Kitty Welch of Fort Atkinson, WI describes her Step It Up action on this upcoming Saturday.  The event is the kickoff for a four week version of the group’s own ‘Atkinson Diet’ based on shedding carbon pounds of the community’s waste-line.  It’s incredibly exciting for us as organizers to see examples of April 14th actions using the Step It Up day to jump into community organizing around global warming.  Good luck Kitty and all in Fort Atkinson!

Fort Atkinson’s Step it Up madness began Monday with silkscreening t-shirts (purchased at a local Goodwill) and banners through the not-fair though freely-offered labor of volunteers Cynthia Holt, Eric Stein and Jeremy Pinc.
 
The Step It Up event itself is relatively simple- a gathering along our picturesque flooded-in-parts riverwalk, which is within view of our Main Street’s bridge, and a parade via sidewalk and bike path to a nearby park for a picnic and attendant fun.
 
It is also the kick-off event for our local campaign in response to global warming- the Atkinson diet, which has a green-built home at www.theatkinsondiet.com. Our citizens’ group, Heart of the City, is asking the city and its residents to join us in going on a low-carbon diet to reduce energy usage.
 
On the site we have set forth a 4-week diet plan to follow, with extra tips for those who are already carbon trim, and we are urging residents (and interested non-residents) to sign up and become part of a community effort.  Our goal is to create a community conversation, and, in the long run, a community ethic, about energy conservation.  By making it a community effort, we hope to help people view the changes they make in response to the issues of global warming and environmental degradation not as sacrifices, but as beneficial steps toward building community, creating a better world, and making us healthier physically and mentally. We are urging people to share their stories with us as they make changes, and we will post them on our website.
 
There has been outreach to the surrounding communities through local people involved in the Natural Step study circles. The Natural Step movement, which began in Sweden, uses a science-based systems framework to help organizations, individuals, and communities take steps toward sustainability.
 
We are looking forward to a solid turnout of solid citizens.
Kitty Welch, Fort Atkinson, Wisconsin