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Dear UUMFE friends,

This has been a busy time for me, full of involvement with Unitarian Universalists, family, and much travel.

Since leaving Tucson last week for a whirlwind cross-country trek, I have travelled over 4000 miles at 40 miles per gallon.  While that is not exactly a small carbon footprint, imagine what it would be like if it had been by air.  With stops in St. Louis, Pennsyvania (two), Vermont, Massachusetts, Washington, DC, Tennessee, Texas and New Mexico, just the takeoffs would have emitted more CO2 than my entire trip via hybrid car.

The most important part of the trip was a four day meeting with the UU Ministry for Earth board in Middlebury, Vermont.  During that weekend, we also met members of the Champlain Valley UU Church, and a couple bicycling across the country and back in search of sustainable communities.  We also had dinner with Bill McKibben, author of "The End of Nature", etc., and co-founder of 350.org.  I am quite honored to meet Bill, and very impressed with his intense interest and knowledge of our environmental troubles, especially regarding climate change.

After spending a couple days with family in Massachusetts, on Tuesday, I demonstrated with a bunch of 350 organizers, the German Green Party, and various other malcontents in Dag  Hammarskjöld Plaza outside the United Nations climate change summit.  Many black limos later (including Obama's), I left NYC for our nation's capital to deliver my message to our political representatives.

Yesterday, I met with Sen. McCain's legislative aides.  While I was impressed with their knowledge and pleased with their willingness to listen, I was seriously disappointed with the news.  He has given up on climate change legislation for this year.  Therefore, I, along with others in the Climate Justice Fast, I am considering fasting until climate change legislation is back on the table.

What more can we do?

thx,

Vince