Rally Calls for Climate Action

As part of International Day of Climate Action, members of the Harvard community rallied this weekend to draw attention to the threats posed by climate change and to push for the passage of more aggressive legislation at the United Nations Climate Change Conference in Copenhagen this December.

Over 170 countries across the globe participated in activities to raise awareness about global warming in anticipation of December’s conference.

At Harvard, a group of students focused on more tangible efforts towards reducing carbon emissions. Mobilized by the Environmental Action Committee, these students learned how to “weatherize” homes, a process that retrofits homes to be more energy efficient by sealing windows and patching holes in several Cambridge buildings.

“The best way to raise awareness is not to run around shouting but to take action,” said Jackson S. Salovaara ’11, an EAC member who organized the weatherization effort. “Improving energy efficiency will be a big piece of combating global warming.”

Students also learned other masonry and electrical techniques from professionals who volunteer for the Home Energy Efficiency Team, a group that brings Cambridge community members together to weatherize local homes.

“We’re facing a crisis and we need to mobilize as a community, which is what we hope weatherization does,” said Steve Morr-Wineman, a member of the HEET Board of Directors. “Our spirit and practice is that we need to work together if we are to have any chance at all of facing this problem.”

On campus, Harvard University Operations Services also drew attention to environmental issues by participating in the Recycling Game Day Challenge. The competition, which is sponsored by the Environmental Protection Agency, encourages colleges and universities across the nation to promote recycling at their football games.

At the Harvard-Princeton football game on Saturday, UOS and Harvard resource efficiency program volunteers handed out recycling bags at the tailgate and also played a short film at halftime featuring Harvard quarterback Carl D. Ehrlich ’10 endorsing recycling at Harvard.

Efforts to combat the urgent threat of climate change were not confined to the International Day of Climate Action. Several Harvard students and faculty from the Harvard Divinity School took part in a protest at Boston Common Sunday afternoon. The protest was organized by the Leadership Campaign, a group of students and other concerned citizens dedicated to pressuring politicians to adopt stronger climate legislation. The protest kick-started a “sleep-out” during which affiliates of the Campaign plan to camp out on the Common until the Copenhagen climate conference in December.

“We refuse to sleep in our homes that are powered by dirty electricity to positively demonstrate our values, the degree of sacrifice that we will make, and how seriously we take the situation,” said Craig S. Altemose, a coordinator of the Leadership Campaign who is also a joint law and policy degree student at the Harvard Law School and the Harvard Kennedy School.

—Staff writer Natasha S. Whitney can be reached at nwhitney@fas.harvard.edu.