Walkers from 11 to 78 will carry intergenerational call for bold climate action

CAMP DAVID—With heat indexes soaring above 100 °F, several dozen grandparents, parents and young people set off today on a 100-mile, eight-day trek from Camp David to the White House. United by their sweat and their determination to confront the growing crisis of climate change, marchers are calling on President Obama to reject the Keystone XL tar sands oil pipeline and to take further steps to leave fossil fuels in the ground.

“At 63 years old, nothing could deter me from this long, sweaty journey, because nothing is more important for the future of my five grandchildren than addressing climate change,” said Kendall Hale, a grandmother from Asheville, North Carolina. “I’m walking because I want to leave them a legacy of clean wind turbines and solar panels crisscrossing our nation, not toxic tar sands oil and fracked gas pipelines.”

This first-of-its-kind “Walk for Our Grandchildren” will include activists from across the region and across the country, ranging in age from 78 to 11, marching during the statistically hottest period of the year: late July. The walk began today near the presidential retreat of Camp David in Maryland, which is named after President Dwight Eisenhower’s grandson. Walkers’ ranks are expected to swell to hundreds by the time they near Washington, DC on July 26.

“The Keystone XL pipeline would mean more flooded homes in coastal Virginia and more monster heat waves causing code-red air alerts in Baltimore,” said Mike Tidwell, director of the Chesapeake Climate Action Network and a walker from Camp David to DC. “The fossil fuel industry continues to spend incredible amounts of money to distort the debate and get its way, all toward a wrecked future. But, step by step, we’re marching toward a different sort of future, one that’s built on solidarity, sustained by clean energy, and, ultimately, safe for all children to live in.”

The Camp David to DC trek is part of multiple, creative actions taking place across the U.S. in July as part of the national “Summer Heat” campaign. The goal of Summer Heat is to take on the fossil fuel industry—from where the dirty energy leaves the ground to the halls of power like the White House, as well as in communities feeling the impacts of climate change. Among other acts, Maine activists will assemble a flotilla on Sebago Lake to keep toxic tar sands out of New England and Californians will rally at a Chevron oil refinery in Richmond, CA.

“For too long it’s been the fossil fuel industry that has stood in the way of climate action and who have told the American people that we have no choice but to keep buying what they are selling,” said Daniel Kessler of 350.org. “With solutions coming on the market every day that challenge the fossil fuel industry’s dominance, it’s suddenly a new day and 21st century clean energy will soon power our homes, schools and businesses, if the industry will just get out of the way.”

In stops across Maryland and Washington, DC, walkers will connect the dots between local threats of climate change, the fossil fuel industry responsible, and the solutions required to protect our common future. Such threats include a massive build-out of fossil fuel infrastructure gas companies are proposing across the region to fuel more fracking, including a proposed gas compressor station in Myersville, Maryland, where walkers will pass on Saturday.

ADDITIONAL RESOURCES:
• Journalists are invited to meet up with marchers any day of their route to the White House, from July 19th to July 27th. See this map for a summary: http://www.chesapeakeclimate.org/file-uploads/kelly-trout/WalkforOurGrandchildren-Trail-Map.pdf.
• Learn more about the Walk for Our Grandchildren at http://www.2013walkforourgrandchildren.org/.
• Learn more about the nationwide wave of Summer Heat actions at http://joinsummerheat.org/.

Contact:
Kelly Trout, 240-396-2022, kelly@chesapeakeclimate.org
Daniel Kessler, 510-501-1779, dk@350.org
To directly contact and meet up with walkers: Ted Glick, 973-460-1458; Greg Yost, 828-206-5502; Steven Norris, 828-777-7816 (reception may vary at points along the route.)

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