Tonight I have filled the hiking backpack I got for Christmas to the brim with all the supplies and equipment I will need for a five day, 53 mile journey from my home in Geneva to my second home in Ithaca. After I finish this blog post I will go to bed and try to get a full night’s rest, because tomorrow, for the first time in a while, I will be rising with the sun to walk.
My heart was pounding as I brushed the excess sand off the jar, and it wasn’t because I was risking trespass charges. It was because I knew there was a chance I was risking my life. Once I screwed the lid on, I frantically brushed my gloves off on my pant leg, and then did the best I could to shake the stuff off my pants. A little voice in my head told me that trying to decontaminate myself was futile, that if I had been smart I would have come here equipped with a mask. It could already be in my lungs.
I looked around the crowd and saw mostly familiar faces. Our words were not falling on any new ears, let alone any ears belonging to a person who had the authority to create immediate action and change.
Amidst a swirl of budget cuts and an ever-increasing workload, Mom resigned from her job as a school psychologist at the Watkins Glen School District in 2012. After resigning, she took up a profession she had been doing on and off since she was 18 and in college: bartending.
Dan Miller, a clean technology entrepreneur, gave a presentation, “How to Fix Climate Change for Free” to over a hundred students on Oct. 7.
…as the excitement from Flood Wall Street died down, I saw that day much differently. I now see how tightly the police controlled us, and, subsequently, how watered-down our first amendment right to peaceably assemble was.
The United Nations Climate Summit took place Sept. 23 in New York City, where world leaders came together to draft a framework for their fight against human-induced climate change. Upon analyzing the meeting’s outcome, some people in the Ithaca College community felt the draft could have been more comprehensive.
Hundreds of thousands of people gathered on Sept. 21 in over 150 countries to speak out for climate change awareness. Among the locations hosting marches were Ithaca and New York City.
I sat down beside a bubbling stream near our campsite, dipped my feet into the cool water and wrote Rob a letter. I described to him the beauty of Colorado, the physical challenge of walking 15 to 20 miles each day and the incredible new family I had acquired in the Marchers. I ended the letter by begging him to come out and see it for himself.
While I’m on the march, I want to focus less on the material world and more on the finer things; nature, friendships, music, making a difference in my world, and my personal development.
In Fort Garland, Colorado, we had a stay day and camped for two nights across the street from the old fort, which is now a museum.
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First Day: May 24th
I can’t ever say enough about how incredible my first day was.
