New Video - YERTpod9: Voting With Your Feet in New Hampshire

September 14, 2007 by Mark.

Dear YERTians,

We hit the pavement and joined a state-wide march to Re-Energize New Hampshire with carbon-free energy. This “non-political” event was filled with messages to and from the politicians who care about their survival in the New Hampshire primary season. Oh yes– it was also a lot of fun…

Just click here or the picture below to watch "YERTpod9: Voting With Your Feet in New Hampshire"

One of the most carbon captivating speakers at this event was author and environmental activist Bill MicKibben, who created the “StepItUp2007” event held nation-wide on April 14, 2007. People gathered in creative ways all over the country to demand that legislators adopt the following key climate priorities:

• Cut carbon dioxide 80% by 2050
• Conserve energy use 10% in 3 years
• No new coal-fired power plants
• Establish a Green Jobs Corps

YERT happily got a little time alone with Bill, who informed us that there will be a StepItUp2007 part 2 coming up soon, so mark your calendars for November 3rd and click here to find an event near you! (In his "spare" time, Bill writes great books, including one in the YERT mobile library: Deep Economy. Highly recommended!)

Supporters for most of the Democratic presidential candidates were also out in force at the rally, and we spoke with fans of Obama, Clinton, and Kucinich. We had a tough time finding supporters for Republican candidates, but we hope that they’ll come around with encouragement from groups like the Republicans for Environmental Protection. Who is our favorite candidate? We’re not sure yet, but with the help of sites like this one we hope to figure it out before long.

Enjoy the Road Show!

Mark, Julie, and Ben (Your YERT Team)

team@yert.com

P.S. And now for Breadcrumbs! If you want to learn more about the topics in this video, check out these three resources:

• Why no new coal-fired power plants? The answers may surprise you, in all the worst ways. We hate to share downers with you all, but please click here to find some extremely compelling reasons to halt new coal plants. A helpful discussion of the topic can also be found here at the Daily Kos.
• How can you determine the environmental position of a presidential candidate? Grist has taken a fun and detailed look at the candidates with an eco-eye, and we’re looking there to guide many of our eco-pinions.
• Climate change will certainly be on the agenda during the upcoming election, but how do you know if a candidate is serious about the issue? We’ve found that this chart created by the World Resources Institute is extremely handy at cutting through the talk. It visually compares the CO2 reductions mandated by various bills, and checks them against the range recommended by scientists to avoid the worst impacts of human-made global warming.
• We were tickled by the appearance of the PieMobile– a car shaped like a pie graph that dramatically illustrates the budget priorities. That’s right. You read correctly. A car shaped (and painted) to represent a U.S. Federal Budget pie chart. You have to see it to believe it, or at least check out this website. These folks make budget reform fun.

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