Social Movement to Address Climate Change: Local Steps for Global Action
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Chapter :  Introduction
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Introduction

A National Day
of Climate Change

Leah Sprain, Danielle Endres, and Tarla Rai Peterson

We have all the parts of a movement except the movement itself.
                                                                                —Bill McKibben
                                 in the online magazine Grist on January 7, 2007

This observation was one result of his walk with students and citizens across the state of Vermont, raising awareness about global warming. They wondered what it would take to organize a national effort to curb climate change. Step It Up 2007 (SIU) was one answer. McKibben offered it as a way to “do something” other than change out lightbulbs: be part of “the first nationwide do-it-yourself mass protest.” Individuals and local groups were invited to sign up on a Web site to host local actions that called for political action on climate change at iconic natural places. Just assemble your friends, hoist a banner calling for 80 percent carbon cuts by 2050, and take a picture.