Plaza and pinot

A few weeks ago, on the run-up to the U.N. climate talks in Paris, about 250 locals marched downtown in solidarity, calling on our government to take substantive efforts to curb climate change. This Saturday (Dec. 12), the day after the closing of the conference on the most urgent issue of our lifetime, let's double that number. Heck, why not triple it?

Butte Environmental Council and Chico 350, the new local advocacy group affiliated with 350.org, are organizing a rally at Chico City Plaza. The High Noon for the Planet event will have speakers, music, activities and, most important, info on solutions to mitigate the atmospheric carbon emissions that are wreaking havoc on our world.

Last year was the hottest on record, and this year stands to break that record. The effects of global warming are already significant. Oceans are acidifying, the polar ice caps are melting, sea levels are rising, and extreme weather, including extended drought, is taking a toll on agriculture, jeopardizing our water and, subsequently, food supplies.

These are consequences of our own making and what's truly scary is that, despite consensus from the world's leading scientists about the severity of climate change, our representatives have not found the will to address it. They are doing little to nothing and we have been complicit by keeping them in office.

To put it another way, we are destroying our beautiful planet. We're ruining it in our short lifetimes and we're screwing over future generations—our own relatives—by bequeathing to them a home where life is harder. Let that sink in a little. How many of us have parents or grandparents who were old enough to suffer through the Great Depression? Think about the sacrifices they made to make our lives better. What sacrifices are we willing to make for our children and grandchildren and so on and so forth?

Let's flood City Plaza at noon on Saturday. I'll see you there.

Now that you have weekend plans, you might as well pencil in another cause. Next Thursday (Dec. 17), Chico News & Review Foundation will be the beneficiary of a wine-tasting fundraiser out at the Bidwell Bar & Grill at Bidwell Golf Course. Each month, CN&R and Chico's Grocery Outlet, in collaboration with the golf course, sponsor a different nonprofit. The effort has raised money for dozens of worthy organizations over the past couple of years.

I'll be there this time around, helping collect donations and answering questions about the foundation. The event goes from 5-7 p.m. and costs $5. Every dollar will go to our account at the North Valley Community Foundation and eventually to a reporter hired to do in-depth enterprise and investigative reporting on complex issues that affect our communities.

We are working against the clock to raise $25,000 because an angel donor has agreed to chip in an additional $10,000 should we meet that goal by the end of this year. Any amount helps. Make a tax-deductible donation at nvcf.org/fund/chico-news-review-foundation or write a check payable to NVCF/CN&R Foundation and mail it to: North Valley Community Foundation, 240 Main St., Ste. 260, Chico, CA 95928.

Or, come drink wine with me and other CN&R staffers this coming Thursday.