Global warming activists wrap 5-day march through N.H.
CONCORD, N.H. --Tired, but exhilarated, hundreds of climate change activists on Sunday capped a 5-day walk through New Hampshire to raise awareness for their cause with a rally and street fair at the Statehouse.
A core group of activists, most of them recent college graduates, walked more than 40 miles from Nashua to Concord during a week of hot, humid weather when temperatures at times reached 100 degrees. They were joined along the way by New Hampshire residents of all ages, like Lisa Beaudoin, of Temple, N.H., who runs a bed and breakfast and small farm. Beaudoin walked with her two sons, aged 8 and 11, and drew cheers from the crowd when she urged activists to "demand nothing less than a clean plant to give to all of our children."
The "March to ReEnergize New Hampshire" started in Greeley Park in Nashua on Tuesday and ended Sunday around noon as about 250 cheering, sign-waving marchers made their way down Concord's Main Street to the Statehouse lawn.
Marchers like Lindsey Franklin of Concord, Mass., and Kelly Blynn of Philadelphia, recent Middlebury College graduates, said participants drank lots of water and got through the stifling heat by raising their spirits with songs and chants.
"What's great about the youth climate movement is there is so much energy," Franklin said.
"This is the challenge of our generation," she said.
Marchers walked on state roads from Nashua through Manchester, Hooksett and Pembroke on their way to Concord.
"The heat was just beating down on us but I think that our collective energy pulled us through," said Andrea Keil, 21, a University of San Francisco graduate from Cold Spring, N.Y. Keil said she was surprised by the positive honks and waves they got from drivers of tractor trailers and sport utility vehicles.
March organizers focused on the early voting states of Iowa and New Hampshire, saying activists must pressure lawmakers and candidates for political action on global warming. Activists in Iowa completed a similar march on Sunday.
Campaigns of Democratic presidential hopefuls Bill Richardson and Barack Obama had booths at the rally in Concord, as did supporters of a movement of draft former Vice President and global warming activist Al Gore.
"What we're here to say is we want political change in order to make progress on this issue," said Jared Duval, a Lebanon, N.H., native who is national director of the Sierra Club's student coalition.
"The time for historic transformational and progressive change in America is now and responding to global warming is our chance to make it happen," he told the crowd.
