Rose Monahan
Rose is fasting with CJF as part of the Greenpeace Organizing Term Rolling Fast.
"My name's Rose Monahan; I'm from a really small town called Belle Vernon outside Pittsburgh, PA. I grew up in the ghost towns left over after the steel mills closed down. The areas around Belle Vernon have been cited as some of the most polluted in the United States. So I didn't exactly grow up with people that were overly concerned with sustainability.
Throughout middle school and high school I was mildly interested in protecting the environment--recycling, eco-totes, etc--mostly through the influence of my older sister. Last summer, I worked for Grassroots Campaigns, Inc. in Berkeley, CA, and that is where I can officially say I became a hippie. I worked for people who were dedicated to changing the world to the point of working 70, 80 hours a week because they believed in the cause.
I came home and just knew I could no longer be passive about what I consider the most pressing problem in the world today: global warming. On a whim, I applied to be a campus coordinator with Greenpeace. The rest simply fell into place. Once I opened the door with Greenpeace, I got connected with environmental groups at Penn State that then led me to a Sierra Club campaign focused on shutting down coal plants on college campuses.
Working to save the environment is without a doubt a huge, intimidating, sometimes impossible seeming endeavor. But I cannot walk away from the situation because it is hard. I cannot close my eyes and pretend it's not there. Every choice we make can help or hurt the world around us. We need to start making the right decisions. That is why I have decided to participate in the Climate Justice Fast. As a symbolic gesture to our world's governments, I will fast for strong climate legislation in Copenhagen, for those that will be most effected by the consequences of global warming, for myself and my own commitment to change."
