[Photo by ROBERT A. JONAS
Local residents and clergy march against global warming in Boston outside Old South Church Saturday. Holders of the banner are, from left, the Rev. Kate Stevens of the First Congregational Church of Ashfield; Smith College student Ruhi Rubenstein; the Rev. Rob Hirschfeld of Grace Church in Amherst; the Rev. Fred Small of Littleton Unitarian Universalist Church; the Rev. Andrea Ayvazian of Haydenville Congregational Church; and the Rev. Ian Lynch of the First Congregational Church in Brimfield].

NORTHAMPTON - Response to a 100-mile, nine-day trek from Northampton to Boston to raise awareness about global climate change not only met organizers' expectations, it shattered them.

'It was fabulous,' said the Rev. Margaret Bullitt-Jonas, of Grace Episcopal Church in Amherst, one of the organizers of the walk. 'The numbers (of participants) were terrific, their spirits were high, there was so much enthusiasm and care and concern. We're really very pleased.'

The walk was sponsored by Religious Witness for the Earth, a group created in 2001 to bring together different religious groups and faith organizations to address the issues of climate change and global warming.

The interfaith event drew about 750 people, each of whom participated in at least some part of the walk. Further, a group of about 900 joined the group at an interfaith service at the Old South Church in Boston, and a group of about 1400 people attended a rally in Copley Square to close out the event.

The Rev. Andrea Ayvazian of the Haydenville Congregational Church, a co-organizer, was one of the 20 people who walked the entire distance with Bullitt-Jonas. Ayvazian said that waking up in Christ Church in Cambridge, where the 'through-walkers' had spent the night, and seeing hundreds of people outside ready to walk the final leg into Boston with them were the personal highlights of her journey.

Beginning the final stretch of the walk from Christ Church held special significance for Bullitt-Jonas, who was baptized and began her religious education there. She said that it was personally meaningful to her to incorporate that church's involvement into the event.

Ayvazian said that the walk touched both those who feel that climate change is an imminent threat and those that don't, namely 'the converted and the not-yet-converted. We've touched many lives of people who had not been focusing on this issue.'

Amplifying the voice

'If we're just preaching to the choir, then the choir needs rehearsing,' Ayvazian said. 'It needs to learn how to amplify its voice and make elected officials accountable.

Bullitt-Jonas said that the number of people who are becoming concerned about global climate change is increasing, as evidenced by the number of supporters and cheers and honks of support the walkers received from passers-by.

'We used to feel like a lone voice crying in the wilderness,' Bullitt-Jonas said. 'But, now more and more voices are joining the chorus.'

The organizers recalled many emotional high points during the walk. Bullitt-Jonas said she shared the walk from Newton into Cambridge with a 5-year-old boy, whom she had never met before, but who took her hand and 'came out of nowhere and walked right into my heart.'

'One reason I walk and want to stop climate change is that I love my grandchildren and want to give them some semblance of the beautiful world that I was born into,' said Bullitt-Jonas.

Ayvazian, co-chairwoman of the sponsoring group, said that she remembers the sense of community that all of the walkers felt, especially so for those who made the whole journey from Northampton to Boston. They ate, talked, slept and worshipped together over the course of nine days, she said.

'That mobile community was intense and powerful and I will never forget it,' Ayvazian said. '(The walk) was one of the most important and significant things I have ever done.'

Instead of being exhausted after nine days and 100 miles by foot and then a return trip home, Ayvazian said she was exhilarated.

'I woke up at 3 a.m. and wrote a sermon for my 10 a.m. (Sunday) service,' she said. 'I said to my congregation, 'On this walk, I felt led by the spirit and carried by their prayers.'

Bullitt-Jonas said that she hopes the walk and the heightened awareness about climate change will be the beginning of a change in attitude toward the issue.

'Slowing climate change is the great challenge of our generation,' she said. 'Religious movements have the power to change history.'

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