In a little over a week, on Sept. 16, I will be hopping on the California Zephyr here in Denver, bound for New York City with I-don't-know-who-else to participate in the People's Climate March on Sunday, Sept. 21. The PCM is an effort to get the attention of world leaders who will also gather in New York for a United Nations special session on climate change taking place on Sept. 23. Several hundred organizations have joined together to call for this demonstration, hoping that hundreds of thousands of us will show up for the largest demonstration yet relating to the threat of climate change in order to plead for the world's leaders to pledge to work together in order to avert that threat, which is primarily being driven by emissions of greenhouse gases from the burning of fossil fuels.

When I first heard about the People's Climate March several months ago, my first reaction was "I've got to go, I've got to be there". I've been deeply involved in faith-based work to prevent climate change since 2007, and I couldn't imagine passing up the chance to add my body and my voice to this historic effort. But then I thought about my carbon footprint and decided I couldn't really justify flying to New York to participate in a protest against climate change, given that flying is one of the most carbon-intensive means of transportation there is. Then I learned about the People's Climate Train, which was someone's ingenious brainstorm to get folks from California to New York to ride the train together. This method of travel is not only far less carbon-intensive on a per capita basis, but has the added benefit of allowing us time and opportunity to create community as we spend about 48 hours traveling together. Within hours I had my ticket and had cleared my calendar for the trip.

I have a friend, another "climate activist", who has decided NOT to make the trip because of his concern about the degree to which travel powered by fossil fuels contributes to problematic GHG emissions. That's fine, that is his choice, his way of making a statement, his way of "doing what he can". That's really all that any of us can do, and we each have to choose to do what we think we can, even if we can't be sure whether or to what extent it will make a difference. When it comes to fighting climate change, it's not people disagreeing about what are the best choices to make; it's people who are not making any conscious choices at all, it's people who are either unaware or just careless about the impact of their choices on the planet we call home and the ecosystem on which we depend for life. To me, if the People's Climate March can be a loud enough voice, make enough noise to get some of those people to take notice and start to question why we are not doing more to avert drastic climate change, then I believe the time, effort, and money spent to bring it off will have been worth it. If not, then I still will have done what I thought I could do, which I believe is better than doing nothing even if I am wrong.  Because if I am wrong, then perhaps I and others can learn something from the mistake; but you can't learn or accomplish anything by doing nothing at all.

For the last seven years, I've been involved in Colorado Interfaith Power and Light, part of the national Interfaith Power and Light movement working to energize and mobilize people and communities of faith to recognize, claim, and exercise their calling to be stewards, guardians, caretakers of this sacred gift, this home, this rare, beautiful, intricate and-- we are learning-- fragile planet from which all life has sprung and upon which we depend for everything needed to sustain it.

So I'll be writing semi-regularly over the next few weeks, reflecting on life, faith, creation, history, human nature, etc., as this journey unfolds. I welcome your thoughts, reactions, reflections, as well.