RISE for the People’s March for Climate, Jobs, and Justice Sat. Sept. 8, 2018

Climate scientist Robbie Andrew, a senior researcher at CICERO (Center for International Climate and Environmental Research) depicts the increasing “wave” of CO2 riffing on the iconic painting “The Great Wave off Kanazawa” by Japanese artist Hokusai. At the current rate of increase, CO2 will be approximately 900ppm by 2100.  A 900ppm CO2 atmosphere means a 4.5C increase in the global average temperature, rendering significant parts of the Earth uninhabitable for humans. At 650ppm, human cognitive functionality drops. More info here. http://artforclimatechange.org/1373-2/

“The dire and seemingly unsolvable fact of climate change—just like the unsolvable fact of our own morality—doesn’t signify the end of ethical thought but its beginning, for it’s only in recognizing the fact that our lives are limited, complicit, imperfect, and interdependent that we begin to understand what it means to live together in this world.” — Roy Scranton, “Raising a Daughter in a Doomed World”

On Sat. Sept. 8, hundreds of thousands of people will RISE for Climate, Jobs, and Justice.

“We need to learn to see not just with Western eyes but with Islamic eyes and Inuit eyes, not just with human eyes but with golden-cheeked warbler eyes, coho salmon eyes, and polar bear eyes, and not even just with eyes at all but with the wild, barely articulate being of clouds and seas and rocks and trees and stars.” — Roy Scranton, “We’re Doomed. Now What?”, New York Times, Dec. 21, 2015

And as this series of tweets from 350.org’s Bill McKibben shows, people are getting the message out NOW and in many creative ways.

Why?

Because, for us here in Ventura FIRE, specifically, a fire named Thomas, a fire named Thomas that continues to wreak havoc on our lives.

Among other reasons, this:

Buses from around California and beyond will head to San Francisco for a march and arts activism in advance of a gathering of global leaders there next week for a summit to discuss the topic of climate.In SF, marchers will meet at 10am near the Bay and walk up Market Street a few blocks to City Hall.

In LA and other cities large and small around the world, people will also march and make art.

And we will be recording it all:

Here in Ventura, I am co-organizing the local event with help from Heather Casanave who did the Climate March with me in April 2017.

 Because of pressure not to hold an event at all that conflicts with the international gathering in SF, we have not done much to publicize our event and we’re keeping it relatively low key and simple. But it was too important, and the term RISE resonates too strongly for us not to hold an event. That also means that many key individuals in the community are headed to SF. Fortunately, a few of them are staying behind like Dr Kris Young, who will be one of our guest speakers and who recently underwent training with Al Gore in LA.

So how can you join us? In Ventura:

2pm Meet at the Ventura Beach between California Street and the play area by the pier. 

• Make signs, create art, connect with people, learn about climate issues.
• We will form the word VOTE using our bodies to create a human banner on the beach near the promenade.
• The letters spelling VOTE will be 20′ x 20′.

On April 21, 2018, on Ocean Beach in San Francisco, Brad Newsham organized this human banner reading VOTE!

• We will take photos from the parking garage and using drones, then we form a line and hold hands near the tideline.

230pm SWARM up California Street to Ventura’s City Hall.

• Once we have the photos we need at the beach, we will “swarm” up California Street to City Hall pausing at the freeway
• over pass with our signs pointing toward southbound traffic.

3pm Pause in front of City Hall for a few words from community climate activists and artists.

330pm Spell out RISE! in the City Hall parking lot

Devastation from the Thomas Fire in Ventura. We will spell RISE just below this burnt hillside and behind City Hall.

4pm Take photos and clean up.

PARKING: Please join us in Ventura at the beach at the end of California Street near the parking garage and Aloha Steakhouse. Parking is typically $5 per day or park in the vacant lot on the other side of the pedestrian bridge near Spencer McKenzie’s on Ash at Thompson. You can also park in the garage downtown or one of the many free or paid parking areas along the route.