Longtime readers of this newsletter will know that, though it’s generally focused on climate and energy, it also concerns itself with organizing: we have to fight for the future we want. This weekend is one of those occasions: No Kings Day 2, when millions upon millions of Americans will gather to say, on one form or another, we don’t like the turn our country has taken in the last nine months, and we’d like our country to head in a very different direction. If you don’t know where to go on Saturday, here’s the handy tool to help you find the rally near you. (Many thanks to my colleagues at Third Act who have worked hard to turn folks out; my guess is that older Americans will be over-represented, as at past such gatherings!)
I’ll be speaking on the Battle Green in Lexington, where in April of 1775 the American battle against kings arguably began. I grew up there, and my summer job was giving tours for the waves of sightseers who would arrive each day—I got to tell, over and over, the stories of the Minutemen who gave up their lives to a mighty military machine on the principle that they were capable of governing themselves. So it will be mostly a solemn talk, I guess—though I will try not to be over-earnest. Because we actually need a fair amount of good humor in these proceedings.
In fact, I think it’s possible that one of the most effective organizers in this entire cursed year is Seth Todd, a local man who appeared at the small protests outside the Portland Oregon ICE office a few weeks ago in an inflatable frog costume. He’s been there regularly since—his most viral moment came when ICE officers angry that he was coming to the aid of another protester sprayed mace up his air vent. But he’s been on the news again and again, becoming in the process that most exalted of all humans, a living meme.
Read HERE Bill McKibben's article on Substack
