Climate Change Rally in Washington D.C. on February 17

Encouraged by President Obama’s comments on climate change at his inauguration and determined to sound the alarm about run-away global warming, more than 130 environmental and progressive organizations have joined together to sponsor what is predicted to be the largest climate rally in US history: Forward on Climate, scheduled for Sunday, February 17, noon-4 pm in Washington, DC. The purpose of the rally is to urge President Obama to aggressively address climate change and to begin by stopping development of the Keystone XL Canadian tar sands pipeline.  The rally and march will gather at noon at the northeast corner of the Washington Monument (closest Metro subway stations: Federal Triangle and Smithsonian).

At his inauguration, President Obama reaffirmed his commitment to tackling the climate crisis: “We will respond to the threat of climate change, knowing that the failure to do so would betray our children and future generations.”

The Forward on Climate rally comes as pressure mounts on the Administration to take strong climate action in the president’s second term. After a year of record heat and drought and devastating storms, including Sandy, calls for action are coming from all over the country. Newspapers such as the New York Times and The Washington Post, and think tanks like the Center for American Progress, are calling for the president to act now to avert the worst effects from global warming. 

In the Pioneer Valley, the first local person to charter a bus to the rally was Heath farmer Andrew Kuwolski.  Fellow Northampton farmer Oona Coy bought two bus tickets for herself and her young son, Silas.  “More frequent and severe floods and droughts have a huge impact on our ability grow food,” said Coy, who runs Town Farm and Northampton’s Tuesday Market with her husband, Ben James.  “As farmers, we know that food security is crucial to our survival.”

UMass Climate Scientist, Michael Rawlins, explained, “The Tar Sands represent an enormous amount of carbon. Burning this carbon would produce a great amount of greenhouse gases, further elevating atmospheric CO2 concentrations which are approaching 400 parts per million and contributing to global warming. Global greenhouse gas emissions reached a record high in 2011. Burning much of the Tar Sands oil would make it extremely difficult to limit future warming to acceptable levels.”

“There is nothing more grave facing our future than climate chaos,” said Lilly Lombard of Northampton, who, with her two children, is traveling by bus with 51 others to attend the rally.  “As a parent, I refuse to stand by and let the petroleum industry seal my children’s fate.”

Northampton resident, Denise Lello, has also been one of the area’s bus organizers.  “So far, at least six buses have been chartered locally, four are fully booked, and waitlists are forming while we work to secure more bus transport.  Other folks are taking the train or carpooling through an online carpooling tool, Ridebuzz.org.” Lello’s son, Isaac Lello-Smith, age 16, has organized about 10 students from Northampton High School to join one of the buses.

Molly Hale, a conservation biologist from Florence, has also bought bus tickets for her family to go to the rally. “I decided I had to stand up and make my voice heard.  Global warming will cause vast destabilization of extensive ecosystems around the world, bringing massive extinctions in a blink of time.”

Although former public health physician, Steve Jones, is unable to attend the rally, he donated to a local fund to make bus tickets more affordable to area students and low-income activists.  “Global warming is one of the greatest threats to the health of our world,” said Jones, who retired from a career with the Centers for Disease Control and now resides in Florence. “Massive displacements of populations, food shortages, and the conflict they will create are a few of the disasters that global warming will cause. We need the collective voice of millions of us to push elected officials to make real progress on slowing and stopping climate change. Together we can drown out the paid disinformation of the fossil fuel corporations.”

Holyoke Community College student and former US Marine, Anthony Stirlacci, has organized a bus for HCC students, and invites others to join. “It is our obligation to society and for the survival of humanity. There are other energy capabilities here in America.”

To learn more about the rally, visit forwardonclimate.org.  For updated local resources to find a bus, join a waitlist or share a ride, visit www.climatewma.org.

[Note: Information for this posting was obtained from Forward on Climate press releases dated 1/23, 2/6 and 2/9/2013.]