2,000 rally at an EPA hearing--no, really!

EPA hearings are usually sleepy and sparsely-attended affairs, but the May 21st hearing on the greenhouse gases endangerment finding was anything but sleepy. An estimated 2,000 people rallied outside the Bell Harbor International Conference Center in Seattle, WA, urging the Obama Administration to take action on reducing global warming pollution.

That's two-thousand people. For an EPA hearing. Wow.

1Sky’s close partner and ally, Climate Solutions, played a key role in organizing the rally. They helped bring students, the faith community, environmental leaders, politicians and others to make noise on the issue. They called for a clean energy economy and the need to regulate global warming pollution. Congratulations to 1Sky Northwest for an amazing turn-out and powerful message!

The hearing consisted of testimonials from people who come to the issue through a variety of perspectives and sectors. There were not only scientists and politicians, but businesses, artists and outspoken citizens all speaking on the intimate connection between global warming pollution and public health and well-being. Yes! Magazine's Madeline Ostrander has an excellent account of the rally and how it fits into the larger context of the push for bold clean energy and climate solutions:

It’s a rare day when corporate execs from Nike and Starbucks, EPA administrators, state politicians, solar power businesses, anti-poverty advocates, and moms with wiggling children on their laps spend hours agreeing with each other on climate change. The unusual concurrence happened on the same day that 30 state governors said they want Congress to pass national legislation to cut carbon emissions, and a major climate bill launched out of the House Energy and Commerce Committee, destined for debate on the House floor. On Thursday at hearings on both sides of the country—one in Seattle for the Environmental Protection Agency and one in Washington, DC to debate a carbon cap-and-trade bill—it looked like U.S. politicians were finally prepared to get serious about climate change. The public wants action. And it is possible that within months, the U.S. will see its first regulation passed to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and confront the climate crisis.

And according to Ostrander, the rally definitely had an impact on the EPA folks:

“I can’t think of any other time that people have rallied in support of what the EPA was doing,” an EPA administrator told me privately in the morning, while grinning.

To give you a sense of what the rally was like, here's a terrific slide show (h/t Grist):