350 peals

We rang the bell at 3:00 for climate change. Well, actually, we recruited some keen bell ringers They were having so much fun that the count was well over 350. And then they climbed to tower to see the bell. Meanwhile we were on the lawn ringing bells, beating drums and blowing on kazoos. We joined thousands of churches around the world. The World Council of Churches requested that all the churches with bells ring out at 3:00. And we did.

climate action

In the rain, on the boardwalk, in Saint John, the action was hosted by the Council of Canadians who were having their Annual General Meeting in a nearby hotel. So we were addressed by Maude Barlow, their president, but I was most impressed by the representative from the CAW (the Canadian autoworkers union). She had just returned from a worldwide convention of industrial workers and reiterated about how they wanted jobs, but green sustainable jobs. And I met an old acquaintenace who had taken the ferry across the Bay to join the action. We went for coffee after the demonstration and reconnected.

I'm in one of the pictures. It's sort of like finding Waldo.

So disclosure number four: My first demonstration was during the Civil Rights Movement, when they were marching in Selma, we were demonstrating outside the American Consulate in Montreal. I returned home from college on the bus later than usual - "So what were you doing" greeted me. I explained, and my grandfather exploded. Demonstrating was not something we did in our family. Well things change, I'm proud when I know one of my sons has been out stomping for a cause.

What are you doing Saturday?