When Alyssa, M., and I went down to Washington D.C. for the #ForwardOnClimate Rally, we anticipated meeting people who supported all sorts of environmental causes—people against fracking, people against industrial farming, people for green technology—but what we hadn’t anticipated was how we’d run into these people.
When we piled off the bus, we were immediately engulfed in crowds of hundreds of people, and soon enough we were separated from the rest of the Rhode Island Sierra Club . Realizing that trying to find them again would be fruitless, we adventurously decided to go off on own. We squeezed our way through clumps of people with posters saying anything from the straightforward “I ❤ Clean Air” and “Forward On Climate” to witty quips like “Even Voldemort Doesn’t Support the Pipeline” and “Frack You”, but got stuck when we reached a parade of people with white and red hats, chanting: What do we want? Polar bears! What do they need? Ice! And somehow—still not clear on how this happened—we ended up in the front of their parade, chanting along with them, caps (that we can now see are the faces of polar bears) on our own heads.
When this parade reached the main event we broke off from our new friends. Disappointingly, however, they never explained to us their specific mission. We were left only with the clues that our hats gave us: Chill the Drill embroidered on the back.
Since then I’ve being doing some research and now, I think I understand.
The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) released its annual Arctic Report Card for 2012 a few months ago and the claims the organization makes are sobering. According to this report card the climate in the arctic over the last decade demonstrates a definite shift into a new “environmental state” based on “record low snow”, record “duration of melting”, “nearly ice-sheet wide melting”, “severe weather”, and “increased growing seasons”. Basically, it’s getting warmer. I’m simplifying for the sake of clarity, but this simplification of facts doesn’t make the message here any less serious.
If this new state is for-good it could hold dramatic changes and problems for the marine and terrestrial life of the arctic, as well as climate changes that would affect the rest of the globe. For instance, if the ice continues to melt, sea levels will rise drastically and ocean-side locations (like our very own little ocean state) will face flooding that could overwhelm our normal coastlines. Coastal cities and towns (can you say Narragansett?) would be ravaged by increased sea levels.
Having read all this I was still curious about the embroidered message on the hat. What was the reference to “drills”? What I found is not so surprising—perhaps I should’ve known. According to the Sierra Club, gas and oil companies are, despite the advice of experts, trying to
drill in precious arctic areas that host thousands of kinds of wildlife and tundra. As we’ve seen examples of in the past, drilling for gas and oil often leads to monumental problems, like oil spills, that kill thousands of animals, damage their environment, and essentially ruin entire ecosystems. Yay. And plus, drilling for oil in such a fragile area speaks to the completely ridiculous idea that fossil fuels and the industry that needs them are more important than 
sustaining life on Earth. The more efforts that we put towards finding and harvesting fossil fuels the farther away we get from finding alternative sources of power (like the solar/wind/water powers Alyssa’s told you about).
But, here’s something thrilling. We can do something about it. Below I’ve given you contact information for Rhode Island Senators Jack Reed and Sheldon Whitehouse, as well as our representatives James Langevin and David Cicilline. Contacting one of our representatives and letting them know that you care, letting them know what you think, is the first, and most important step to making a difference.
Representative David Cicilline
After all, as Margaret Mead said, Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens can change the world; indeed, it’s the only thing that ever has.”
The Little Green Blog 