Long Walks On Leafy Streets

9/25/2014 Near Skyline drive, Shenandoah Mountains, VA
It is a somewhat cold and drizzly early September morning here in Washington, DC. It is still dark and I am sitting down on my computer with a hot cup of herbal tea. I have been running around quite a bit during the past week. Perhaps a little too much because my body broke down a bit yesterday and all I want to do right now is sit down and watch some comedy shows all day! Hopefully I will be able to get some things done in a calm, restful state of mind.
On Saturday I accompanied Nicole on a hike in Alexandria. She was planning to take her girlfriends (aka sista-girls) on the same hike that I led for Sierra Club last month and wanted to try it out. We walked from the metro to the Dyke Marsh wildlife refuge. It is a relatively small refuge. It was quite a beautiful day and we really enjoyed it. We saw a lot of birds on the Potomac and on the marsh, especially great blue herons.
One of them was sitting on a tree branch and Nicole thought it looked cute like that. She wondered what birds think when they are just sitting like that. Perhaps it was sitting there looking for fish. But who knows. Maybe it was meditating!
On Sunday I went to New York City to participate in the People’s Climate March. I got up by 5 a.m. and started biking the three miles to West Hyattsville station. I was getting a ride from my old friend Leslie and her husband, from there to Greenbelt metro station. It was quite dark and I had to bike carefully although traffic was very light. Near Chillum Rd and Ray Rd I looked for the Sligo Creek trail that provided a short cut to the station. But in the dark I couldn’t find it and ended up being picked up by Leslie on Chillum Rd. I felt a little embarrassed that I had to call her because I have a lot of pride in my navigating ability especially on trails and also I don’t like to inconvenience people. I should have studied the maps better. But I was quite close to the station so she didn’t have to go very far and as it turned out the bus arrived at Greenbelt only at 6.30 and we ended up being early.
The bus ride was quite pleasant. Although the people going to the march were understandably excited and full of chatter I did manage to get some sleep in the morning as well as on the return trip in the evening. I also had nice conversations with a couple of young men. One was Matt, a legislative aide to a P.G. County councilmember. He talked about the various environmental initiatives that his councilmember has initiated in P.G. County including the first countywide requirement to have renewable energy generation on county buildings on the east coast. The other was Darren, an Iranian-American who had worked on environmental justice in New York and was now going to graduate school in D.C while looking for work. He said that, in spite of the politics, Iran was one of the friendliest places in the Middle East. I was even able to connect him with another friend to talk to him about the employment scene in the D.C government.
The march itself was quite successful. It turned out to be quite large and garnered good media attention towards the climate change issue before the start of the U.N meetings during this week. I was heartened to see that world leaders were expressing a serious intention to act. I couldn’t find other Sierra Club D.C. chapter people so ended up mostly by myself. While waiting at 76th St for the march to begin I talked to a retired emergency room surgeon from Michigan who was there with his wife. He was doing some volunteer work for Climate Reality these days. At 1 p.m. there was a moment of silence followed by a moment of loud noise making. It was quite dramatic and a good way to raise the alarm on climate change, I think.
Our bus was about to leave at 3.30 and at 1pm our section of the march was still not moving so I got out of the street and walked along the sidewalks. I passed by various groups from all parts of the world with colorful signs and posters. One was holding a sign for the “U.S Green Chamber of Commerce.” That sounded like a great idea to me. The Chamber of Commerce has not been very helpful lately. I am glad many corporations are taking measures to reduce their carbon footprint. I am especially happy that Google has gotten out of the lobbying group A.L.E.C that has been particularly nefarious in the way it has tried to remove renewable energy requirements at the state level.
At Columbus circle the sidewalk was diverted away from the street by barricades and I decided to walk down 9th Ave to catch up with the march at 42nd St. It was a little surreal to see people going about their Sunday routine while thousands were marching to sound the alarm on climate change just a block away. I guess that is a good illustration of how hard it is for the average person to feel the urgency of our situation. Climate Change is very insidious in that way. We better wake up and realize how bad things are before it is too late.
I soon reached the end of the march at 34th St and 11th Ave. Eating my lunch I watched all the various groups arrive. There were people marching for climate justice, migrant rights and the rights of those displaced by Hurricane Sandy. There were workers, urban farmers and students from local universities. People had come from Australia, the Pacific Islands and South America. There were several marching bands. One called itself the “Rude Mechanical Orchestra.” A youth group called the Berean Community Band was the most impressive. I was heartened to see a group of South Asians, part of the Brown and Green coalition. Overall, it was great to see that the organizers had brought in people from all walks of life and all parts of the world because climate change affects us all.
This week I have been taking my aunt and uncle who are visiting from India to various places in D.C. They are leaving tomorrow and so we didn’t want to waste any time. Although I have been there many times, I enjoyed walking with them on a gorgeous sunny day along the mall from the Capitol to the monument. At first I was feeling guilty and frustrated with myself for not having gotten enough work done in the past two weeks. But then I reminded myself, as I have written in these pages before, that as long as I am making someone happy every day I am living a useful life. It was very rewarding to see my parents and aunt and uncle enjoying the day out.

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