Reflecting on Ripton's community spirit from the other side of the world

From Bill McKibben, by email:

Hey neighbors--i'm writing this from the 21st floor of a hotel in Shanghai, where the view out the window contains approximately 10,000 times the ppulation of Ripton. I've been gone for weeks, in Trinidad and Sweden and Italy and Asia, organizing for 350.org, our global warming campaign. I missed the great rainstorm and the great post office battle. But I'd just like to say how nice it's been to watch from a distance as the community rallied to its defense. When I called friends in Bernie's office and Peter Welch's office to lobby about the P.O., they all said they could feel the strong community spirit in the communications that were pouring in from Ripton. And so many thanks too to the people who have kept Riptonite on top of the news. When we were planning it last winter, I didn't know it would be of such great personal use so soon!