Wellington resident Kathe Thompson will set out from Los Angeles to walk 2,980 miles across American, to Washington, D.C., on the Great March for Climate Action to inspire the general public and elected officials to address the climate crisis. It will be the largest coast-to-coast march in U.S. history.
Marchers will walk 14 to 15 miles per day and camp nearly every night. Bill McKibben, director of 350.org, a movement dedicated to solving the climate crisis, endorsed the March. “350.org was born in a march of a thousand people across Vermont,” he said. “It always does our hearts good to see others on the move.”
Thompson, a retired school teacher, said she was a “late bloomer” to climate change. It was her hikes along the Appalachian Trail that really solidified her dedication to the cause. “I joined the march to motivate the American public and its decision-makers into action,” she said. “To focus the American energy and innovation on answers that will define the future of those I love. I no longer want to be a ‘small’ voice in the wilderness, but one voice among a thousand voices calling on America to join us and take action now on Climate Change.”
Thompson also spends her time as a co-chair of the Palm Beach County League of Women Voters Climate Change Working Group.
“We are thrilled that Kathe is willing to make the commitment to march across America for this cause,” said Ed Fallon, founder and director of the Great March for Climate Action as well as a talk show host and former Iowa lawmaker. “Not only will we march side by side for eight months, but we’ll learn how to live together, work together and communicate the urgency of our message to the people we meet as we travel across the country. It is time to step forward for our planet, and our future.”
The diversity of individuals who have signed up to march is impressive, according to marcher director Zach Heffernen. “They range in age from 9 to 82 and originate from all across the United States and North America.”
The march will start in Los Angeles on March 1, 2014, reach Phoenix in early April 2014, Denver in early June, Omaha in late July, Chicago in early September, Pittsburgh in October and Washington, D.C., on Nov. 1, 2014.
“I want to be a part of the educating, informing and advocating step of the issue, but with the intention of moving all who hear to action,” Thompson said.
The Great March for Climate Action is a nonprofit organization. The goal of the march is to urge the American people and people across the world into acting now to address the climate crisis.
ABOVE: Kathe Thompson
