Vigil For Survival – New Bedford Joins the World in Lighting Candles of Hope


photograph by Kevin Trimmer

For Immediate Release: December 4, 2009
Contact: Jennifer Marshall, 508-493-4343, jmarshall@seeal.org

NEW BEDFORD - A grassroots candlelight vigil to encourage the City to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and help combat climate change is scheduled for 4:30 to 5:30 p.m. Friday, Dec. 11, in front of City Hall on William Street.

The vigil will follow New Bedford’s 350 Climate Rally on Oct. 24 during the Bioneers by the Bay Conference. According to vigil organizer Jennifer Marshall, nearly 400 people gathered in the middle of downtown New Bedford for that rally, and came up with a petition that challenged politicians to adopt climate solutions in local communities, and to protect life on earth by reaching a binding international climate agreement. Mayor Scott Lang visited the rally.

“This time, we wish to bring the event to him and his team,” Ms. Marshall said. “We’ll present our petition from Oct. 24 in the hope of engaging the Mayor in plans to reduce the City’s greenhouse gas emissions and help combat climate change.”
President Obama will be attending the United Nations Climate Change Conference in Copenhagen this week. The vigil’s organizers support this major step for the U.S. here in New Bedford, and hope to become part of this global climate mobilization. People will gather in countries around the world Friday night, during the Copenhagen conference, to promote the collective message, organized by 350.org,"The World Wants a Real Deal," and are demanding a binding global climate agreement guided by latest science, and built upon principles of justice and equity.

“We will gather to light lanterns or candles, in solemn solidarity with the citizens of those nations who will be first to face the challenge, to their very survival, posed by climate change,” says Bill McKibben, of 350.org. “In a very real sense, the short-term survival of many nations, and the long-term health of the whole planet, rests in the hands of Obama and the United States Senate. Our courage--or lack of it--will help set the future of the planet for geologic time. The candles we will light are candles of hope.”

Register for the event at www.350.org, or for more information, contact Jennifer Marshall, at jmarshall@seeal.org.