Hundreds in Boston join nationwide global warming protest
BOSTON --Hundreds of demonstrators gathered Saturday on Boston Common to draw attention to global warming, joining more than 1,300 events organized in every state to press the U.S. Congress to require cuts in gas emissions that contribute to climate change.
The events were organized under the banner Step It Up 2007 to push Congress to require an 80 percent cut in carbon dioxide emissions by 2050.
Greenhouse gases -- including carbon dioxide, methane and other gases -- essentially trap energy from the sun, which warms the Earth's surface and lower atmosphere. Many scientists believe human activity that increases those gases is contributing to global warming.
In Brookline, parents pushed strollers down Harvard Street, to warn that the next generation will suffer if the nation's political leaders fail to act.
The Boston Globe reports that Alan Khazei led the crowd in Boston in chants of "Step it up today!" and "Climate change -- no way!"
"We can lick this problem if we work together," said Loie Hayes of the Boston Climate Action Network.
Scientists say melting polar ice caps and glaciers will cause ocean levels to rise, although estimates vary. The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change has projected that ocean levels will rise 7 to 23 inches this century, but other scientists warn the sea level could rise 10 feet or more, enough to flood Lower Manhattan other low-lying coastal areas.
The nationwide events were spearheaded by a group of recent graduates from Vermont's Middlebury College, who organized a campaign of blogs, e-mail messages and word of mouth communications.
"We see this to be the most pressing issue of our time, and our generation," said Will Bates, 23, one of six former Middlebury students who helped organize the event with author Bill McKibben, a scholar in residence at the college and among the first to write about global warming, in his 1989 book "The End of Nature."
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On the Net:
Step It Up: http://www.stepitup2007.org/
