STEPPERS gathered in Vermont and New Hampshire at about a dozen morning "Satellite" events in the Connecticut River's "Upper Valley" on Saturday, April 14th. After breakfasts, snacks, motivational speeches, camaraderie, and synergy, many of these folks made their way to the Green at Dartmouth College in Hanover, NH for live music, free food, information tabling, several speeches, energy sharing and petition signing.

Crowd estimates for the several morning venues ranged from 50 to over 100 per event. Approximately 500 folks gathered at the afternoon session at Dartmouth to hear short inspirational talks by US Senator Bernie Sanders, students, scientists, religious leaders, and community members.

Hundreds of these STEPPERS signed hard-copies of petitions urging our elected officials to STEP UP their efforts to address climate change. Those unable to attend had been invited to "sign onto" our on-line petition, and hundreds more have done so. Those petitions will be joined with those collected at other STEP IT UP events to present to our legislators, governors, and president showing the growing depth and breadth of public attention to these issues and our common insistance that robust initiatives (a reduction in greenhouse gas emission by 80% by the year 2050) be adopted, implemented, and enforced. Petitioners' contact information provide us with an expanding database of concerned and engaged citizens continuing to push forward our common agenda.

In addition to the people representing ideas like voluntary simplicity, the Sierra Club, and biofuels, we were also graced with the presence of advocates for another "clean" and "alternative" energy source...nuclear. Yep...I had a great talk with them. And I'm totally convinced that nukes are good now. They said that their accountants went to the same school as the Enron guys and they could absolutely guarantee that the cost of waste disposal was built into the cost (for the 500,000 year life of the waste). They also said that they were good guys. Which I totally believed. I mean, they don't have lobbyists and they're not fighting tooth and nail like the oil and coal industries to lower environmental regulations. The only downside of their industry is that they dump hot water in the rivers. Sure, it kills all the life...but they'll come up with a solution if we give them permission to build another hundred nuke facilities. Maybe we could develop a "hot spring" industry near the new nukes?