Students in the Sierra Club’s Beyond Coal organization will join other environmental activists at The National Mall in Washington this weekend in an attempt to form the largest climate rally in history.
The Forward on Climate Rally is a call to President Barack Obama to reject the Keystone XL tar sands pipeline. Last year, the Sierra Club estimated the approximately 15,000 attendees at the rally delayed the signing on the pipeline, which would carry tar sands oil from Alberta, Canada to the Texas Gulf Coast.
“The purpose of this rally is to not only block the Keystone Pipeline but send a message to President Obama and all the legislators that we want action on climate,” said Drew O’Bryan, Students for Environmental Concerns secretary and sophomore in LAS.
Nine members from the organization and other Chicago activists will take a 22-hour bus ride to rally outside the White House and form a human pipeline.
“We’re all looking forward to being around activists from all over the country,” O’Bryan said. “It will be good to meet other people and hear their perspectives and stories about why they’re against fossil fuels.”
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About 135 organizations are signed up to attend the rally.
Claire can be reached at [email protected].
