action! When do we want it? Now!” Back in operation, the mike was handed to a woman who had trained with Al Gore (remember An Inconvenient Truth in ’05? Click here for recent fact-checking of this landmark documentary). Later came a young woman from Environment Colorado, who reminded us we’re the first generation (or did she say generations?) in history to have this crucial opportunity to impact the climate of the future. Listening to her connect with us, call-and-response style, reminded me of Dr. Wirsing’s words. Each era has had losses;  any future course will encounter setbacks, but there is also opportunity to make a difference. 

The last 15 minutes or so was involved in photographing and recording a 30-second video which would be sent to President Obama, who will arrive in Paris tomorrow. Yes, clearly we were in the Internet age. No worries about the lack of TV cameras. No worries about the relatively small turnout; rather we were told the rally was even larger than last time. The important thing was the Facebook, Twitter and other digital coverage, the fact that our video would be sent, and that our photos would appear alongside those of the thousands of others around the world whose hopes for the future were also pinned on climate action now. Five speakers each said one sentence for the video. Afterwards the crowd yelled, “Yes, we *can* do it, now, now, now!” We rehearsed this 5 times. Earlier, we had been encouraged to whip out our cell phones and take a picture of our friends to post digitally. (I had left my non-smart flip phone at home.) Many complied with this request, friends huddling and leaning into smiles, duly recorded. Finally, video mission accomplished, the rally ended. Really, it's just the beginning, Rev. Sawtell reminded us. Some participants were headed over to Colorado Boulevard to wave their banners, but most of us looked headed for home, hoping to defrost our toes, encouraged and warmed by the event.