Eco-nuts on parade

Rally addresses global warming | burlingtonfreepress.com | The Burlington Free Press

A couple hundred people gathered at the “350 VT Global Climate Change Rally” at Burlington’s Battery Park Saturday to listen to environmentalist and author Bill McKibben of Ripton speak and try to amplify his message through mass demonstration. If McKibben’s prophecy holds true, if the point of no return — when global warming accelerates beyond our control — is but a few years away, he said we’re going to need everyone to step up and lend an ear.

McKibben says the practical steps toward saving the planet, like switching to more energy-efficient light bulbs, are drops in the bucket. The movement needs spectacle, something to attract the media and recruit politicians.

“The only real hope is for large scale political change,” he said.

Hence, the walking in circles and the synchronized group handstand.

Cami Davis of Charlotte choreographed “Let Ours Be a Time Remembered,” for which about 70 people in white shirts, some of whom looked like they were auditioning for “Jesus Christ Superstar,” separated into three circles and walked in formation, making the circles look like gears turning in a machine. They walked and chanted earth-friendly mantras in languages including English, French and Sanskrit for about 20 minutes.

To avoid alienating people who might scoff at such a display, Davis said she used the Earth Charter, an inclusive, international pledge to live in peace and take care of the earth, as the text of one of the chants. From more than a few feet away, however, the different chants melded into a collective murmur.

In the next act, the handstand, people unable to perform the feat simply removed their shoes and held them overhead.

“That is the coolest thing,” Davis said. “That is so cool!”

Organizers had hoped for 350 people to stand on their heads, to match the safe limit of atmospheric carbon dioxide — 350 parts per million — determined by NASA scientist James Hansen. The atmosphere has at least 385 ppm carbon dioxide, according to Hansen’s research.

“It’s one hell of a tough number,” McKibben said of 350, “because we’re already past it.”

Will Bates of Burlington, who helped organize the rally, figured he might have reached the headstand quota if he included the people holding their shoes.