A "Capitol" Success!!

Project Nero's time at the state capitol was a learning experience, to say the least.  As the group began to set up in the atrium between Florida's House of Representatives and Senate chambers, we were approached by the Master of Arms; a tubby man wearing a red tie, who surprisingly didn't seem to be very keen on the idea of a protest, regardless of how peaceful it might be.  He wouldn't allow our props to be used, but we were permitted to hold up signs and distribute the pamphlets....so that's what we did.

Perhaps the most disheartening part of the day was the fact that so many of these elected officials seem to have developed a sort of "rock star" mentality.  While it was obvious that many of the representatives and senators were only taking our pamphlets to be polite, many others were extremely dismissive.  Dr. Opel stood by the doorway of each chamber simply asking if climate change was going to be a topic of discussion during this session, in return he got a few "thumbs up" (which were probably just left over from campaigning) and even a chuckle or two; there was even a member of Americans for Prosperity who called climate change "junk science."  Dr. Opel proceeded to follow him down the hall with the camera to find out how he could have come to such a conclusion....it turns out they were just a bunch of talking points, most likely provided by his group of self-proclaimed experts...(see "Doubters, Deniers & Skeptics" for a few examples).

Overall, we, the students of Project Nero, left the capitol with a new experience under our belts and the ability to see, more realistically, how challenging it will be to get climate change legislation to be taken seriously in Florida.