Go Jump In A Lake

Dear Friends,

Seriously.  I promise not to write about the global climate crisis every week.  And I promise to keep today’s Update short.  But this is such an important issue that I have to bring your attention to an upcoming event that didn’t make the Update last week.  It’s a special event, not just because it’s important, but because it’s fun . . . for some people . . . perhaps.  

On December 8th, representatives of nations the world over will gather in Bali for talks on climate change that will, hopefully, lead to the next generation of the Kyoto Treaty.  Rank-and-file citizens around the world will mark the start of these talks with the Third International Day of Action on Global Warming.  

In Des Moines, local activists are organizing the "Polar Bear Plunge."  People passionate about tackling global warming, or simply inclined to acts of insanity, are invited to a rally followed by a jump into Gray's Lake at 12:00 noon on December 8th.  The theme of the event is “Keep Winter Cold,” which may be a hard sell for Midwesterners on a brisk December day; but talk with any polar bear you meet on the street and you won’t see a lot of enthusiasm for warmer winters.

Organizers are encouraging participants – both those who, like Lynn, will take the plunge literally and those who, like me, choose to regard “plunge” as metaphorical – to write a letter or sign a petition letting Congressman Boswell know how important it is that he support the Safe Climate Act (HR 1590).

Among leading Iowa Democrats, Boswell is alone in his lack of action on global warming.  Iowa’s other Democratic Congressmen – Braley and Loebsack – support the bill.  (Please thank them if you live in their districts.)

Just last week, Chet Culver joined governors throughout the upper Midwest to form a regional pact to reduce global warming pollution 60% – 80% by 2050.

Frank Cownie, mayor of Des Moines, is gaining a national reputation as one of the country’s most proactive mayors on global warming.

Every top Democratic presidential candidate has come out with a plan to tackle global warming.  On the Republican side, John McCain is talking about it.

The Iowa Farmers Union, the United Steelworkers of America, key environmental organizations and religious leaders have publicly called on Boswell to do everything he can to address global warming.

Yet not only has Boswell declined to sign-on to the Safe Climate Act, he is supporting a fuel economy bill that is weaker than what President Bush called for in his State of the Union address.

On December 8th – employing the creative notion of plunging oneself, polar-bear style, into water a degree or two above the temperature of ice – Des Moines-area residents will have yet another chance to impress upon Congressman Boswell the importance of jumping on board the climate-change bandwagon.

For more information, to help organize the event or to discuss the latest fashion in winter bathing suits, contact Kelly Mitchell at kelly.mitchell@wdc.greenpeace.org or (818) 282-0168.

Thanks for reading, and I hope we get to spend part of a day at the beach together next month.  

Ed Fallon