Occasionally we meet some real CLIMATE HEROES.
We'd like to highlight them and take inspiration from their efforts.

Meet Portsmouth's Melissa Paly, Bill Rogers, and Peter Vandermark

While climate change is a global problem requiring international cooperation and mitigation efforts, it is also a local problem with local impacts that need local solutions. New England's climate IS changing, with very pronounced impacts on our economy, environment, culture, and quality of life. Fortunately, New England is also home to some of the most innovative solutions to climate change. New Englanders are taking action at every level: in their homes, schools, towns, businesses, states, and through regional cooperative agreements, such as the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative. Documenting the amazing stories of real people taking action to address climate change is the focus of our July Climate Heroes, filmmakers Melissa Paly, Bill Rogers, and Peter Vandermark through their documentary, Now or Never.

Now or Never chronicles these stories through a series of web videos (podcasts) available on their website. Their stories have included the efforts here in New Hampshire to pass The New Hampshire Climate Change Resolution, Clean Air-Cool Planet's Global Warming and Energy Solutions conference in October 2007, and the actions of South Berwick, Maine residents to keep a small but treasured ski area open. More stories are in the queue: "The landscape of climate change efforts, projects and actions is changing so fast, it's daunting to try to keep up" said producer Melissa Paly. "We are so inspired every time we shoot a new interview; we know that by sharing these stories we can motivate others to see the possibilities in their own lives. We're constantly amazed and excited by how much is going on - it gives us reason to be hopeful."

Bill, Peter, and Melissa have all taken steps to reduce their own energy consumption and environmental impact. Melissa's family keeps their thermostat low, hangs laundry on a clothesline, grows a large garden, and has switched to CFLs and uses power strips to minimize their electricity usage. When their dishwasher and washing machine needed to be replaced they selected energy efficient appliances, recognizing that the higher initial cost would be more than offset by significantly reduced energy costs over the lifetime of the appliances. Bill's family has found that curbing their gasoline consumption by combining trips hasn't been an imposition at all. "My wife wanted to get groceries and get some pieces of clothing for our daughter. My son wanted to go to the skate park. We were dropped off as the women shopped. We skated. We waited in a park. A dog came by and said hello. We all drove home together. It was not an inconvenience to share the trip. It was sharing the trip." 

We asked them if they ever got discouraged by the sheer magnitude of the scope of the climate crisis. Said Melissa: "I'm constantly battling the polarities of total despair and dogged determination.  Though the challenges are vast, I'd rather spend my energy and talents trying to make the world a little bit better than watch from the sidelines as it goes down the tubes. I hope and pray that the crises we face will force us to find more healthy, sustainable and satisfying ways of living. Don't NOT do something because you think it's not going to make a difference.  It is true that the problems we face are gargantuan and that no single change is going to make a significant difference, but if everyone starts to chip away at changes in their homes, jobs and communities, we will reach a tipping point."

Now or Never's focus on climate change solutions is a critically important element in the drive to reduce emissions and stabilize our climate. Human activities are causing our climate to change and human beings can stabilize our climate; not through futuristic technologies but rather real-world solutions that exist here and now. As Bill put it, "I still see how daunting the problem of climate change is, but I've seen the spirit of living in the solution, and it tells me that there is so much each of us can do to help ourselves."

Bill, Peter, and Melissa's inspirational stories of climate change solutions make them an easy choice as our July Climate Heroes. They are using their talents as filmmakers to help us see that the solutions to climate change are in our own backyard. Thank-you, Now or Never!

Now or Never is a production of Court Street Media in association with the Union of Concerned Scientists and Clean Air-Cool Planet. Please support Now or Never's fundraising goal as your contribution will be matched dollar for dollar (up to $2000) through the generous gift of an anonymous donor. Contributions are tax deductable and can be sent to the Coruway Film Institute, 163 Court Street Portsmouth, NH 03801.

WOULD YOU LIKE TO MEET MORE CLIMATE HEROES?

NOMINATE a CLIMATE HERO . . . do you someone who's gone to great lengths to reduce carbon emissions? . . . maybe to help an entire community to reduce carbon emissions? We want to hear about it. Send us your stories, heroic or otherwise. We'd love to hear from you. And we will ask permission before highlighting you in any way. We know that not all heroes are comfortable with this kind of attention.

TAKE THE CHALLENGE. . .