Weather Protest, January 6

Tubin' on the river


By DARRY MADDEN, Brattleboro Reformer Staff

Saturday, January 6



DUMMERSTON -- Unfortunately, the tubing is magnificent right now.

And while the four sign-wielding, wet-suited protesters looked to be having just a fine time floating down the West River Friday, they said they'd rather have been snowshoeing.

"We're tubing in Vermont in January!" yelled Raven Burchard of Brattleboro from his tube. "This is absurd!"

"This ain't right!" yelled Jonathan Crowell of Dummerston. "This river should be frozen!"

They were out to protest global climate change and to call attention to this season's warm winter.

This region has just experienced the eighth warmest November and the seventh warmest December on record, according to the National Weather Service. January has had an unseasonable warm start, and temperatures today could jump to 60 degrees.

Next week temperatures are supposed to be "near seasonable" said Joe Villani, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service, but "nothing frigid."

The tubing protesters estimated the water to be about 41 degrees, and it felt cold enough to keep an open jar of mayonnaise from spoiling. They got in the tubes just before the covered bridge on Route 30, floated under a banner that asked "Where's Winter?" and kept on going to the iron bridge about a mile downriver.

"We're just four individuals who are absolutely worried," said organizer and Brattleboro resident Janisse Ray.

Hopefully, they said, lawmakers will listen.

"We are totally in favor of (Senate Pro Tem) Peter Shumlin's initiative," said Ray of the Putney senator's decree that the Vermont Legislature take on global warming this session.

Shumlin commended any actions that raise awareness.

"If we continue to keep our heads in the sand on global warming, conditions are going to be unspeakably horrid for our kids and grandkids," Shumlin said Friday. "The fact that you can float a raft down the West River ought to be alarming enough."

The group pointed out that:
* Carbon emissions have increased global temperatures by over 1 degree Fahrenheit;
* Annual temperatures in Vermont have increased between 1.6 and 3 degrees;
* Vermont's tourism-based economy will suffer more than other states. Global warming will affect maple syrup production, fall foliage tourism and the ski industry;
* And scientists warn that we are at a "tipping point" where the results of climate change will be unpredictable and irreversible.

Ray recommended setting an emissions cap on automobiles, giving individuals a carbon dioxide quota and passing laws that require new construction to be energy efficient.