Just a couple of items to add about this year’s Blog Action Day 09 — in addition to Cathryn Wellner’s wonderful guest entry. One of these is related to storytelling; the other not so much:

1. Another story-based initiative regarding global warming is the online anthology, Thoreau’s Legacy: American Stories about Global Warming. From the site:

   This new anthology from the Union of Concerned Scientists and Penguin Classics brings together established writers and fresh voices to inspire us with personal stories and reflections on global warming.

   Following in a uniquely American tradition of environmental writing begun by Henry David Thoreau and continued by great writers from Rachel Carson to E. O. Wilson, Thoreau’s Legacy enhances our appreciation of the world around us and galvanizes support to preserve it for future generations. The 67 pieces of writing and art in the anthology are drawn from nearly 1,000 submissions about beloved places, animals, plants, people, and activities at risk from a changing climate and the efforts that individuals are making to save what they love. A foreword on global warming by the well-known author Barbara Kingsolver helps to set the context.

   

   Readers can launch the interactive book to read the anthology or explore the site to learn about the hardcover and e-book versions and what individuals can do to help address climate change.

2. There’s a way to do more than write or read blog entries about climate change. Blog Action Day has partnered with Al Gore’s group the Alliance for Climate Protection to start a global online action addressed to the one country whose actions will most influence the future of our climate: the United States. From the Blog Action Day organizers: “Blog Action Day bloggers represent 130 countries, and climate change impacts us all. But more than that of any other country, action taken by the United States to limit greenhouse gases and build a clean energy economy is needed to achieve a sustainable solution to our global climate crisis. Add your voice and call for bold action now.