Hi everyone,
I’m sitting in the Great Hall at Chicago Union Station. We’ve been in Chicago since about 3pm. I had a great dinner with Angela, Patricia and Sheryl and then we had a fun walk along the canal up to and along the Chicago River. I uploaded pictures from our walk to my People’s Climate Train Album:
https://www.facebook.com/leonard.higgins.50/timeline/story?ut=43&wstart=0&wend=1412146799&hash=-8263817501117320798&pagefilter=3
We were scheduled to board the Lake Shore Limited train at 9pm in preparation for leaving the station at 9:30pm but the train came in almost an hour late. It’s 10pm and they have most of us seated so it looks like we’ll leave here before 10:30. So, maybe we will arrive in NYC at about 7:30pm (about an hour later than expected).
Our numbers have grown to about 160 to 175 in our People’s Climate Train group. Laurie from Salem, and Patty and Deb from Eugene were among those boarding here in Chicago. They took the Empire Builder from Portland to meet us here.
I only went to 3 workshops today:
– 9:00am-9:45am – Indigenous Resistance to Keystone XL with John Pappan. John has been partnering with Bold Nebraska but let us know that he is giving feedback to them that better communication and more indigenous input is needed in the partnership. He echoed some of the feedback I have heard from tribal members in Oregon who have partnered with climate activists. More respect for the sacred and the spirit aspects of indigenous culture would not only allow a better partnership but would also improve the quality of our activism.
– 10:00am-10:45am – Great March for Climate Action with Peter Clay. Peter gave us an update on the Great Climate March. A shout-out to John Abbe with 350 Eugene who has been in the march from the beginning. The march is going on hold during the NYC People’s Climate March and then will resume the walk going from NYC to Washington DC. They are asking for as many of us to join them for the final leg of the march as possible. I uploaded a picture of the flyer with more information (to the album link above). Folks can join in person, participate in the march virtually online, or by donating to help cover the costs of those marching.
– 11:00am-11:45am – Faith Leaders & Climate Change Panel, moderated by Sister Santussika. What a great interfaith gathering including indigenous spiritual leaders, Buddhist nuns, a catholic nun, Unitarian Universalist ministers, an 85 year-old retired Presbyterian minister, a jewish lay minister, and others. The theme was about unity and acting from the heart rather than from the head.
Good night from the People’s Climate Train. I think I will actually be able to post this right away this evening.
