Climate Change Activists to Hold Rally in Portsmouth

On Sunday, July 29th, the New Hampshire Climate Summer team will be bicycling into Portsmouth to spend the week addressing the implications of climate change on the local seacoast and organizing a rally downtown as part of a regional-wide Day of Action.

The team is comprised of five women, ages 18-24, who have volunteered their summers to spend traveling exclusively by bicycle and living on a food budget of five dollars per person per day – all in the name of building a movement to end “society’s addiction to fossil fuels, a.k.a. deadly energy,” claims Hillary Bernhardt, the team’s Video Coordinator.

The group is one of five riding throughout the states of New England this summer, as part of the internship program Climate Summer, held through the non-profit Better Future Project. The teams spend approximately one week in each town before biking to the next and the New Hampshire communities already visited include Peterborough, Manchester, Star Island, Hanover, and Durham.

On Aug. 4, each of the teams will hold a Day of Action in their respective states.

“Portsmouth is an especially important week for us, as it is the home of one of two coal-fired power plants in the state, and one of six in the region,” team Outreach Coordinator Morgan Foster says.

The rally downtown, planned for 11 a.m. in front of North Church, will be aimed at shutting down coal operations at Schiller by exposing the negative health impacts, including asthma and COPD, associated with the burning of coal. Following the demonstration, the team is inviting participants as well as anyone else who is interested to the community space below Me & Ollie’s Bakery and Café for a casual social gathering and community art project. Both events are open to the public.

The team Media Coordinator, Olivia Cook, explains, “Our approach is very holistic. We must end our dependency on fossil fuels immediately if we are to ensure a livable future for humanity - in terms of health, climate change, community, and quality of life.”

In previous communities, the team has been active in local rotary and Kiwanis clubs, farmer’s markets, area churches, community gardens, and organic farms. In addition, they have also organized community meetings to bring people together to address the impact of fossil fuels and climate change.

On Tuesday, July 31, the team will be hosting a meeting for local seacoast residents interested in the area’s energy to come together and discuss the upcoming rally as well as local green initiatives. The meeting will be held at 7 p.m., with the location to be determined.

For more information about the team and the movement, visit www.climatesummer.net.

For more details regarding the Tuesday community meeting and Aug. 4 Day of Action, contact Olivia Cook at oacook@eckerd.edu or (863) 651-4201.

Submitted by Olivia Cook, media coordinator for the New Hampshire Climate Summer team.