By Dan Miner/minerd@gnnewspaper.com
City of Tonawanda resident Diane Eshelman was lying awake in bed, trying to figure out how she could make the world a more healthy place.
Her answer will take a step into reality at noon on April 14, at Niawanda Park in the City of Tonawanda.
Eshelman is spearheading the local version of a national rally, “Step It Up Congress,” which aims to pressure federal lawmakers to cut carbon emissions 80 percent nationwide by 2050.
“If we cut them two percent a year, hopefully it’ll help,” Eshelman said. “I’m becoming a grandmother next month for the very first time. This is something that our kids might live through, but our grandkids might not.”
Eshelman doesn’t have an estimate on the number of people attending the rally, which will likely last about 20 minutes. The purpose will be to take pictures to send to federal lawmakers to showcase concern, she said. Her tentative goal is 100 people.
“I talked to one man who had a truck, and he puts $60 worth of gas in that truck every week,” Eshelman said. “He doesn’t use it for hauling, he uses it because he likes to have a big truck.”
Other rallies in Niagara Falls and Buffalo will last longer and involve speeches.
April 14 has been dubbed National Day of Action by Vermont-based organization Step It Up 2007, which is billing it as a chance for hundreds of rallies across the country to increase awareness about climate issues. The group’s Web site, stepitup2007.org, offers information about themselves as well as material for people who want to take action.
Gladys Gifford, who’s organizing a rally on the same day at 11 a.m. at the Church Street Metro Rail station in Buffalo, said the first step on a national level is to get Congress to enact legislation which recognizes the United States’ role in global warming.
Gifford directed Eshelman toward Step It Up. Eshelman found her through the church to which Eshelman belongs, First Presbyterian Church on Broad Street.
Cutting emissions could come in a number of forms, including car and smokestack emissions, gasoline efficiency standards and alternative energy sources, said Gifford, who’s also president of Citizens Regional Transit Corporation, a nonprofit organization.
“The people of Tonawanda can come together along that wonderful river and the Riverwalk itself to simply say this is a wonderful natural feature we enjoy every day,” she said. “And we want to make sure that Congress understands the threat of global warming has on impact on this Niagara River, as well as every other part of the natural world.”
Contact reporter Dan Minerat 693-1000, Ext. 115.
