Going Green with Al in DC on July 7

In summer, Washington, DC, is a sultry swamp of heat and humidity. Those of us who live here are used to it.

Well, sort of.

After all these years, I still run in to air-conditioned buildings to cool off. And I have bandanas in the freezer to tie around my neck if I'm heading out for a walk that's farther than the mailbox.

As a rule, we turn out in droves with coolers of ice and lemonade to enjoy 4th of July fireworks on the National Mall, local parades, and family picnics in Rock Creek Park.

But what we as a community do best is attend marches, especially for a good cause. And let's face it, the ground we're standing on and the air we're breathing are as good as you can find these days when it comes to causes.

So the news that Al Gore and his "Live Earth" friends plan to kick off Saturday's global green celebration near the Capitol is excellent!

That's this Saturday, 07/07/07, at 10 am. Al Gore, Trish Yearwood, Garth Brooks, and many many bands including Blues Nation. All on the grounds of the Smithsonian's National Museum of the American Indian at 4th and Independence, S.W.

See you there! I'll be the old lady in the beenie copter looking for the bathroom.

* * * *

My first march in DC was back in 1967. I was an 18-year-old undergraduate at George Washington University studying journalism, anthropology, and English Lit.

And spending most of my free time at Montrose Park or behind Dumbarton Oaks looking at the clouds and collecting flowers.

Ah, the 60s. Those were the days when a march was a march was a march. Trash cans on fire (some of us), guns with bayonets (not us), nightsticks (not us), and tear gas, don't forget the tear gas (definitely not us).

At the end of one march, my housemates and I were back home at 20th & O near Dupont Circle with wet washcloths over our faces to help block the tear gas from our eyes.

But our cat, Lewis Cheese, poor thing, passed out in the hall closet from the fumes.

If we're lucky none of that will happen tomorrow.

Especially if all 2 billion people planning to celebrate stay at their own events in Rio, Shanghai, Sydney, London, and Tokyo, and don't try to travel here.

What's different on the planet now is the sheer number of people -- three times as many human beings on the earth now as there were back then -- all needing food, water, shelter, and gasoline . . .

But if we're going green, maybe not so much gasoline. I wonder, though, how many of us will take the Metro or walk down to the concert in the 95-degree heat.

Probably not me . . .