John Kerry and Teresa Heinz Kerry in Pittsburgh (photos) [View All]

[globalvillage]

This Moment in Pittsburgh

I was thrilled to be able to attend John Kerry and Teresa Heinz Kerry's book signing today at the Waterworks Barnes and Noble just outside of Pittsburgh.

The bloggers had a chance for a brief meeting with the Senator and Teresa in a store room in the back of the B&N. I wasn't the least bit surprised that the Senator offered the only three chairs in the room to Teresa and the two women bloggers in the group, and made do with a cardboard box. The conversation was as informal as the setting, as the Senator answered a question from one of the bloggers about how to deal with pseudo science and climate change deniers. Senator Kerry noted that the real science around climate change is peer reviewed and that anything put out by the flat earthers isn't. When Inhofe's name was called out by someone in the group, the Senator referred to him as the "leader of the Flat Earth Conference".

Sadly, there's no good way to sequester what Inhofe spews, so voting him out of office is about the only solution.

Senator Kerry laid out three practical first steps for addressing environmental issues:

Energy efficiency/conservation
Alternative and renewable fuels
Clean Coal technology that utilizes sequestration

The last of those three steps led to a discussion with Teresa about the recent study that ranked Pittsburgh second to last in air quality, just before LA. To tell the truth, when I heard that study I was shocked. But Teresa said Pennsylvania is like a black hole when it comes to laws regarding pollution from coal fired energy generation.

After our chat with the Kerrys, we made our way to the seating area, where B&N had set up a special area for bloggers.
The Senator led off with a story about riding his bike on the very hilly terrain of Western PA this morning, which is significantly more difficult than Boston or DC. He told the crowd that he was thinking of calling "This Moment on Earth" "Harry Potter and the Environment" to boost sales, and he got a great reaction from the crowd when he told them the book was made from recycled Alberto Gonzales emails.



Ice broken, the Senator told the gathering that proceeds from the book sales will benefit the Pennsylvania Environmental Council, the Silent Spring Institute and 'Save the Harbor Save the Bay'.



Senator Kerry and Teresa discussed the book for a short while before taking questions. The Senator said that he feels the best chapter in the book is the one Teresa wrote on toxins. They both explained that the book is optimistic, and although it may make the reader angry at first, there are solutions to the problems we face. He said that the people in the book like Rick Dove and Tweeti Blancett are fighting to protect their surroundings, and although they may not think of themselves as 'environmentalists', they are making a difference.



Before moving on to Q&A, the Senator told the crowd of recent meetings he's had with major corporations who are interested in reducing the effects of climate change, and said that he will soon make a trip to China (where they are building coal fired plants at a rate of one per week) to discuss cleaner technologies involving sequestration.

For the Q&A, the Senator and THK moved to the middle of the room, where the sheer volume of titles in the Romance section caught the Senator's attention. He said perhaps they wrote the wrong book and read a few titles to the crowd.



It was a lighthearted moment followed by some very serious discussion of toxins and the effect on children. One mom in the crowd relayed a story to the Senator of her daughter's health condition, 'Multiple Chemical Sensitivity',that was brought on by toxins used in her school. The Senator took her contact information and said that we need to urge our schools to use green cleaning products to protect our children's health.



The Senator was asked a question from a Brazilian woman about the impact of the destruction of the rain forests on climate change. The Senator explained that we need to be cautious of the rush to ethanol, and that we have to consider all the potential impacts on the environment and the food supply, and that cellulosic fuels are a better option.



The Q&A ended with the Senator's statement that we "spend a lot of time exporting democracy, we have to make democracy work here at home", and that we should not put anyone in office who has not been held accountable for their position on the environment.

I wish I was a good judge of crowd numbers, I am not. I can say that the line of people waiting to get their copies of "This Moment on Earth" seemed to go on forever. I was able to catch a good bit of conversation between the audience and the Senator and Teresa during the signing. Lots of stories were exchanged, and 'thank you's from both the Kerrys and those who had come to meet them and discuss their book.



It was a very special moment in Pittsburgh. Our thanks to John and Teresa for their leadership and for their wonderful book.

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