–Cross-posted at WeArePowershift.org
Last Saturday, 350.org and other similarly-minded groups organized a Climate Impacts Day (climatedots.org), where activists throughout the country “connected the dots” between climate change and its associated impacts. The Chesapeake Climate Action Network (CCAN) coordinated with many of these activists in Maryland and Virginia to facilitate their events. In Virginia, CCAN worked with student groups to highlight important climate sources and impacts on or near their campuses.
The College of William and Mary’s Student Environmental Action Coalition (SEAC) group biked to an overlook across the James River ftom the proposed site of a new coal-fired plant operated by the Old Dominion Electric Cooperative (ODEC). Located in Surry County, the new plant would spew countless pollutants into Earth’s atmosphere each second, endangering public health, further contributing to climate change, and increasing the Commonwealth’s reliance on non-renewable energy. To bring more attention to the ODEC plant, the SEAC students, organized by sophomore Colleen Swingle, positioned themselves nearby and snapped off a quick picture including themselves, their message (“ODEC-Stop The Surry Coal Plant. Invest in Renewables”), and the plant’s proposed site in the background. The students then returned back to William and Mary, pleased that they were able to take part in 350’s global action while enduring final exams.
At the University of Virginia, Kenneth Hawes, a sophomore in the Sierra Student Coalition, held up a banner displaying the words “Move University of Virginia Beyond Coal” with the university’s infamous coal plant in the background. Situated awkwardly adjacent to the university’s medical school, the coal plant’s existence was upheld, even though the area immediately surrounding the medical school was declared a “Clean Air Zone,” according to numerous brightly-colored signs. To highlight the coal plant as a source of climate change, Hawes displayed a banner urging the university to look “beyond coal” for its energy.
Climate Impacts Day was a great event, because it engaged communities in a fun and simple way that allowed for a lot of creativity in how the “dots” were made. By drawing attention to local climate issues, students and other participating groups made a real difference in the climate fight last weekend.
