Step It Up: What're you doing Nov. 3?

Live Earth may have gotten more attention with its star power, but Step It Up was the biggest grass-roots environmental demonstration this year -- and it's coming back Nov. 3!

New to Step It Up? The first one happened in April, when people all across the U.S. put together enviro actions in their neighborhoods -- with the goal to urge Congress to "Cut Carbon 80% by 2050." Each of the more than 1,400 events was unique -- from a canoeing trip down a river that should've been frozen with the sign "We'd rather be skiing," to a packed Los Lobos concert in Salt Lake City.

Now, Step It Up 2 is coming up in 14 days. On top of the "Cut Carbon 80% by 2050" goal, Step It Up has added two new ones: Green Jobs Now (5 million green jobs conserving 20% of our energy by 2015) and No New Coal (a moratorium on new coal-fired power plants).

Organized by Bill McKibben, author of "Deep Economy" (a great read) and other enviro activists, Step It Up 2 is looking for more grassroots readers. As Bill wrote in the L.A. Times: "On Nov. 3, we're staging another series of gatherings across the country, this time aimed squarely at politicians, trying to see if there are some Al-Gores-in-waiting out there, ready to actually lead on this issue."

Bill, along with the Step It Up team, has even written a book to help you get started on your eco-activist way. Titled "Fight Global Warming Now: The Handbook for Taking Action in Your Community," this new DIY book  offers all sorts of savvy tips for enviro-activism, from encouraging a looser, more democratic structure for organizing to harnessing the potentials of the Internet.

After all, as Bill notes, "You can announce that you're organizing an 'Earth Day rally with speakers' only a few times before it completely loses its freshness, excitement, motivational power, and fun."

Putting together a successful Step It Up event is quite simple: First, learn a bit about global warming (if you haven't already), but don't stress out about learning EVERYTHING! We can't all be scientists doing firsthand research, and we don't need to be one in order to act as a knowledgeable and involved citizen and activist.

Second, plan an event. Think big or small, but mostly think fun. Potlucks, bike activities, farmers market-related events -- anything is fair game.

Some events are already planned for the L.A. area, but we could have more -- or at least have more fun components to the ones already planned! Let me know if you're planning to start a new action.

My next post will be about what event I'll be attending, as well as other fun actions that will be happening near me Nov. 3.

Update: What I'm doing Nov. 3.

Comments

[Sarah]

Greenpeace is planning an LA event for Step It Up 2007. Here's the info, forwarded from Greenpeace's LA Campaign Coordinator:

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We are planning an action in Long Beach. We will be marching to a
giant petition emulating the Declaration of Independence clearly
stating that, "We the people support the Safe Climate Act...and call
for Laura Richardson to co-sponsor it..." The event will be complete
with effective costumes and signs in order to garner as much media
attention as possible.

We have a campaign meetings every Wednesday at 7:30pm at the
Greenpeace office in Los Feliz:

1727 N. Vermont Avenue #210
Los Angeles, CA 90027

All are welcome and encouraged to attend the meetings and the event, its going to be a lot of fun!

Feel free to email for more details: ghirsty@wdc.greenpeace.org

[Siel]

Long Beach isn't exactly LA, but glad to hear Greenpeace is doing something --