The University was home to multiple events on Saturday afternoon that featured cheers, chants and large groups of people committed to a common cause.
Along with the football game at Autzen Stadium, approximately 350 people gathered at the EMU Amphitheater to celebrate the “Step It Up” campaign’s second Day of Action, a crowd that far exceeding event organizer Jesse Hough’s initial goal of 100 participants.
“I’m ecstatic,” said Hough, who first got involved with Step It Up on its first Day of Action on Apr. 14. “I see a lot of familiar and unfamiliar faces. All of this wouldn’t have been possible without all the help we’ve gotten,” he said.
The event, which was organized to draw attention to the problem of global warming, featured appearances by Eugene Mayor Kitty Piercy, law professor Mary Wood and a surprise visit from University President Dave Frohnmayer.
Piercy outlined measures that Eugene is taking to conform with the city-level Kyoto Treaty more than 700 other city mayors have also signed.
“We need to use less, require less, and bring dependency down to zero,” Piercy said. “We have to approach global warming like we approached the New Deal.”
Piercy talked about the new sustainability office the city is developing and about how city employees are encouraged to bike, walk and utilize mass transit to get to work.
“Small choices make a big difference,” Piercy concluded. “We can do it, we should do it, and we can do it together.”
Wood praised the activists for their commitment to the cause. “No matter who wins the game over there (at Autzen), you are the real champions,” she announced.
Wood listed numerous scientific discoveries that are showing what a danger global warming has become. She pointed out that forests and oceans are absorbing less carbon than ever before, and that the system is on the brink of runaway heating. She said government needs to lead the effort, but it is up to activists to take the message to the government.
“People aren’t apathetic, just primed,” said Wood. “We need every fan in that stadium on our team. We want stadiums filled with football fans, not hurricane refugees.”
The gathering at the EMU also featured cheers led by a group of children from Eugene and Springfield public schools, global warming raps by University student Ari Lesser and a number of tables with petitions and sign making.
The signs came in handy when the group marched from the EMU to Autzen Stadium to make its voice heard loud and clear. The rally set up shop near the dog park across the street from Autzen, allowing the activists to educate thousands of fans regarding the threat posed by global warming.
The Step It Up event in Eugene was one of hundreds taking place around the United States. Forty-five members of Congress and numerous presidential candidates, including Republican John McCain and every Democratic candidate, had pledged to attend a Step It Up rally.
The Step It Up campaign was started by author and environmental activist Bill McKibben in January. The organization has three explicit priorities. The first is to create five million “green jobs” by 2015. The second is to push for Congress to cut carbon emissions by 80 percent by 2050. Finally, Step It Up wants to completely end the construction of new coal plants.
McKibben is optimistic about the possibility of making major progress with these priorities, especially when it comes to carbon emissions.
“There was a recent proposal that called for a 60 percent cut by 2050,” McKibben told the Emerald before a speech he gave at the University on Tuesday night. “Just a year ago that would have seemed very radical. We are really uniting around what we want to get done.”
McKibben believes that having separate events around the country is much more effective than simply marching on Washington. Hough echoed this sentiment at the outset of the rally when he announced, “The idea of the event is to create a community.”
And quite a community it was. The activists turned heads and perked up ears as they marched and cheered in unison to promote their cause. This same scene took place in hundreds of locations across the country in what McKibben said was the largest single day of global warming activism in the history of the United States.