With a nor'easter approaching we put in at Cremona Farm instead of across the river. We paddled to Congressman Hoyer's house and met him on the beach. The picture of Dan holding the 12 foot pole showed roughly the height of a 5 meter sea level rise (16 feet) because Dan is standing about 4 feet above the water. Congressman Hoyer showed us some of the damage that Hurricane Isabel did and where it left debris about 7 feet above the water.


We brought Congressman Hoyer maps on which our banner is based showing the effects of 1 and 5 meter sea level rise and shared with him the problems we see with continuing to emit carbon into the atmosphere. He explained his worries about the emissions from other countries as well as the levels of debt our country is taking on. We found that we agreed that things need to change. Congressman Hoyer feels strongly that achieving energy independence should be a priority.


After a good discussion we gathered outside for a group photo with our banner, said our goodbyes and headed back as the weekend rain began to come in.

With a nor'easter approaching we put in at Cremona Farm instead of across the river. We paddled to Congressman Hoyer's
house and met him on the beach. The picture of Dan holding the 12 foot pole showed roughly the height of a 5 meter sea level rise (16 feet) because Dan is standing about 4 feet above the water. Congressman Hoyer showed us some of the damage that Hurricane
Isabel did and where it left debris about 7 feet above the water.


We brought Congressman Hoyer maps on which our banner is based showing the effects of 1 and 5 meter sea level rise and
shared with him the problems we see with continuing to emit carbon into the atmosphere. He explained his worries about
the emissions from other countries as well as the levels of debt our country is taking on. We found that we agreed that things
need to change. Congressman Hoyer feels strongly that achieving energy independence should be a priority.


After a good discussion we gathered outside for a group photo with our banner, said our goodbyes and headed back as the
weekend rain began to come in.

We were there with Chris Dudley and his family, along with Lynn Erwin. Josanna joined us later. We were very impressed with Congressman Hoyer's graciousness in meeting with us. He was very willing to listen to what we had to say, and engaged in a meaningful discussion about his concerns for the impact of international contributions to CO2 emissions and global warming. Next time you hear someone talking about how these people in Washington don't have time for the little people, let them know about Steny.

We spoke to Steny Hoyer about our concerns

Tuesday, April 17 at 10 AM, as the nor'easter was blowing itself out, we met with Betsy Bossart, Congressman Hoyer's aide, at Congressman Hoyer's Waldorf District Office. I'll leave it to others to fill in more details but we met for a little over an hour and had a good discussion of global warming from a moral perspective, the leadership Maryland has been providing on the issue of global warming through its state legislature, and ways in which leadership could be shown at the federal level.

Some news from the meeting is that Speaker Pelosi's taskforce on climate change is finding the issues involved very complex. Independence Day may only bring us a portion of their work. I feel that this is a place where Step It Up's clear message can be a big help. Let's do the "what" part now and work out the "how" part in the next phase.

We also found out that it will be rare for Majority Leader Hoyer or Speaker Pelosi to co-sponsor legislation because of their positions but that a work around would be to try to achieve unanimous support for the Step It Up position within the state delegations.

The skillful way Rep. Rosco Bartlett has brought attention to the issue of peak oil was discussed and particularly the recent GAO report his inquiries have generated. There are a number of questions surrounding the issue of global warming that might be handled in a similar way.

Our chief action item, suggested by Betsy, is to write a letter to the whole Maryland Delegation urging support for the Step It Up position. We'll be contacting other event organizers to work on this.