A warm and sunny day, so I could wear my t-shirt “No warships: Green Jobs: Demilitarize.ca”.

I had rushed to my protest from my sons’ elementary school. I have been busy there helping the young students plant flowers in their new butterfly beds. Children love to garden. It is so easy to engage them outdoors planting, digging and watering.

One of the Irving employees who I have often seen running on his lunch break stood beside me at the crosswalk. I said hello. He asked me how my Bluenose Marathon went. Before the marathon, he was the only person that I had told that I was going to run it in my protest t-shirt. I figured our mutual interest in running would break the ice between us a bit. He asked about my time. I told him I ran it slowly at 4:18, but that I ran the whole way. I found the course very hilly and windy. I asked him about his running. He said he wanted to do the Boston Marathon and had to qualify for it. It was the first time that we talked.

Kelly came back. “Long time no see,” she said smiling as she joined me to protest.

It was nice to catch up with her. I told her about the environmental projects at my sons’ elementary school. She likes gardening and environmental education as well. She told me more about all the initiatives that she is involved in – St. Margaret’s Bay Transition project, Sierra Club, and the Ecology Action Centre. I discovered that she is the Coastal Issues Committee Coordinator at the EAC. That committee does such good water and coastal work!

I showed her my new sign “Sonars and explosives are bad for marine life. Protect our oceans. No warships.” and we talked about all the ways that warships are not good for the oceans.

Toward the end of our protest, a member of the navy walked up to us. He said, “I support what you are doing – we need people to be passionate about things.”

Then quite a few navy personnel walked by and one asked what we were doing. We told them about the weekly protest and encouraged them to check out the web site: www.demilitarize.ca

At 1:00 p.m., I had to rush back to the school to watch a play.

Because of Kelly’s smile and enthusiasm, we got 23 honks and waves and 1 swear & 1 head shake.

Dedication: To the Ecology Action Centre and all its great staff and volunteers. Halifax’s oldest environmental organization. 40 years of action for the earth. There are so many ways to get involved and create positive change: Transportation, Coastal & Water, Marine, Wilderness, Food, Energy, Birds and the Build Environment. I just wish that more money was being spent by the federal and provincial governments for sustaining life not destroying it.