What's being billed as the biggest climate change march is taking place this Sunday in New York City, and more than 600 Mainers have already signed up to go on 11 sold-out charter buses. Marchers are demanding that political leaders take action to replace fossil fuels with 100 percent clean, renewable power, like solar and wind, as quickly as possible. And some activists are literally pedaling that message all the way to the Big Apple.
The People's Climate March comes two days ahead of the United Nations Climate Summit, also taking place in New York next week. In addition to traveling to the event by bus, Maine climate activists are going by train, van, car pool and even by bicycle.
"We're going to go out and go down the road and take a left onto the greenway," says Bob Klotz, of the group 350 Maine. Klotz and Dave Oakes, the founder of the Center for Ecological Living and Learning, set out from South Portland by bicycle Wednesday morning. They plan on being joined by bicyclists from around New England along the way and to reach New York City Saturday night.
Not coincidentally, the distance they'll need to pedal is 350 miles, a reference to the 350 parts per million of carbon dioxide associated with climate change that has already been exceeded. At a news conference attended by supporters, Klotz said he's doing it to show the power of individual and collective action.
"I and others are choosing to bike from Maine and across New England to the People's Climate March in New York City to reinforce what is possible as we confront climate change," he said. "Solutions, individual and collective, exist now."
Those solutions include solar energy, wind, tidal and biomass, which do exist says Phil Coupe, and Maine is blessed with an abundance of them. But, Coupe, who is a co-founder of one of the region's leading alternative energy companies, known as Revision Energy, says the state has lost ground over the past four years.
"For the past four years the leadership in Maine has been kicking renewable energy in the shins every chance that it gets, and we have now become the only state in New England with zero policy support for solar energy," Coupe said. "A homeowner in New Hampshire will get a very strong, state cash rebate to install solar energy on their rooftop, and down in New Hampshire, Revision Energy is growing like gangbusters. Up here in Maine, we're pretty much flat-lined."
Coupe says that's because, for the past four years, Gov. Paul LePage has taken the position that solar and wind don't work, even though he says the evidence shows otherwise. He points to Germany as the best example of how an industrialized nation can successfully transition its economy from one based on fossil fuels to renewables.
"Over the last 30 years, Germany's invested more than $150 billion in renewable energy to get to 100 percent renewables by 2050," Coupe said. "Today they're at 30 percent. And the last thing about Germany: They have the strongest economy on the face of the planet."
More than 1,000 businesses, unions, faith groups and more than 300 college campuses are participating in Sunday's climate march to advocate for similar action. Tyler Kidder of Falmouth will be traveling by bus. She works as the sustainability coordinator for the University of Southern Maine and says she feels that progress isn't being made quickly enough.
"You know, I do everything within my power and the world isn't changing," Kidder says. "So, that's the challenge. That's the frustration, is realizing that there is a better way and there are better models but we still are not doing them."
Kidder says she's going to the march in solidarity with other people who feel the same way she does, and to get energized and reinvigorated in fighting what she believes is the greatest threat to the planet. Sunday's march begins at 11:30 a.m. in New York. More than 100,000 people are expected to attend.
