Harriet Sugarman, a policy analyst and economist, is the Founder and Executive Director of Climate Mama which, according to its website, is:
…about the facts, about getting the straight scoop, about understanding Climate Change and Global Warming. We want to help you make the connections – to understand how you, your family, your friends and your community are impacting and changing our climate. Then, we want to show you what you can do to make your hectic, harried life more sustainable, for you, for your children AND for the world we live in. We will offer you simple, straight forward, and easy to understand ways to combat climate change as well as easy to implement options to reduce your carbon footprint! We want to make it simple for you, as a Mama and Papa, to understand that climate change is a part of your life. We at Climate Mama, like you, have enough day to day issues in our lives just managing the craziness of our families, our careers, our busy 21st century lives…so we aren’t surprised or disappointed if you ask why climate change should matter to you and if you question what you, as an individual can really do that will make a difference to affect this global challenge.
Harriet is also a New Jersey mom who happens to be originally from Alberta, Canada. Harriet chose to participate in this week’s Stop the Pipeline action in front of the White House in Washington, D.C. and was one of the nearly 300 people arrested so far this week in the largest civil disobedience action in the American environmental movement’s recent history.
In the video below, Harriet talks about why she felt she needed to be in Washington this week. She took a stand for a clean energy future for her, and all our children, even though risking arrest was a difficult decision to make:
My family in Alberta is not too keen on me getting arrested down here for this..It’s a very difficult road to cross. I think that my children will be proud of me some day. I don’t want them to look back in twenty years, because if we don’t do anything, all of our children are going to be looking back at us and saying, what were you doing, why were you asleep at the wheel?…I’m doing this for them.
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3wZ7ewYa3rY&feature=youtu.be&a]
More links:
Read more about Harriet’s experience on Climate Mama: Why A Bra Makes A Good Purse In Times of Imminent Arrest: The Tar Sands Action
To find out how to send a message of support for the brave folks sitting in at the White House this week and next, go to 350.org.
For the latest news on the tar sands action, and to find out how to donate, go to Tar Sands Action.org