We would like to thank Vermont author Bill McKibben and his team for pursuing an idea, a nationwide call to Congress to get serious about climate change. In Harvard, their idea inspired a wonderful community event on the Common Saturday.
Wind works; we could fly kites. It might rain; we could hang kites. Not everyone would like to make a kite; we can send postcards. Two impassioned high school students drew in students. Science and art teachers and principals came forward. A parent engineered all of the logistics, another a bake sale. A commission offered printing. Two windmills showed up on the Common. A businessman donated 4,500 feet of ribbon. Students created 1,000 kites with heartfelt messages and images. A town committee agreed, a police chief offered advice, and a local civic club donated tents. People showed up to hang kites, to staff tables, to help anywhere, and, later, unasked, to pitch in to clean up. People came to witness the kites and to add their voices. In the end, almost 2,000 bowtie-shaped messages stretched up the flagpole, calling on Congress to take action.
This is the true spirit of our community, all of us in it together. We thank Bill McKibben and his Step It Up team for giving local communities the opportunity to show our concern and hope. And thank you, Harvard, for caring and being willing to lift your hands and raise your voices.
Karl Schwiegershausen and Josie Carothers
for the Harvard Step It Up 2007 Committee
