The "Forward On Climate" rally

My Letter to the Editor was published in the 03/02/13 Appleton Post-Crescent:

The "Forward On Climate" rally in Washington, DC on February 17 is an historic day for our country and planet.  50,000 people from around the country traveled to Washington to be part of the largest climate rally in the history of our country.

Record breaking extremes in weather have made it hard to ignore the effects of climate change.  President Obama’s inaugural speech and State of the Union speech included calls to action on climate change.  Americans will hold him to it.

More than 160 partnering organizations, including Sierra Club and 350.org, chartered 150 buses to bring Americans from distant states to the event.  Wisconsin had three buses with passengers paying $120 for their rides.  These hardy souls endured two nights of sleeping in their seats, a cold day for a rally, and financial sacrifice to show President Obama that we must move forward on climate action.

This is an important day for our country as citizens urged President Obama to do what is necessary to mitigate climate change.  Our President knows this is necessary, and everyone knows he faces opposition and he will expend considerable political capital.  We rallied to show Obama we have his back on this.

We are behind our President, but we will also be pushing him.

We must reduce our appetite for dirty coal and oil.  The Keystone XL Pipeline must not be built.  Keystone is a climate disaster, transporting oil from one of the dirtiest, most carbon-intensive oil sources on the planet.  We cannot allow the pipeline and say that we’re sincere in our commitment to fight climate change.

The crowd chanted, "We are unstoppable... Another world is possible."  What will you do to help stop the Keystone pipeline and save our planet?

Websites:  ForwardOnClimate.org, 350.org, SierraClub.org