Two Busloads Headed To D.C. Climate Rally
Posted: February 12, 2013
HARRISONBURG — At least two 56-passenger buses full of local residents will be headed to Washington, D.C., for Sunday’s event that organizers say could be the largest climate rally in history.
Local environmental advocates are still looking for people interested in joining them for that trip, although the buses are filling up fast.
Occupy Harrisonburg, a local group inspired by Occupy Wall Street, initiated the idea to go to the “Forward on Climate Change Rally” in Washington, D.C., and other groups quickly jumped in.
Now the collaboration between Occupy Harrisonburg, the Climate Action Alliance of the Valley, Sierra Club, Kids vs. Global Warming/iMatter Campaign and the Voluntary Gas Tax Group has secured a bus that can hold up to 56 passengers. The bus is almost full, and the group might secure another bus.
The Voluntary Gas Tax Group and the Sierra Club subsidized the cost of the trip; it’s $15 roundtrip per passenger.
A group of students, faculty and staff from Eastern Mennonite University has secured a second bus. The two groups are coordinating so that if a bus fills up, extra passengers can have seats in another vehicle.
“The primary reason I’m going is to really support the president in pushing for reform,” said Josh Kanagy, co-leader of EMU’s Earthkeepers and one of the students making the trip.
The main goal of the national event is to encourage President Barack Obama to reject the Keystone XL tar sands pipeline that’s proposed to run from Canada through the Great Plains and Midwest to oil refineries in the Gulf of Mexico.
“That is going down entirely the wrong path,” said Michael Snell-Feikema, of the leaderless Occupy Harrisonburg group. “People don’t realize that these things are becoming pressing immediate concerns at this point. It’s no longer just something in the distant future.”
The bigger picture of the rally is to push Obama to further address climate change, however.
“The response is not to then begin engaging in extracting types of oil that are extremely expensive and also have an extremely negative environmental impact,” Snell-Feikema said. “The proper response is to begin developing alternatives … not premised on some fantasy about unlimited resources.”
To get more information on the trip to Washington, D.C., call Snell-Feikema at 830-1431.
Contact Candace Sipos at 574-6275 or csipos@dnronline.com
Local environmental advocates are still looking for people interested in joining them for that trip, although the buses are filling up fast.
Occupy Harrisonburg, a local group inspired by Occupy Wall Street, initiated the idea to go to the “Forward on Climate Change Rally” in Washington, D.C., and other groups quickly jumped in.
Now the collaboration between Occupy Harrisonburg, the Climate Action Alliance of the Valley, Sierra Club, Kids vs. Global Warming/iMatter Campaign and the Voluntary Gas Tax Group has secured a bus that can hold up to 56 passengers. The bus is almost full, and the group might secure another bus.
The Voluntary Gas Tax Group and the Sierra Club subsidized the cost of the trip; it’s $15 roundtrip per passenger.
A group of students, faculty and staff from Eastern Mennonite University has secured a second bus. The two groups are coordinating so that if a bus fills up, extra passengers can have seats in another vehicle.
“The primary reason I’m going is to really support the president in pushing for reform,” said Josh Kanagy, co-leader of EMU’s Earthkeepers and one of the students making the trip.
The main goal of the national event is to encourage President Barack Obama to reject the Keystone XL tar sands pipeline that’s proposed to run from Canada through the Great Plains and Midwest to oil refineries in the Gulf of Mexico.
“That is going down entirely the wrong path,” said Michael Snell-Feikema, of the leaderless Occupy Harrisonburg group. “People don’t realize that these things are becoming pressing immediate concerns at this point. It’s no longer just something in the distant future.”
The bigger picture of the rally is to push Obama to further address climate change, however.
“The response is not to then begin engaging in extracting types of oil that are extremely expensive and also have an extremely negative environmental impact,” Snell-Feikema said. “The proper response is to begin developing alternatives … not premised on some fantasy about unlimited resources.”
To get more information on the trip to Washington, D.C., call Snell-Feikema at 830-1431.
Contact Candace Sipos at 574-6275 or csipos@dnronline.com