Student members of Eco-Sense, AU's environmental sustainability club, joined hundreds of demonstrators in front of the Capitol on Saturday to demand that the government strengthen its efforts to reduce global warming.
The event was part of "Step It Up 2007," a nationwide campaign held April 14 to send a message to Congress about reducing carbon emissions 80 percent by 2050. The Vermont-based grassroots effort was founded by writer and activist Bill McKibben as a "wake-up call" for lawmakers, according to the campaign's Web site.
"Their constituents are urgently demanding that America get on the path towards reducing carbon emissions before it is too late," McKibben said in a press release on the Web site.
Eco-Sense, which recently got interim President Neil Kerwin to sign the Talloires Declaration, a promise for commitment to campus sustainability, was eager to answer McKibben's call.
Anne Morales, the group's media chief and a sophomore in the College of Arts and Sciences, said the club participated in the rally to raise awareness about an issue ignored by many people.
"In the long term, [reducing global warming will] take a long time," Morales said. "It takes a while for people to change their ways of living."
Amber Coupal, a member of Eco-Sense and a sophomore in CAS, said she was doing her part to change this negative trend by "supporting the cause" at the rally.
The rally also attracted AU students not associated with Eco-Sense but with opinions of their own.
Drew Veysey, a freshman in CAS, said he was angry at the government's apparent indifference toward global warming.
"The Republicans deny it and Democrats refuse to do much about it," Veysey said.
Though the demonstration was not a political one, several speakers and protesters voiced resentment against the previous Congress and the Bush administration. Gene Karpinski, president of the League of Conservation Voters, one of the rally's organizers, said the new congressional leaders are "good news."
Several people had signs that read "End the Iraq War" and "Impeach Bush." One protester wore a Bush mask with devil horns and took pictures with demonstrators and tourists alike.
However, Karpinski assured the crowd that whoever the next president was, he or she would need to "step it up" against global warming.
One solution presented at the rally for government ineffectiveness was citizen action. Brent Blackwelder, the president of Friends of the Earth, said in a speech that despite the government's apparent shortcomings, the public has responsibilities, which include reducing car emissions and demanding better performance from political leaders. Friends of the Earth, one of the rally's organizers, is an international network of grassroots groups advocating environmental conservation.
One highlight was when professional photographer John Quigley organized the demonstrators to sit in a figure that read "80 percent by 2050" with people forming a border to resemble a postcard. Pictures of the formation were taken from atop a cherry picker and placed on news Web sites.
Courtney Fryxell, the Student Conservation Voters' campus coordinator of the League of Conservation Voters, said the postcard would be sent to Congress to show public support for global warming legislation.
Meg Imholt, the vice president of Eco-Sense and a sophomore in CAS, said she was amazed by the protestors' willingness to participate in the postcard despite cold weather and light rain.
"It's really impressive seeing all the different interest groups come together like that," Imholt said.
