Hundreds gather for climate rally

"One, two, three, four! Global warming out the door! Five, six, seven, eight! We cannot afford to wait!" The mantra echoed from the mouths of more than a hundred people gathered by the Wilson School fountain on Saturday afternoon.

The chanting crowd — participants in Princeton's rendition of the nationwide Step It Up 2007 Climate Change Rally — were mostly local and state community members, along with a smattering of University students. The event was part of an organized effort to urge Congress to "Cut Carbon 80 percent by 2050," with over a thousand similar rallies occurring Saturday in all 50 states.

"We don't look like a huge amount of people, but we are," Dennis Markatos-Soriano GS, a Wilson School graduate student who helped organize the three-hour rally, told the crowd. "We could make a huge amount of difference."

Saturday's gathering was also a part of a separate "New Jersey Climate March to Trenton" involving a total of four rallies in the Garden State, the last of which will occur today outside the Statehouse. The march supports Gov. Jon Corzine's Executive Order 54, issued in February, which would commit New Jersey to reduce carbon dioxide emissions to 1990 levels by 2020 and to 80 percent of last year's emissions by 2050.

The heart of the rally was a series of speeches by environmental leaders, including mechanical and aerospace engineering and Wilson School professor Robert Socolow, who is a noted authority on carbon emissions, and Ted Glick, a "progressive activist" who ran as a Green Party candidate for a U.S. Senate seat from New Jersey in 2002.

Other speakers included Lexi Gelperin, an organizer for the campus environmental organization Water Watch, and Posie Harwood '09, co-president of the student group Greening Princeton.

Gelperin emphasized the "small steps and innovative solutions" that people can make in their daily activities to reduce their emissions impact. "The only option is to act, act now and act with passion," Harwood said.

Shana Weber, manager of the University's new sustainability office, said she is working with the campus and Princeton Township to reduce the ecological footprint of University operations. She added that she encourages community members to take action on environmental issues. "Take a bus!" she said. "If there isn't a bus, ask for one."

Markatos-Soriano, who is also a co-chair for Princeton Students United for a Responsible Global Environment, also emphasized the importance of public action. "So many great people, so many great ideas have come through these revolving doors [of Robertson Hall]," he said during his speech by the Wilson School fountain. "We can write all the papers we want, but if we don't have the people power, we can't make an impact."

He also applauded the Supreme Court's decision in Massachusetts, et al. v. Environmental Protection Agency, et al., which held that the EPA must regulate carbon dioxide emissions as required by the Clean Air Act. The 5-4 ruling, in which Associate Justice Samuel Alito '72 dissented, was announced earlier this month.

The rally's cosponsors included Greening Princeton, the Graduate Student Government Events Board, Water Watch and the Global Issues Forum. Afro-Funk band Sensemaya and Princeton Capoeira performed before the speeches, and the Black Arts Company Dance troupe closed the event.