I was driving down from Denver where ten Sierra Club members and activists from New Mexico had traveled to testify in one of three EPA hearings on their newly proposed methane rules. The view was incredible with rainstorms rolling along the horizon, the sun illuminating the streaks of moisture from behind, casting a double rainbow over the opposite sky. The colors arched innocently over the landscape and didn't cast a shadow over the coal and oil trains that plugged along the highway, unaware of what's at stake.
We were a car load that represented a real cross section of the state. Robert Tohe, a Dirty Fuels Sierra Club organizer from Yahtey NM and his wife Hazel James, a food sovereignty organizer, both members of the Navajo Nation and grandparents; Jessica Gonzales, a Santa Fean for generations back, just about to graduate from Santa Fe community college and one of the leaders of our Santa Fe Climate March last year; Marina, 12, and her mom, Genie Stevens, both of Santa Fe's Global Warming Express kids group; and Jon Weiss a retired physicist who is a faithful volunteer in Albuquerque. On their way back to Farmington in a separate car was Daniel Tso a former Navajo Council Member, Elliot Jim a former oil and gas worker who wants to do something about the impacts of industry, and Gloria Lehmer who works tirelessly for progressive causes in a town where she is very much in the minority.
We let the radio wander through the satellite stations as we followed the road South and pondered the topics of our time. We listened to news snippets from the pope's arrival and the latest on the Volkswagen pollution scandal which sat in stark contrast to one another. How cynical of VW engineers to push their "clean diesel technology" at the cost of kid's health. Though diesel burns cleaner, it emits more particulate matter which leads to more smog and more asthma and respiratory disease. And yet at the same time, the Pope is here with his gentle message reminding us that we must care for our planet and for one another, calling on the United States can be a leader on technology, solutions and inclusion.
We arrived back in Santa Fe late, where we dropped off some of our passengers and others still later in Albuquerque and woke early for a breakfast with the Pope. Sierra Club climate activists gathered in our new Albuquerque Office to listen to the Pope's message. At 7:15 am, we watched the dignitaries file in and listened to the pope's message, only two of us with Catholic roots, but all of us inspired by the pontiff's message of the courage and activism of American's like Martin Luther King. He called on all of us to care for migrants as we would hope to be cared for ourselves, and to protect the environment as something humanity can't survive without. The following day at the UN, the Pope went further, saying that we must recognize that we are part of nature, that we can't live without it and must act to protect it.
As summer melts away into the crisp of Fall and we transition from our Solar Summer activities to 100 Days of Climate Action in the lead up to the Paris talks on Climate Change, I invite you to join us, to get involved, to head the Pope's call to humanity, that together we can make a difference. For some practical ways to get involved check out our brand new website at: riograndesierraclub.org.