By Sasha Williams
Larry David, co-creator of Seinfeld and current star of Curb Your Enthusiasm, claims to be one of the laziest men on the planet. That’s why he says joining the virtual march on Washington to stop global warming is perfect for people like him. “If I had to walk a block I may not have done it, but I’m always on the Internet,” he said.
Larry’s wife, environmentalist Laurie David, started the Stop Global Warming March as an easy way for people all over the country to band together to show Washington how many Americans care about the issue. To be part of the march, participants simply need access to the Internet and an e-mail address.
Laurie also chose a virtual march because the last few live marches haven’t received much attention. This time, the plan is to make a march so big that makes so much noise that no one will be able to ignore it. From the beginning, Laurie has been looking for a way to get college students involved in the march.
“I really don’t think there is an issue that is going to impact students’ lives more than global warming,” she said.
MTV Network’s college channel, mtvU, has gotten involved in this project as a participant and a promoter. “We’ve heard loud and clear from college students that global warming is an escalating crisis and a crisis that college students in particular are going to bear the brunt of as they grow into the world,” said Stephen Friedman, mtvU’s general manager.
Together, mtvU and Laurie David decided to host a sweepstakes for everyone who registers for the march. Without consulting her husband, Laurie decided marchers would automatically be eligible to win Larry’s hybrid car, a silver Toyota Prius, the same car that he drives and frequently professes his love for on Curb Your Enthusiasm. Larry said he had no idea about his involvement in the plan until his assistant asked what he was going to do without a car since his wife was giving it away.
“Yeah,” he said. “I’m upset about losing my car.”
According to the National Resources Defense Council, automobiles are the second-largest source of carbon dioxide pollution in the United States. Global warming is caused by carbon dioxide and other air pollutants that are released into the Earth’s atmosphere and then trapped there. Since they have nowhere to go, the emissions simply thicken and hold on to the sun’s heat, causing the Earth to warm.
Hybrid cars run on both a battery-powered motor and gasoline engine. They use the same type of gasoline as regular cars, but the gas lasts much longer. Hybrids do not need to be plugged in – the battery simply recharges itself as it is driven. The Environmental Protection Agency rated the 2004 Prius at 51 miles per gallon on highways and 60 miles per gallon on city roads. The purpose of the hybrid is to increase fuel efficiency, thereby decreasing the amount of carbon dioxide released.
In addition to a chance to win the hybrid, people who join the movement will receive a weekly e-mail about current effects of global warming, as well as up-to-date information on what is happening within the march. The web page offers simple suggestions for ways to curb global waming in their everyday life.
Participants will also have impact pages, where they can provide information about why they are marching and encourage their friends to join. Visitors to http://www.stopglobalwarming.org can browse through anyone’s impact page.
Familiar names on the impact page list include Walter Cronkite, Leonardo DiCaprio and Julia Louis-Dreyfus.
Big names in politics have joined as well. Senator John McCain and Bobby Kennedy helped launch the march.
“This is not a political issue,” Laurie said. “This is a moral issue.”
The march is scheduled to criss-cross the country for a year, gaining marchers day and night via the Internet. Each week the march will “stop off” in a different state, showcasing an innovative way people there are fighting global warming. The most recent stop was in Iowa, where farmers are turning cow manure into clean burning energy – and making profit, too.
The last stop will be on Earth Day, April 22, 2006, in Washington, D.C. Laurie said she is unable to release details about what will happen that day, but promises it will be exciting.
“We are going to have a lot of major things happening,” she said. The march hopes to inspire an industrial revolution of clean energy, in which the government will pass laws that reduce pollutants from cars and factories and the president will enact a plan addressing the issue of global warming.
Laurie stressed that this is a non-partisan issue. “We don’t want to get into partisan politics on this march. We are all guilty, we are all part of this problem, and we all need to solve it. That’s the goal of this march.”
To learn more about global warming or the virtual march, visit
