New Yorkers Gather for Climate Change and a Living Earth
The sun was bright outside; a beautiful summer afternoon in New York City, and Endeshaw had chosen to spend much of it inside with some 50 others watching the Live Earth concert on a big screen. The gathering was one of more than 20 satellite events in the New York City area -- and more than 10,000 around the world -- held during the 24-hour Live Earth concerts that spanned all seven continents on 7/7/07. The shows marked the kick-off of a global campaign to reverse climate change, and featured more than 100 big-name musicians as well as politicians like former U.S. Vice President Al Gore, whose organization, the Alliance for Climate Protection, is one of the sponsors. Celebrity line-up aside, Live Earth's central message is that the combined everyday actions of "regular people" around the world are critical to reducing global warming. In New York City, at least, that message was getting through. "I wasn't always wanting to be really green," Endeshaw admitted, but in recent years, she has become educated about climate change, and now says she's very concerned. "I feel a responsibility that the planet is not just mine to walk around in and do as I please, and not think about the impact on future generations." She recycles, doesn't "go nuts with the air conditioner," and has changed all of her light bulbs. She says she hopes Live Earth and the ensuing campaign will help give people easy things they can do in their own lives, and encourage them to educate themselves. Her friend Sunny Sims came partly for the music and the artists, but also for the message. "I'm trying to see what can be done and what's being done," she said. "I'm trying to do everything in my power to reduce my carbon footprint and my organization's because I have a seven-year-old child and want to leave him a good world," said one of the event's organizers, who works for the Film Society of Lincoln Center. "So in my home, we're trying to get bio-diesel in our co-op building. Here, I'm trying to green the film society, and at my son's school we're trying to do environmental things there as well. Whatever I can do in whatever aspect of my life," she said. A few blocks away in Central Park, World Hoop Day had crowds gyrating to the music. It wasn't clear how many knew that this event -- designed to call attention to child poverty and poor health in the United States and around the world -- was also connected to Live Earth. However, several of those shakin' it on the lawn had plenty to say about climate change. "A lot of what World Hoop Day is about is avoiding using manmade energy, and getting kids outside," said event organizer Annie Leffingwell. "We're all about recycling and reusing."
"A lot of people who didn't know anything about [global warming] are here today and they're learning about the reason we're here, for exercise and to be out in the sun and enjoy what we have on this beautiful Earth. If we're going to take it for granted, it's not going to be around too long," said Steven Bunin, a World Hoop Day attendee taking a break on the grass. Individual Action -- from Many Angles Most of the people I spoke with said they recycle, try to limit their driving, use fluorescent light bulbs, and limit their use of electrical devices. Some had slightly different takes, ranging from the very personal (eating) to the utterly universal (nuclear weapons). Howie Elmer, a New Yorker at the Lincoln Center screening, considers eating a key part of the fight. "Personally, I don't go out and do a lot of social work, you know, I'm not that kind of person, but I do a lot with my own life, including recycling and monitoring my diet," Elmer said. "The [cattle industry] adds to the carbon footprint a lot. I'm not a vegetarian, but I have lightened up quite a bit and I think it helps....We all have to just take little tiny, tiny steps and it all adds up to something big." For Margo LaZaro, United Nations Representative to Mayors for Peace -- an international organization of mayors that promotes the abolition of nuclear weapons, and is a Live Earth partner -- peace, security, and nuclear disarmament are part of the climate change conversation. "When you're talking about raising awareness of the environment and how we can all impact on that, if you don't address the whole picture, all it takes is a couple of people and all of this is done with," LaZaro said. In Union Square, I spoke with community gardener Sharon Kimmelman. She works with first- and second-grade children to teach them about food, the environment, and the importance of sustainable planting. For some city kids, just learning that food is grown -- and not born into plastic packaging -- can be a revelation. "They're encouraged to learn and carry the message about sustainability back to the rest of their lives," Kimmelman said. The children are urged "to bring home the message of good nutrition and trying new things, tasting the Earth, recycling garbage, reusing things, and repairing things." Whose Responsibility? Even as the people I spoke with championed individual action, many noted that there's a public responsibility as well -- especially when it comes to education. "It's the responsibility of the city, state, and the country to make citizens aware of what belongs where," Steven Bunin said. "My parents, for example, will throw away containers from take-out....They're just not aware."
Sheba Endeshaw said there's an even simpler step that has to happen as well: "I feel that it's imperative, living in New York City, that we have trash cans that separate plastics from metals from papers so that we can actually recycle when we're out in the streets consuming, because it's hypocritical to talk about changes we need to make and not facilitate those changes." The sentiment that the Live Earth event helped foster a sense of solidarity was echoed in most of the reactions I heard. "There are a lot of people trying to pool their actions together to make the world a better place on an individual level and on a community level," New Yorker Dan Walsh said. "I'm generally interested in the world community, and this is something that kind of helped bring the world together."  Watch video of some of these respondents
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