Introduction to the walk

For all the grandchildren -

Perhaps you've seen the flier that describes our walk; if not, check it out below. This walk is our witness and our prayer in face of the threat of global warming to our grandchildren's future. Not only our own grandchildren but all the grandchildren throughout the world face climate changes that could bring about storms and floods, droughts and fires, shortages of water and food, loss of habitat and homes, violence and combat. 

As of today, December 13, 2008, two of us plan to go on the walk from Galveston, Texas, to Rouses Point, NY: Jaqi, who will drive the support van, and Greta, who hopes to walk all of the 1,750 miles. A third potential participant, Adrienne, awaits a decision according to how circumstances play out. Greta's husband Guy will join us along the way when work permits. We expect others to walk with us for part or all of the way. We would welcome a secondary driver so that Jaqi could walk some.

We plan to start from Galveston in the second week of March, walking first along the coast and inland to New Orleans. From there we will follow Route 11 through Louisiana, Mississippi, Tennessee, Virginia, Maryland, Pennsylvania and New York, ending on the border with Canada at Rouses Point. We hope to talk to people along the way, hand out information, conduct large walks through the cities, and speak to any audiences that will have us. Even when none of that happens, we will walk in the spirit of witness and prayer.

Our support van will provide us with an office, a kitchen and a place to sleep. Additional walkers should plan to bring their own tents and some money for food, as well as enough money to return home. Along the way we will accept offers of lodging and meals, or just a place to park our van, as long as we don't need to go more than a few miles from our route. We will also accept donations for gas, printing and other expenses incurred along the way.

Some will question the use of a gas-guzzling vehicle, and we share this concern. Indeed it seems like a contradiction as we celebrate walking and ask our fellow Americans to drive less. We believe that the support, flexibility and safety provided by the van will end up enhancing the goals of the walk, and Jaqi would be unable to accompany Greta without the vehicle. To make our trip as sustainable as possible we hope to set the van up with one or two solar panels and take along a solar oven for some of our cooking. 

Here's the text from our flier:

We will walk because we want to do whatever we can to make this world safe for our grandchildren. We believe that global warming is one of the greatest threats to life on this planet, with the potential to cause immense suffering to the generations that follow ours: to our children and especially our grandchildren and great-grandchildren.

We believe we must cooperate with all efforts around the world to reduce the effects of global warming. We must do our share to reduce carbon emissions by changing our individual consumption patterns, and by enacting and enforcing legislation that will drastically decrease our national output of greenhouse gases.

We are walking to call attention to global warming, and hopefully to inspire people along the way to do whatever they can to fight this danger. We are not scientists or environmental experts. We are grandmothers (and grandfathers, mothers, fathers, aunts, uncles, neighbors, teachers ...), concerned citizens who love the earth and its creatures. We hope that large numbers of Americans are ready to join in this challenge to change our ways.

What exactly do we need to do? Our success will lie in a combination of good individual efforts, good laws, and good inventions.

It is our belief that the most effective solutions are those that can be mandated by the Government. We know that it is part of the American spirit to resist big government, but it is also part of our spirit to rise to big challenges. This is an extraordinary time when we must demand that our government set radical goals and we must be ready to take on those mandates as our own. So we are walking to urge you to rise to the challenge and act boldly for the sake of all the grandchildren.

You can contact us at greta_browne@hotmail.com.