Our first post: the inspiration for Planet Southie

Welcome to Planet Southie!

We are in the midst of reading a book about global warming/climate change by Bill McKibben entitled Eaarth (yes, there are two a's). Soon after we started reading the book, we realized that we need to find other people in Southie who share our worries and hopes for our community. We can do this by connecting as neighbors and don't necessarily need to get into debates or politics about the sources of climate change. Here is a snippet about the book.

Our old familiar globe is suddenly melting, drying, acidifying, flooding, and burning in ways that no human has ever seen. We've created, in very short order, a new planet, still recognizable but fundamentally different. We may as well call it Eaarth...Our hope depends, McKibben argues, on scaling back—on building the kind of societies and economies that can hunker down, concentrate on essentials, and create the type of community (in the neighborhood, but also on the Internet) that will allow us to weather trouble on an unprecedented scale. Change—fundamental change—is our best hope on a planet suddenly and violently out of balance.

After setting up some online communication tools (website, blog, Facebook, Twitter and an email account), our first step is to meet our neighbors and put our heads together. Some ideas:

• Reach out to others in our community
• Have a meeting at the South Boston branch of the Boston Public Library (and visit the Blackthorn afterwards!). We will promote this meeting as soon as a date is set  up
• Promote the South Boston Farmer's Market (Mondays at 460 West Broadway)
• Research and promote Cooling Centers (places set up by the City of Boston for people with out air conditioning to go in a heat wave, since this is the hottest summer ever)
• Post pictures of Southie gardens to celebrate those who devote energy to growing things
• Plan an event for 10-10-10
• More (please share your ideas)

We hope to hear from you!

Stefanie and Aaron
West 2nd Street
South Boston, MA