The Political Climate: an ongoing commentary on the NH Primary and Climate Change

John McCain kicked off his ‘No Surrender’ rallies yesterday in East Rochester before heading west to Franklin and Concord.  The McCain campaign is holding ’No Surrender’ rallies in VFW and American Legion posts around the state to defend the ’surge’ in Iraq and show support for the troops by collecting care packages at the door.  Not surprisingly there was little talk of anything else in Rochester and Concord other than military action and the Iraq war.

McCain did not draw the parallel between our nation’s addiction to fossil fuels and our involvement in the Middle East, a favorite theme of Republican and Democratic candidates alike.  We hope to see Senator McCain again in the granite state, especially at the Clean Air-Cool Planet Global Warming & Energy Solutions conference scheduled for October 12-13 in Manchester.

The upcoming Global Warming & Energy Solutions conference is the major climate event in NH on the road to the primary, but there are other opportunities to learn about local solutions to climate change in the near future.  This Sunday the Greener Hopkinton’s ECO-FAIR at Hopkinton High School will take place from 2-4pm. 

Jim MerKel will give the keynote address for the first hour of the event.  Merkel is the author of Radical Simplicity: Small Footprints on a Finite Earth and will speak on sustainable living in the United States.  Various eco-friendly exhibitors, including the Carbon Coalition, will be sharing their ideas, actions, and products for the second hour of the eco-fair.  The event is free and open to the public.