It’s that time of year again. Breathe deep, my son, and you’ll accumulate what’s left of the forests of British Columbia, Oregon, Washington, and California. Talk about the evidence right in front of your face! While we are glad that Montana (for the most part) isn’t on fire like last summer, we think it’s about time we started howling at our thoughtless do-nothings in power.
It’s time to draw the line from the carbon and methane greenhouse gases caused by the burning of fossil fuels to the record-setting heat that’s burning up Montana and the rest of our planet. It’s time to stop burning fossil fuels! It’s time to hold politicians to account!
Three events are happening in the next two weeks to encourage the rapid transition to clean energy.
This Monday, August 27, a bus-load of Missoulians is riding to the Montana Consumer Counsel’s meeting in Helena. The Counsel was set up by the Montana Constitution and has “the duty of representing consumer interests in hearings before the public service commission or any other successor agency.” We think it’s about time the Counsel — which has broad powers of discovery — supported clean energy. It’s not only cheaper, it also doesn’t come with an existential threat to our children and grandchildren (the external costs of global warming). If you’re interested in joining us, please get ready to leave early on Monday and send an email to yswolfhowl@gmail.com.
The weekend of September 7 to 9 is 350.org‘s “Rise Up for the Climate” with communities all over the country scheduling actions and marches to demonstrate that the time has come to end the era of fossil fuels. 350 Montana is sponsoring two events.
On Friday, September 7, at noon, 350 Montana is sponsoring a “Howl for a Fossil Free Future Pop Up Demonstration.” This is an activists’ event, and we’re keeping the location to ourselves until Friday morning. If you want to vent some frustration at the politicians — who seem to be going backwards at the speed of light — and want to raise your voice to say NO to another generation of fossil fuel generators in Montana and YES to a 100 percent renewable energy power grid, why don’t you join us? It’ll be fun. You can sign up here: https://actionnetwork.org/
Also, 350 Montana is one of eight organizations sponsoring the Missoula People’s Climate March on Sunday, September 9, at 11 a.m. We’re gathering at Anderson Park, 220 Blaine St. (right near Hellgate High School and Rockin’ Rudys). There we’ll hear from Josh Slotnick, soon to be our newest Missoula County Commissioner and other speakers. Then we’ll march with signs across the Higgins Street Bridge to the fountain near the intersection of Higgins and Front for music. We’ll wrap up at noon just as Sunday Streets Missoula gets cranking.You can go here to sign up for the march: https://actionnetwork.org/
We hope you can join us for all of these climate actions.