Children, teens and adults entered a festive area with balloons, music and a juggler. When everyone arrived Step It Up Howard Co. Md had about 80 very enthusiastic men, women, teens and children who sang "The times they are a changin", listened to letters and talks, questioned politicians, and gathered to raise a green finger for the 1Sky agenda! We heard letters and statements from our Senators Cardin and Milskuski and Congressional Representative Sarbanes. Maryland State Delegate Liz Bobo detailed what the Maryland legislature has accomplished and what needs to be done in the coming year. County Executive Ken Ulman's head of the Commission on the Environment and Sustainability, Josh Feldmark, told us that Howard County is the second county in the U.S. to sign the Mayor's Climate Protection agreement. We cheered the successes at the State and County level and committed to support legislation needed at both the State and County level to meet Climate Action Solutions goals. All present filled out a postcard to the Governor to support the Global Warming Solutions Act, and many left after the event to go to public areas in Columbia to get more postcards signed.

We asked Josh and Liz the 3 Step It Up and 1Sky questions for all politicians. Oppose coal YES. Support 80@ carbon pollution reduction by 2050 - YES. But the most interesting answers came to the questions about "green jobs". Both felt that Howard County and Maryland have great potential to create more jobs that support sustainability goals and help us reduce C02 emissions.

Next to last, we asked all present who represented a community organization fill out a paper in the shape of a small hat with the name of their organization and a commitment to invite all in that organization to a large global warming solutions town hall meeting in a future month (maybe in Jan 08). 26 people in the room lined up to announce their commitment to invite a total of 8954 people from 31 organizations.. The numbers ranged from the 6 to 8 in my church group, to my mailing list of 1000+ members. The hats were thrown in a ring (the "ring" actually was a hula hoop ). Folks were obviously proud to announce that they planned to invite their group to a larger meeting to future this important global warming solutions agenda! The level of commitment and energy were high. Delegate Liz Bobo congratulated us for not only turning out to support a great cause, but for also having such a great celebratory time doing it! We ended by taking a group photo holding up our green fingers. Look at the smiles on our photo - we were all thrilled to be part of this great movement.

Delegates spoke about plans to reduce carbon emissions by 80% by the year 2050. There was information by Simplicity Matters, Chesapeake Climate Action Network and Environment Maryland. I plan to contact Simplicity Matters Earth Institute about joining a discussion circle.

Everybody got together at the Dept of Recreation and Parks. We sang Bob Dylan's song The Times They Are A-
Changin'. We colored fingers green and wrote on hands to show what we love and we heard from MD Representative Elizabeth Bobo and others about status of plans to make Howard County Environmentally Sustainable and a model of green living. Lots of people were involved in local organizations and they pledged to keep other people informed about the Climate issues. After the event I got together with some of the kids in the neighborhood and we colored our fingers green and played in the garden. It was a nice end to a good start on a beautiful Novemeber day. May we have many more such events and many more beautiful days to play in our gardens all around the earth. -gini

Just had some more photos to share
about a great group of people and a great event! -gini

High energy and excitement! Many groups brought info to share: The Sierra Club, Chesapeake Climate Action Network, The MD Alliance for Global Warming Solutions, Simplicity Matters Earth Institute and its newest manifestation in Howard County - the Climate Change Initiative of Howard County, the Network of Spiritual Progressives and maybe more... But people in the room also represented many groups. Through a symbolic "throw a paper hat with your groups name through a ring" people committee to invite all the groups they represent to join in to support Climate Change Solutions locally and nationally. There was talk of a larger Town Hall meeting to educate more in the public and garner support for upcoming legislation at the County, State and National levels.

Senator Mikulski's Letter to StepItUp2007 is here

Senator Cardin's Letter to StepItUp2007 is here

Congressional Representative Sarbanes Letter to StepItUp2007 is here

Groups represented at the event with literature/handout:
http://events.stepitup2007.org/
http://www.1sky.org/
http://allianceforglobalwarmingsolutions.org/
http://maryland.sierraclub.org/
http://www.chesapeakeclimate.org/
http://simplicity-matters.org/
http://www.nspmaryland.org
The Climate Change Initiative of Howard County - HoCoClimateChange@gmail.com

List of upcoming Nov Town Halls in MD announced at Step It Up:
http://www.mdlcv.org/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=319&Itemid=90

Gini G, Howie, Betsy and Lisa M contributed great pictures.

Some are on this page and some are at:
http://picasaweb.google.com/ruth.folkfan/StepItUpInHowardCoMD

More photos.