This is Why I’ll be at the Mother’s Day Climate Rally: Standing Up for a Stable Climate and a Clean Energy Future for My Kids

Let me just get this out there for anyone who may be unaware– I’m no super mom. I’m a freelance writer and stay at home mom who barely has time to get dinner on the table most nights and/or keep the floors to a minimum level of dog hair.

So when my mom came down from Vermont for a visit a while back and started asking me why I didn’t do more in Northern VA to raise awareness about climate change, I was like, “Me? Ms. Desperately Trying to Get the Laundry Folded? Who has time for that?” But then she sat me down with a few important articles and helped me see that the laundry could wait – because my kids’ future couldn’t.

She gave me an article in New Republic by 350.org founder Bill McKibben. In it, he explains that to have even a chance of staying below a global increase of two degrees Celsius (the upper limit set by the Paris Climate Accord), we can release 800 gigatons more CO2 into the atmosphere. But the data shows coal mines and oil and gas wells currently in operation worldwide contain 942 gigatons worth of CO2.

McKibben notes that the math problem this poses is simple, and it goes like this: 942 > 800. This means that we can’t even burn all of the fossil fuels we’ve already started drilling for – and we absolutely CAN NOT try to dig up any more.

Adding to this problem is that greenhouse gas emissions come not only from CO2 from burned fossil fuels, but also from cow farts and pipelines. Yup, the second worst greenhouse gas behind CO2 is methane, which comes from mainly from cow farts and natural gas extraction. This is why people are perched in trees in southwest VA right now – to protest unnecessary natural gas pipelines being built there, which will lock us into ever rising greenhouse gas emissions for many years to come.

So even though I don’t think of myself as a go-getter, or even as having extra time, I knew I had to join in and do something. If climate change is left unchecked, superstorms will become more frequent, devastating forest fires will be the norm, sea levels will rise and cities will drown, and worse yet – winter, my favorite season, will cease to exist as we know it. And this is within the next 50 years!

All of this means when my teenage girls are adults, they may have to think very seriously about whether bringing children into this world makes sense. At this point in my parenting career, I’m realizing that cute grandkids you can play with and then give back are the end-goal here, and that may not be realistic with the way things are going. That is an insane reality to have to face, and as 97% of scientists will tell you, it is very real. Climate change is the existential crisis of our time; perhaps of all time.

So what did I do after this mom-intervention? I immediately cut down on the amount of beef our family eats and joined NOVA Climate and 350 Fairfax. I needed to find a way to lend my voice to the people protesting natural gas projects in Virginia and advocating for a clean, renewable energy future for our kids.

I love NOVA Climate’s Mother’s Day Climate Rally because it hails back to the original activist history of Mother’s Day. The first idea for Mother’s Day began in 1870, when suffragette and abolitionist Julia Ward Howe was fed up with the ravages she witnessed during the civil war. Her Mother’s Day Proclamation called on mothers around the world to band together and outlaw war to protect the future of all children.

The Mother’s Day Climate Rally’s goal is to draw parents and children to an event that would highlight what is now the greatest threat to our children’s future: climate change.  It gives families and concerned citizens a venue to hear from for local officials about their environmental goals and from local youth climate advocates about the amazing work they are doing in our area. It’s also chance for local environmental groups to let people know about advocacy and volunteer opportunities.

One of the best things about the rally is that it’s a way to do SOMETHING, even if you don’t have time to get more involved. If we all come out and spend the day in the sunshine, listening to music, talking about clean air and water for our kids, and letting our elected officials and the press know that this means a lot to us, then this important message will spread. If more people understand how important it is, and make their voices heard, then eventually our elected officials will pass laws that make renewable energy easier to implement in Virginia. Only then can things change as quickly as we need them to in order to save our kids’ future from destruction.

I hope you’ll bring your family and/or friends out and join us. If we band together in a peaceful way I know we can make a difference before it’s too late. We have to!

The Mother’s Day Climate Rally will be held at Veteran’s Amphitheater in Fairfax on Sunday, May 6, 2018 from 1:30 – 3pm (a week before Mother’s Day, thank goodness, because as far as I’m concerned, Mother’s Day needs to be spent eating brunch and hiking).

The list of speakers for this year includes Senator Chap Petersen and Delegates Elizabeth Guzman and Vivian Watts– each of whom are parents (and one grandma!) concerned for the future of all kids in the face of climate change. You’ll also hear from Alison Kole, lawyer for Our Children’s Trust, who is representing 21 youth who are suing the U.S. Government over their right to a stable climate in the landmark case Juliana vs US. In addition, we have Emma Layton from Woodson High School speaking about the awesome Solar on Our Schools project!

You won’t want to miss these great speakers, as well as kids activities, music from social justice rock/folk band M4TR and lots of info from the event’s co-sponsors:

350 Fairfax; 350 Loudon; Chesapeake Climate Action Network; Climate Reality Project, NOVA Chapter; Faith Alliance for Climate Solutions; Herndon Environmental Network; Moms Clean Air Force; Our Revolution Arlington; Our Revolution Northern Virginia (Steering Committee); Sierra Club, Great Falls Group; Sierra Club, Virginia Chapter; Virginia Clinicians for Climate Solutions; Loudoun Progressives; FCDC National Affairs Committee.

Click here for more details, and make plans to leave the laundry unfolded and join us next Sunday!