writeaboutwarming

November 26, 2013 - Just about a year ago, Bill McKibben took to the road in a sustainably-fueled bus, intent upon provoking actions in the board room and the classroom opposing dirty energy.   McKibben told students they had more power than they knew, and could speak truth to power in guiding their institutions of higher learning to divest themselves of shares of stock belonging to petroleum companies.   Then he went even further, suggesting to university students that civil disobedience could turn these same companies into a focal point for political action.   Did he convince them? It would appear so.   According to Chloe Maxmin, a junior at Harvard and a leader of Divest Harvard, “Students have organized divestment groups on about 400 campuses.”   She expressed the conviction that American government has been “taken over by the fossil fuel industry.”   Due to that supremacy, “we’re going to pressure the fossil-fuel industry itself.” ...

A woman by the name of Kathleen Colson has been leading trips to Kenya for more than 25 years.   President of her own company, African Safari Planners, Colson’s ties to the country run deep.   In 2005, M.P. Joseph Lekuton asked Colson, a long-time friend, to accompany him on a trip to Northern Kenya.   The pastoral homelands in this part of Kenya have been devastated by severe and recurring drought, the result of climate change.   Lekuton knew that once Colson had seen the irreparable harm herself, she’d be motivated to act. Lekuton was right.   For the next two years, Kathleen returned time and again to Laisamis District in Northern Kenya, with Lekuton’s aide Kura Omar acting as her guide and translator.   His was important work, because Colson was there to listen.   In countless villages, she learned about challenges the women faced when their husbands took livestock herds farther and farther away, looking for places to graze.   Sh...