MANCHESTER, N.H. (Jan. 5) — Santa Claus. A polar bear. The Statue of Liberty. Oh, and then there’s the snowman.
Their cause? Stopping global warming.
“It doesn’t just go away,” said Zo Tobi, a volunteer with the Carbon Coalition who sometimes dresses up as the snowman to make the point about the dangers of global warming. “The main goal is to show the candidates that people in New Hampshire want to see something happen.”
Tobi and several other Clark University students came to New Hampshire to volunteer for the Carbon Coalition and League of Conservation Voters before the nation’s first presidential primary on Tuesday. The students spend their time making buttons, handing out stickers, dressing up in the costumes at public events.
For Miranda Gerzon, another Clark student, the trip to New Hampshire is also a way to get an education in politics and the candidates’ stands. “I don’t think all of them have the perfect answer. I hope by the end of this I have a much better idea of what they stand for.”
Volunteering for the Carbon Coalition is important, Gerzon said, because she wants to take the education she’s gained in New Hampshire and take it back to the Worcester community. The Clark Sustainability Initiative, a global warming prevention group at Clark, looks to work with the university to reduce carbon emissions on campus. The group also looks to do the same with the public schools in Worcester, Gerzon said.
Jeff Desmarais, a junior in international development at Clark, expressed satisfaction that at least one candidate — Arizona Sen. John McCain — was paying attention to the issue and the students. For example, when John McCain was running for president in 2000, people kept asking him about his stance on global warming and he didn’t have an answer, Desmarais said. Friday night at McCain’s rally, global warming was one of the first things of which he spoke.
“The candidates are addressing our issues,” said Desmarais. “It’s really amazing that we have such a presence.”
Also trekking from Massachusetts to New Hampshire for the primary were 50 activists from New Bedford, Mass. They rode on a bus up to Manchester Saturday to rally with the Carbon Coalition and watch the debates. The men, women and children heard about the Coalition through an e-mail and decided to join in the rally, said Chuck Smiler, of New Bedford, Mass.
Spreading awareness of global warming prevention is one of his biggest goals for the trip, Smiler said. The New Bedford activists also wanted to enjoy the excitement of the primary and make new friends. “We’re just here,” Smiler said, “to make some noise about global warming.”
For his part, Tobi — who sometimes plays the snowman — warns that global warming affects much of the planet. For example, he said, maple trees at the southern end of the state no longer produce maple syrup because of the weather. Extreme weather changes also affect the skiing resorts, he said.
“For us global warming is not just about the polar bears,” Tobi, a Lyndeboro, N.H. native, said. “It’s not a Democratic issue. It’s not a Republican issue. It’s a world issue.”
(Laura Van Wert, a newspaper major, is covering the New Hampshire presidential primary for the Telegram & Gazette in Worcester, Mass.)
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