We wanted to bring everyone together tonight, because tomorrow at 9 in the morning, dozens of us are going to leave Nashua's City Hall on foot, bound for Concord. After that, hundreds from all walks of life - young, old, conservative, progressive – will join us, clearing the way for a rally on the State House lawn on Sunday, August 5 at noon. By the time we get there, we’ll meet up with thousands of Granite Staters, and make one of the largest, loudest calls in US history for real global warming solutions.

These folks leaving Nashua tomorrow are leading the charge, so we wanted to wish them well the only way we know how: free food, live music, and good people.

So why are we really here? Do we just want real global warming solutions? Are we just here to talk about 80% cuts in carbon by 2050 – 2% a year? Are we just asking for millions of new clean energy jobs, and leaving it at that?

I think there’s something more going on. I think we’re here because when we look at how bad things can get, we also get the chance to imagine something completely new. I think that deep down we’re full of hope, and full of vision – I think that we can see a better world on the way, and just maybe, we might be part of a great change that’s happening before our eyes.

My name is Zo Tobi. I grew up on Cheyenne Drive, right off of Broad Street on Exit 6. My mom’s father was one of the only ones in his family to survive the Holocaust; freedom, for my mother’s family, was not a gift to be taken lightly. My dad grew up in a poor family in Jerusalem; he knew what kind of life he wanted for my sister Maya and me because he’d felt for himself what poverty does to the soul. When I was growing up, my parents worked as hard as they could, every single day, to make a better life possible for Maya and me.

I was lucky to be raised with enough food on my plate every day, and more than enough love in my life. I remember my dad telling me, “Zo, you can do anything you want in this world and I’m going to support you, just as long as it makes you happy.” Neither of my parents ever told me what happiness had to look like; instead, they urged me to just keep doors open, and work hard in whatever I did, so I could go into the world with nothing holding me back.
What a thing, to go into the world to seek your own joy, with nothing holding you back.

I am the descendant of slaves. Every Passover, we tell the story again, “Avadim hayinu, hayinu…Ata, b'nei chorin, b’neir chorin.” We were slaves, we say each year – and now we are free. Now we are free.
For me, being Jewish connects me deeply to being American. As Americans we all owe our freedom to those who had to fight for their own. Every July 4th, we honor our own unique and world-changing Exodus.

What makes me proud to be my parents’ son…what makes me proud to be Jewish, and what makes me proud to be American – is that we understand that the opportunity to pursue one’s own happiness is a sacred privilege, and a serious responsibility. We know that when the freedom of others is threatened, we can only be so far removed from their struggle.

This is our duty. When we decide to honor those highest values we all hold in common, we find ourselves compelled to make the world a place where those willing to work hard can seek their own joy, with nothing holding them back.

That’s the New Hampshire that I grew up in. That’s the America I believe in. And that’s the world that we’re here to build.

So many movements throughout our nation’s history have sought nothing more than to more perfectly realize the American vision, of freedom, opportunity, and justice for all. Women, fighting for the right to vote. African Americans, fighting for equal rights in and out of the voting booth. Those oppressed and discriminated against, still today, are struggling to make America the great nation it could become.

Our struggle is theirs. Our work to stop global warming and to build a new economy is part of a greater lineage. Our work is not the ownership of anyone running for office, or any political party that’s trying to put them there – it belongs to all those who have come before us, who have given their time and often their lives, for a more peaceful, free, and just world.

When we talk about global warming, we know what could lie ahead. The scientific community has never in history reached such a degree of consensus on a matter of objective fact: if we want to avoid breakdown of major ecological systems on which our human civilization depends, we need to peak our carbon emissions in the next ten years, and cut them 80% by 2050.

What would it actually mean to continue with business as usual? Our best research warns that it will cost us one fifth of our global wealth to deal with the consequences of global warming. Meanwhile, the poorest of the poor across the world, all those people already just struggling to survive, will grow even further from ever knowing the kind of opportunities I’ve known.

Here in New Hampshire, we’re already feeling the effects of global warming on our skiing, our maple syrup, our autumn foliage, our tourism…and on that perfect motion of the seasons that distinguishes us as New Englanders, and our lives as New England lives.

Across our country, our addiction to fossil fuels is sickening our children, threatening our national security, lessening our energy security & independence, and diminishing our competitive economic advantage.

This isn’t the America that I believe in. And it’s not the New Hampshire I grew up in if we stand by and let it happen.

So what do we do? I say we work to honor the values we all hold in common. We are all under one sky – we all share in the gifts of a stable climate. And we all stand to benefit from building a society – one society – in which those willing to work hard have the chance to share in common prosperity. When we talk about real solutions to global warming, this is what we mean. This is the world we are working to create.

Can you imagine it? A stable climate...a strong, clean energy economy that benefits all of us...a better world. Can you see it?

Can we do it? Can we enact real global warming solutions, create real wealth in America, and make this world the kind of place we’d be proud to leave to our children?

Yes, we can. We're in the right place, at the right time...and we're the right ones to make it happen.

Look around you. Look at all of us. This is the Granite State at its best. This is the New Hampshire I believe in.

We’re first in the nation in many ways, and for good reason: When something has to get done, we don't just wait around for someone else to do it for us. That's the message our leaders at all levels need to hear from us, right now.

Everyone has a role to play in creating the future we envision. We can make change in our own lives, our communities, our businesses, and our state. But our actions need to match the scale of the challenge that global warming presents: we need national leadership to step it up.

Right now, the Granite State is holding the national megaphone. Everybody is paying attention to what we say, and what we do. That is why we have a special privilege - and responsibility - to speak at this crucial, historic moment.

That’s why I’m calling on you now. All of you. I’m calling on all of you, who have received great gifts in your time, who have food on your plates, and love in your lives. All of you who believe in freedom, opportunity, and justice for all: Become a part of this call for real global warming solutions! Walk with us. For just an hour, a day, or all five days, starting tomorrow as we make our way up to Concord. Join us this Sunday at noon on the State House lawn, and remind the country what makes New Hampshire great.