On Feb. 17, an estimated 50,000 students, teachers and activists from across the nation marched on the White House to protest the Keystone XL pipeline.
350 Organizer Bill McKibben claims,
'This was the biggest climate change rally in US history.
'By our count, 50,000 people gathered by the Washington Monument and then marched past the White House, demanding that President Obama block the Keystone XL pipeline and move forward toward climate action.'
A coalition of dozens of progressive organizations led by Sierra Club, 350, Greenpeace and the Hip Hop Caucus all came together to make this a historic Presidents' Day weekend.
Earlier this week, several celebrities volunteered to be arrested for non-violent civil disobedience in Lafayette Park to protest the Keystone oil pipeline.
Greenpeace brought a huge contingent of student activists who met and marched with DC students and teachers. Their agenda also includes promoting alternative clean energy projects and opposing Arctic drilling, coal exports and new coal plants.
Using a larger-than-life-sized inflatable 'pipeline,' the rally was also filled with signs and symbolism. The giant 'pipeline' itself has been recycled, re-purposed and reused across the country in dozens of huge rallies like the one in DC last November.
Greenpeace USA Executive Director Philip Radford wrote:
'The Keystone XL project is more than a pipeline. It’s a symbolic moment when President Obama can make the right decision or the wrong one for the future of our country.'
President Obama has gone on the public record to oppose the pipeline, but construction has already begun, some of it bulldozing through private property.
Examiner interviewed a student activist from Greenpeace who said:
'The Keystone pipeline is the first test in our President’s climate challenge.
'Tell him to reject the pipeline and affirm his commitment to stopping climate change.'
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