Friends,

Thanks for visiting the site.  Now that you're inspired by all the great action from back in April get in on this action this c?oming November 3rd: click here.

And just so you know, this blog isn't really active at this point.  Rather, for all the latest excitment and movement developments, check out the new site: www.stepitup2007.org.

Opening tonight in New York and Los Angeles, and then around the country: Leonardo DiCaprio's environmental documentary "The 11th Hour."  This is for friends and family and who still don't quite get it (or who like to look at Leo).  It's by all accounts pretty powerful--there were good reviews in the New York Times and L.A. Times this morning--and the best part is that it concentrates on hope and solutions. 

Click here to learn of showtimes in your area.

We were thrilled back in the fall when we received words of support from one of our heroes, Calvin DeWitt, who is one of the father's of the religious environmental movement in this country.  A great leader to be sure, he's now raring to go with plans for Step It Up 2 on Nov. 3, and here's his call to action to have us all join in:

So you didn't quite take the opportunity in April to Step It Up?  Or, you took the step to join the movement in April and now want to really get into it?  You REALLY want the Congress to take DECISIVE ACTION on Climate Change???

        HERE IS YOUR CHANCE!

November 3 is the date that provides more than just a fine opportunity.  It goes way beyond "doing one more thing!"  It is an upcoming milestone to re-establish America's leadership on Climate Change.  This is the date for your to take a vital and powerful action---an action that joined with many others is critical for driving Congressional action on Climate Change.

You may just have been an avid "follower" until now.  But now you have the opportunity to lead---in small ways yes, but more than that!  With enough thought about who you know and whom you can influence, you also can lead in BIG WAYS.  November 3 is the NEXT BIG DATE.  Resolve to lead.  Join this great work.  And do so with vigor, enthusiasm, and resolve!   Use this vital day to develop your leadership, to mobilize folks wherever you can.  Join together that first Saturday of November, making it crystal clear that America is moving with conviction, and even urgency, into a position of LEADERSHIP on Climate Change.  We must demand that our leaders lead, or step aside as we step it up!?

Here at Step It Up headquarters we're doing our best to stay on top of the latest technological advancements in internet based activism.

Last April, we demonstrated the power of distributed grassroots action. Over 1,400 communities were connected through our website by a common goal: cutting carbon 80% by 2050 to stop global warming. For Step It Up 2, we'll be working hard to squeeze and twist the web to wring out it's maximum potential.

And when we say we, well, we really mean you. Help us go viral, become a meme, and dominate the blogosphere (don't worry, we don't understand it all either) by spreading the word through your online connections.

Here's a few key ways you can help:

1. Join our Facebook Group

2. Recruit your friends for our Facebook Cause (and maybe even give a little dough)

3. Check out our MySpace page and become our friend

4. Write about Step It Up on your blog

5. Email, email, email: tell everyone you know about Step It Up

Together we'll conduct an incredible experiment of the web's potential to help create social change. Our opponents may have millions of dollars on their side, but we've got the tools and the people to create a movement like the world's never seen. With your help, we can make it happen.

You probably see him every day, staring right up at you from a one dollar bill: our first president, George Washington. Whether it was leading the Continental Army into victory during the Revolutionary War, presiding over the Constitutional Convention, or becoming president numero uno, Washington was an exemplary leader in many respects.

Take this quote for example: "A slender acquaintance with the world must convince every man that actions, not words, are the true criterion of the attachment of friends."

Washington had it right. Words are all well and good, but when it comes down to doing something important for your friends (like helping save the planet) what you really need to do is take some action. That's exactly what some of our friends down at Dartmouth College are planning for this November 3rd. This summer, they carried a canoe up to the summit of Mt. Washington in New Hampshire and took a picture with a banner that read: "What Would Washington Do? Cut Carbon 80% by 2050!"

For Step It Up 2, they're planning on summiting Mt. Washington again - this time to send a message to our politicians along with tens of thousands of others around the country: it's time for real leadership on global warming.

We're excited to hear about actions that are already being planned around the country for Step It Up 2. Keep 'em coming! And remember, as Washington said, actions speak louder than words.

Check out this great action being planned by Jim Warren, a professor, and some other folks at Washington and Lee University in Virginia, a school named after two of our most significant political leaders. Thanks to these organizers for coming up with a great idea right off the bat.

Dear Friend,

There are occasional moments in history when we desperately need leadership, and this is one of them. If we?re going to deal with global warming, then we need to go beyond politicians who say the right words and find champions who will actually do the tough work to transform our energy economy.

And you could play a key role in bringing those leaders to the fore. This is an invitation to take one Saturday this fall and use it to build a movement, a movement strong enough to finally put this issue on the table where it can no longer be ignored.

Here?s the idea. On November 3, a year before the next election, we?re asking people to organize rallies large and small in their communities. Each one should take place in some spot that commemorates great leaders of the past. People have already committed to climbing New Hampshire's Mt. Washington and gathering in Chicago's Lincoln Park. Others will gather at the Rhode Island church where John F. Kennedy was married, or in front of a site honoring Navajo elder and activist Roberta Blackgoat. But we need hundreds more, gatherings in places that bear the names of national leaders or of locally celebrated men and women who did the right thing in a moment of great need. You?ll know the person that makes sense in your city or town?they don't need to be saints, just true leaders, the kind who, faced with the great issues of their day, didn't punt or compromise.
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