Our "Underwater Tour of Downtown Santa Cruz in 2112" was a great success. At least 50 people turned out to march through downtown, showing solidarity for a strong Climate Action Plan in Santa Cruz. We dressed in giant sea anemone costumes, masks and snorkels, and bathing trunks. We saw amazing sights, like Fred Keeley "paddling" a real boat down Pacific Avenue, a real estate agent (Micah Posner in a business suit) of the future selling dock space in the downtown area, a Farmer Lorax reading Dr. Seuss transformed to a plea to protect the farmer's market, and more.
We were led by a trombone player and drummer playing "We all Live in a Yellow Submarine," until we ended up at India Joze and encountered the future Ross Clark (City Climate Action Plan coordinator) with a long beard, sadly bemoaning the disaster that had come about because of the lack of climate action. Then India Joe provided a mess o' free food for the happy marchers.
Finally, some of us walked to the City Council meeting to let Council members know how important real climate action is to us. Funny how a piece of street theater focused on possible future disaster can be so heartening. I think it's because we broke the isolation of thinking about this scary topic alone, we took action together, and we didn't take ourselves (or the issue) too seriously to get into a silly costume and march down the street.
Many thanks to Micah, Jeff Caplan, Tawn Kennedy, and all the others that made this event a great success. See you at the next one!