Camp David to the White House: The first three days of extreme heat and high spirits

I’ve walked thirty miles across Maryland the past three days in the middle of the worst heat wave of the year. The heat index has soared well above 100 each day, causing the corn fields and forests to shimmer in the distance. My feet, meanwhile, are so tender I’ve literally begun applying duct tape to the balls of my feet to ward off blisters.
And I couldn’t be in higher spirits. Why? Because today I get to do it all over again with 60-70 inspiring climate activists from across the country as part of the “2013 Walk for Our Grandchildren.” For eight days, from July 19-27th, we are walking 100 miles from the gates of Camp David — the presidential retreat in western Maryland — all the way to the White House. Our goal: Tell President Obama to stop the Keystone XL tar sands pipeline and accelerate solutions to global warming.
Frederick-farmer-shelly-wolfAlready, we’ve walked through the “green tunnels” of the Catoctin Mountains. We’ve marched across soybean farms and into towns with one stoplight. We camped one night on a Civil War battlefield. What keeps us going with bandaged feet and evaporating pounds are the stories we hear along the way. We met farmer Shelly Wolf who says the weather in rural Frederick County Maryland is unrecognizable compared to when she and her husband bought their farm 58 years ago. The snow back then would shut down their country road for a week at a time. Now it barely snows. And today it’s not just the heat waves but the summer humidity! Insufferable, she says. There was nothing like it during her childhood.
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#Walk4Grandkids Day 3: Reinforcements arrive

The following is a Day 3 update by Greg Yost, who’s on the trail of the Walk for Our Grandchildren, July 19th-July 27th.
Reinforcements arrive.
After spending the last two days walking down roads and through valleys where Confederate and Union troops maneuvered 150 years ago, it feels only natural to think of the huge influx of new walkers this evening as fresh troops arriving just in time for our offensive to recapture the future from fossil fuels. Our forces have more than tripled since Friday at Camp David.
We’re in Harpers Ferry, WV, itself a place pregnant with Civil War history and meaning. Steve Norris, one the Walk’s originators, made those connections for us as we gathered for orientation in a beautiful field now dotted with our tents on a bluff overlooking the Potomac River.
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#Walk4Grandkids Day 2: Standing with Myersville

The following is a Day 2 update by Greg Yost, who’s on the trail of the Walk for Our Grandchildren, July 19th-July 27th.
“I say, ‘Shut up, legs!'”—German cycling hard man Jens Voigt on his secret to his success.
Toes, feet, calves, knees. We received quite an education today in the lower anatomy and its surprising potential for creating human misery. But the 2013 Walk For Our Grandchildren is never intimidated. We say, “Shut up, legs!” and on we go!
Our first stop today was Myersville, MD, the site of a proposed gas compressor station on the edge of town.
This is an interesting story. What happens when a corporation runs headlong into a town with an activated citizenry that just doesn’t roll over for them? Dominion Transmission, Inc.(DTI), a subsidiary of Dominion Resources, wants to site a key piece of fracking infrastructure in Myersville as one link in a chain allowing them to move fracked gas from the Marcellus Shale to an eventual export terminal at Cove Point, MD. And this is a pretty good idea, too. Or at least it is if you’re DTI.
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#Walk4Grandkids Day 1: Heat! Blisters! Sweat and sore muscles!

The following is a Day 1 update by Greg Yost, who’s on the trail of the Walk for Our Grandchildren, July 19th-July 27th.
Heat! Blisters! Sweat and sore muscles!
Exhaustion? Yeah, there was some of that, too…Man, what a fantastic first day we had.
The 2013 Walk For Our Grandchildren got off to a roaring start today from Camp David and tonight is 11 miles closer to its White House goal.
We’re walking 100 miles to carry a message from every dried up, burned, flooded, hurricaned, and sick-and-tired-of-climate-inaction corner of this country to President Obama. We demand substantive leadership climate NOW starting with a final and unequivocal rejection of the Keystone XL pipeline.
Basically, President Obama, no more ifs, ands, or buts. Climate change is the most pressing issue this nation has ever faced. Lead or get out of the way.
And who is delivering this feisty message? WE ARE! Today we were 22 strong with critical back up from our support team keeping us supplied with snacks and cool water. We’ll be in Harpers Ferry, WV on Sunday where our numbers will grow to 75 or more. As we move closer to DC, numbers will swell yet again with hundreds joining each day as day walkers.
Interested? Go to http://joinsummerheat.org/maryland and sign up to get more information on where and when to meet us. Also, check out http://joinsummerheat.org/dc for the latest on two actions we’re initiating in DC on Friday, July 26th and Saturday, July 27th. Get to DC if you can and get active. This is a great way to do it.
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Why I’m Walking From Camp David to DC

This is one in a series of posts sharing the stories of grandparents, parents and young people who are joining the Walk for Our Grandchildren, July 19th-27th.
Blog07-18-13This week-long, 100-mile walk will bring an intergenerational message of hope from Camp David to the White House to demand that President Obama reject the Keystone XL tar sands oil pipeline and confront the growing crisis of climate change. You can join us for a day on the trail, or join walkers and thousands of others for a culminating rally at the White House on July 27th. Click here to learn more and sign up.

I’m making the 100-mile “Walk for Our Grandchildren” trip from Camp David to the White House because nothing in my 51 years has made me happier than having a son.
Sasha Tidwell is 16 years old now. He is an honor student, an Eagle Scout, and a starting pitcher for his varsity baseball team. Before Sasha was born, I thought I knew what happiness was. I had climbed peaks in the Alps, written three books, and shaken hands with the Dalai Lama. Life was pretty full. Then Sasha was born. It was May 30th, 1997.
At that moment I was lifted onto a cloud of joy – far above the old world below – and I have never come back down. I watched him take his first step, read his first book (Berenstain Bears), ride his first skateboard, and – last week – drive his first car. Through all the skinned knees and book reports and muddy shoes on the carpet, I have always known that being with him and being his father made me the happiest person I could ever be. Life was pretty much perfect.
Except for the sadness. Every day, mixed deeply into the joy, is a sadness: Our climate is changing. The seas are rising. Storms are getting bigger.
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Take a hike, Keystone pipeline

The Baltimore Sun
By Mike Tidwell
I’m walking from Camp David to the White House starting Friday — 100 miles in the July heat. I’m doing this to honor the 19 firefighters who died fighting a wildfire near Prescott, Ariz., on June 30. These men died particularly horrifying deaths doing particularly heroic deeds. I’m also walking to honor the 50 men and women who died during the oil tanker train explosion this month in Lac-Megantic, Canada.
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Three Generations, One Message: Why We're Walking for Our Grandchildren

This is one in a series of posts sharing the stories of grandparents, parents and young people who are joining the Walk for Our Grandchildren, July 19th-27th.
Blog07-16-13This week-long, 100-mile walk will bring an intergenerational message of hope from Camp David to the White House to demand that President Obama reject the Keystone XL tar sands oil pipeline and confront the growing crisis of climate change. You can join us for a day on the trail, or join walkers and thousands of others for a culminating rally at the White House on July 27th. Click here to learn more and sign up.
Three generations of the Siler family, based in North Carolina, will join the multi-day trek to the White House: Mahan Siler, a 78-year-old grandfather and retired Baptist minister, his son Mark Siler, and his granddaughter Leigh, who at age 11 will be one of the youngest walkers. All three generations will speak together from the stage of the White House rally on July 27th. In these statements, Mahan and Mark explain why.

By Mahan Siler

Two conversions put my feet on this coming Walk for Grandchildren. Two wake up calls compel this minute witness of body, mind and spirit.
One, I see it now. The planet of my life time (and the life time of my parents, grandparents and ancestors for centuries back) will not be the planet of my grandchildren and their children. The consequences of carbon pollution have reached a point of no return. The planet they are inheriting is not the planet I inherited.
I look in the eyes of my six grandchildren, saying, “I have been a part of the problem, in part ignorance, in part denial. I can’t change the compromised planet you are inheriting, but I will pledge to join the movement to minimize the damage and work for sustainable living among all human and non-beings.” My walking — along with son, Mark, and granddaughter, Leigh — is my vow to do just that, to join, not just watch, this liberation movement.
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Toward Our Own Tipping Point: Why I'm Walking for Our Grandchildren

This is one in a series of posts sharing the stories of grandparents, parents and young people who are joining the Walk for Our Grandchildren, July 19th-27th.
Blog07-13-13
This week-long, 100-mile walk will bring an intergenerational message of hope from Camp David to the White House to demand that President Obama reject the Keystone XL tar sands oil pipeline and confront the growing crisis of climate change. You can join us for a day on the trail, or join walkers and thousands of others for a culminating rally at the White House on July 27th. Click here to learn more and sign up.
 

By Elisabeth Hoffman, Clarksville, Maryland

My parents married in November 1945, just months after the end of World War II. My father had worked in the Navy developing radar; my mother used coupons to buy rationed food and fabric, gasoline and tires. At the war’s end, after their work and sacrifice, they decided it was safe to get married. As much as was possible, they could count on a future for themselves and their children.
My children were born in 1984 and 1994. I can’t know what their future holds, but my actions now — while we still have time to avert the worst climate changes — will shape their world.
This is our time to do whatever we can to ensure a future for our children, our grandchildren and generations to come. Even if that requires a WWII-like effort.
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Building A Hand: Why I'm Walking for Our Grandchildren

This is one in a series of posts sharing the stories of grandparents, parents and young people who are joining the Walk for Our Grandchildren, July 19th-27th.
Blog07-10-13This week-long, 100-mile walk will bring an intergenerational message of hope from Camp David to the White House to demand that President Obama reject the Keystone XL tar sands oil pipeline and confront the growing crisis of climate change. You can join us for a day on the trail, or join walkers and thousands of others for a culminating rally at the White House on July 27th. Click here to learn more and sign up.
 

By Greg Yost

I admit it’s a bit odd. Climate change is daunting—rising temperatures, extreme weather, powerful political and economic forces which work against finding solutions—and I’m proposing to do something about this by taking a walk? It wouldn’t surprise me to have someone point and laugh, but there’s more going on with this Walk For Our Grandchildren than meets the eye.
I used to be isolated. I’d sit in front of a computer screen and read scientists’ predictions about the consequences of carbon pollution and I’d feel so low, not just because the predictions were depressing, but also because it seemed no one was paying attention. It was difficult to talk about, to be that guy who brought it up to friends and family, at work or at church. Good, otherwise emotionally healthy people have filters in place to screen the stuff that is depressing or scary, and especially if they feel like there’s nothing they can do about it, anyway. For a long time, climate change was simply getting caught in the filters.
But that’s been changing. At some point in the last few years I feel like the tiny little trickle of awareness I had about the enormity of the climate challenge became one tributary to a gathering river of people. These folks aren’t just worrying or wringing their hands, either. Like any good river, they’re moving. We’re taking action. I’ve even learned how to do it myself and it’s actually not so hard. You just empty your hands, setting aside a few parts of your life for a moment to ready yourself for work that needs doing. Then you think about what you love and want to protect, you roll up your sleeves, and you wade in.
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VP Biden: Virginians say no KXL

How do you get the attention of one of the most powerful decision makers in the world?

Many would say there is only one route: through his wallet. Though this past Saturday, I saw another way: through the people. After countless hours petitioning and phonebanking, the big day had finally come. We set up in front of the coliseum and waited for our activists to arrive. Over the course of fifteen minutes around seventy people showed up. We outfitted them with magic marker signs and homemade miniature wind turbines and began the slow march around the convention center.


 
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