Local activists attend Climate Rally in D.C.
On Sunday, February 17th over 40,000 people poured into the streets of Washington DC to be a part of the largest climate rally ever. They were there to push President Obama “Forward on Climate” and renewable energy and urge him to reject the Keystone XL pipeline. Among the tens of thousands enduring freezing winds and muddy conditions were several members of the Piasa Palisades Group of the Sierra Club.
ExCom member Amitie Flynn, in collaboration with Claus Wawrzinek, Chair of the Thomas Hart Benton Group, was instrumental in organizing charter bus transportation to the rally. She along with Chris Krusa, Gayle Borman, Elaine Ramsay, David Vandergriff, Kara Dunham and Virginia Woulfe-Beile, boarded the coach for the 16 hour ride. PPG Chair Laura Asher and her husband David elected to drive and make the trip a combination vacation and civics lesson for their sons Leif and Orrin.
The movement behind the rally has united nearly every environmental group in the country, from grassroots coalitions like the Indigenous Environmental Network to the Hip Hop Caucus. The Sierra Club made history just days before the Rally by engaging in the group’s first display of civil disobedience in its 120 year existence. Sierra Club Executive Director Michael Brune and Board of Director President Allison Chin along with 350o.org founder Bill Mckibben, civil rights leader Julian Bond, the president emeritus of the NAACP and 44 others were arrested at the White House in a sit-in against Keystone XL.
On the day of the rally 40 some travelers aboard The Heartland charter arrived in Rockville Maryland in time for a quick breakfast before traveling 40 minutes by Metro train to the Washington Monument and the climate convergence. The gathering crowd carried signs with some slogans reading; “Wind Mills Not Oil Spill”, “Make Fossil Fuel Ancient History” and “Climate Change is a Moral Issue”. Up on stage along with McKibben and Brune a diverse group of environmentalist, including Robert Kennedy, Jr. president of the Waterkeeper Alliance, Senator Sheldon Whitehouse (RI), Chief Jacqueline Thomas of the Saik’uz Nation, Van Jones founder of Rebuild the Dream and Rev. Lennox Yearwood Jr., President of the Hip Hop Caucus inspired the congregation with impassioned pleas for climate action.
The march was led by Hilton Kelley, an environmental justice advocate from Port Arthur, Texas who won the Goldman Environmental Prize for his work fighting pollution in communities of color. As the wind raged and the sun moved in and out amongst swollen clouds the tens of thousands marched from the monument grounds to the Whitehouse. The fact that the President was not in residence, but vacationing in Florida, did not diminish the communal fervor of the marchers. Spontaneous chanting such as “this is what democracy looks like” and “Hey Obama we don’t want your climate drama” rang through the thin frigid air.
As the crowd flooded back to the Washington Monument for a closing concert one thing was clear: there is a powerful climate movement in this country. This sentiment was echoed repeatedly by our local contingent on the long bus ride home. For some this historic event was a baptism into activism for others a renewal of those vows, but for all a call to sustain the momentum by keeping the climate conversation alive in our families, in our communities and with our policy makers.
Recap and photos provided by Virginia Woulfe-Beile of the Piasa Palisades Group of The Sierra Club.
