EcoSense, AU's student environmental group, is helping to plan and organize an April 14 rally on the National Mall called National Climate Action Day to urge Congress to address global warming issues.
Claire Roby, EcoSense president and a sophomore in the College of Arts and Sciences, said the rally is being planned by Step It Up, a campaign of more than 950 movements nationwide asking Congress to "step it up" by cutting carbon emissions 80 percent below 1990 levels by 2050, according to its Web site.
Last week, hundreds rallied at the Climate Crisis Action Day on the U.S. Capitol building calling for Congress to address climate change issues. The rally took place the day before former Vice President Al Gore testified before Congress about global warming, according to The Washington Post.
Many groups, including the Sierra Club and the National Wildlife Federation, lobbied Congress, said Rose Davis, the vice president of programming for EcoSense and a sophomore in CAS, who interns for her representative.
"It was really exciting," Davis said. "I wish I didn't have to intern so I could have put on an environmental T-shirt and do the same thing."
Davis said there are a lot of young people involved in the environmental movement because "college campuses are where change has traditionally happened first."
EcoSense brings that "sense of urgency" for environmental change to AU's campus, Davis said.
EcoSense does this by participating in rallies such as the Campus Climate Challenge Congressional Photo Petition, also taking place April 14. Roby said EcoSense took pictures of students with thought bubbles urging Congress to cut carbon emissions to contribute to the petition. Roby also said Rep. Henry Waxman, D-Calif., and Senator Barbara Boxer, D-Calif., have taken their pictures as part of the campaign. With nearly 4,000 photos collected so far, the campaign has almost reached its goal of collecting 5,000 photos from across the country. On April 14, the organizers plan to create a photo wall with the collection on the National Mall from 1 to 2 p.m., Roby said.
Then, from 2 to 3 p.m., leaders will be organizing participants into a "human postcard" to spell out "80 percent by 2050" on the National Mall, Roby said.
"Hopefully legislators will realize that people are serious [about global warming] and we need to bring about a change now," Davis said. "We don't have time for debate because climate change is already happening."
Roby said climate change is the "greatest challenge facing our generation."
"I think that marches and rallies are key components of campaigns along with policy propositions and personal changes," Roby said.
Shilpa Joshi, the demonstrations coordinator for EcoSense and a sophomore in the School of International Service, said climate change is an issue that affects "every man, woman and child in this country; it's not a partisan issue." She also said that once Congress takes action, it will motivate the rest of the country to follow suit.
Also in April, EcoSense will be helping with AU's Campus Beautification Day, which this year will be more environmentally and sustainability focused, Roby said.
Additionally, EcoSense is continuing to push its Bikes and Biodiesel campaign to make AU's transportation system completely carbon free.
Roby and Casey Roe, the policy director for EcoSense and a sophomore in CAS, are planning to meet with Gail Hanson, the vice president of the office of campus life, and, eventually, Interim President Neil Kerwin to make all of AU's transportation vehicles run on biodiesel and make the campus more biker-friendly.
