2008 Woodie Awards
Step It Up battles climate change
Kelly Janis
Issue date: 11/8/07 Section: Local News
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On Nov. 3, local residents equipped themselves with hats, gloves, hiking boots, cameras and the odd Robert Frost poem to join forces for the Town of Middlebury's effort as part of Step It Up's National Day of Climate Action.
Step It Up is a nationwide campaign spearheaded by Bill McKibben, scholar-in-residence in Environmental Studies at the College, and a team consisting of several Middlebury alumni. The organization urges Congress to support legislation to cut carbon emissions 80 percent by the year 2050 as part of a larger effort to curb climate change.
This November's day of action was intended to reinforce the message imparted by participants upon political leaders and civilians alike during April's undertaking - which, by sparking more than 1,400 events in all 50 states, secured for itself the distinction as the largest global warming event in U.S. history. It also promoted the newly established "1 Sky Campaign," whose chief science-based priorities include creating 5 million "green jobs" aimed at environmental conscientiousness and the conservation of energy, cutting carbon emissions and enacting a moratorium on new coal-fired power plants.
In Middlebury, Step It Uppers boarded the Addison County Transit shuttle to Ripton, where they embarked on their choice of a guided reflection at the Robert Frost cabin or an exploration of the Spirit In Nature trails. As the day wore on, participants were moved to espouse their motives for attendance.
Event organizer Laura Asermily was drawn into issues surrounding climate change while doing coursework at the Vermont Earth Institute. After six years of working with Middlebury's Earth Day Environmental Fair, the transition to Step It Up came naturally.
"When we learned about Step It Up, we just converged with them because we saw them as aligned with our own mission to educate and rally people to take action locally," Asermily said.
Asermily believes that this local action is vital. "I can't think of anything that affects us more profoundly and deeply," she said.
Step It Up is a nationwide campaign spearheaded by Bill McKibben, scholar-in-residence in Environmental Studies at the College, and a team consisting of several Middlebury alumni. The organization urges Congress to support legislation to cut carbon emissions 80 percent by the year 2050 as part of a larger effort to curb climate change.
This November's day of action was intended to reinforce the message imparted by participants upon political leaders and civilians alike during April's undertaking - which, by sparking more than 1,400 events in all 50 states, secured for itself the distinction as the largest global warming event in U.S. history. It also promoted the newly established "1 Sky Campaign," whose chief science-based priorities include creating 5 million "green jobs" aimed at environmental conscientiousness and the conservation of energy, cutting carbon emissions and enacting a moratorium on new coal-fired power plants.
In Middlebury, Step It Uppers boarded the Addison County Transit shuttle to Ripton, where they embarked on their choice of a guided reflection at the Robert Frost cabin or an exploration of the Spirit In Nature trails. As the day wore on, participants were moved to espouse their motives for attendance.
Event organizer Laura Asermily was drawn into issues surrounding climate change while doing coursework at the Vermont Earth Institute. After six years of working with Middlebury's Earth Day Environmental Fair, the transition to Step It Up came naturally.
"When we learned about Step It Up, we just converged with them because we saw them as aligned with our own mission to educate and rally people to take action locally," Asermily said.
Asermily believes that this local action is vital. "I can't think of anything that affects us more profoundly and deeply," she said.
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