In my seven years as a full-time climate activist in this region I’ve never been more inspired than at the snowy “Flood Annapolis” rally on Thursday, January 17^th. At least 350 people from age two to 82 came from all over Maryland to gather on a weekday morning in a heavy snowstorm! You KNOW there’s deep, deep concern about an issue when that happens. What other grassroots issue in Maryland – name one! – can turn out that many people on a Thursday morning in a wet and white and chilly storm? Slots? No way. Tax reform? Forget it.

And think about how many people DIDN’T come because of the threat of sleet and snow broadcast all over the media Thursday morning. If the sky had been clear, we would have had over 1,000 people at this event, I’m certain.

I will never forget as long as I live looking out from the stage, just steps from the capitol building, and seeing all those people, those faces, those banners – everyone and everything buzzing with excitement and determination AND simultaneously covered in snow. Check out the photos. I was humbled to address such an audience. I think I speak for most people at the rally when I say I was flooded with emotions of gratitude and love and a sense of PROGRESS.

We were there, of course, to show support for the Global Warming Solutions Act of Maryland, a bill that would add Maryland to California and other states setting ambitious but achievable targets for greenhouse gas reductions. Maryland’s goal: 25 percent by 2020 and 90 percent by 2050.

Many thanks to Md Senate sponsor Paul Pinsky for his inspiring words at the rally and the uplifting address of House Majority Leader Kumar Barve. Many thanks to all the other speakers, including Dr. Cindy Parker of Johns Hopkins and Cindy Schwartz of the Maryland League of Conservation voters. And many thanks to the CCAN staff for all their hard work on this rally, especially Claire Douglass and Holly Gorman.

And finally, a million thanks to all of you who attended. Thanks for the people with their lovely drums. Thanks for the parents who brought their young children. Thanks for all the creative signs and props. My favorite prop was the ambitiously large wooden boat that was held above the crowd with poles and with a sign that said: “Global Warming Lifts All Boats: Waters Are Rising.” It just looked really cool. But after the rally, when I asked CCAN staffers and other organizers for the names of the people who brought the boat, no one knew. You KNOW your movement is really expanding when the people with the coolest prop at a rally are total unknowns to the organizers!!!

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