The Brita Climate Ride rolls into DC today!

Today ends an epic journey to raise awareness regarding the climate crisis and get Congress and President Obama to move on effective climate legislation. The Brita Climate Ride started on September 26 in New York City with the close of Climate Week NYC. While the UN talks were coming to a close these guys were just getting started.

Riders came from all over the world, including the Danish ambassador, workers from the German embassy, No Impact Man Colin Beavan, and 1Sky's policy analyst Jason Kowalski. They ranged in age from a 12 year old from Massachusetts to a very impressive 82 year old woman. Over the 5-day trek, participants raised money for environmental charities and learned from expert speakers every night about climate change, clean energy, and other environmental issues.

Roughly 300 miles later the Climate Ride is rolling into our nation's capitol. Just a few hours after Senators Boxer and Kerry debuted the Clean Energy Jobs and American Power Act on the east lawn of the Capitol, the riders are going to take over the west lawn. The rally, which will kick off soon after 3:15 p.m., will feature speakers including members of Congress, Bracken Hendricks from Center for American Progress, and 1Sky board member Betsy Taylor.

Betsy gave us a preview of what she'll talk about this afternoon:

I will urge courageous and relentless citizen pressure for U.S. congressional and presidential action to solve the climate crisis. We may be tired. We may feel the bill in the Senate can only get worse. We may feel ashamed that U.S. negotiators today in Bangkok are seen as the primary obstructionists to progress towards Copenhagen. But we must know that we are having an impact. And we must not let up. We must double our efforts to demand bold, binding and fair legislation that gets us on the path to a safe future.

You're in the DC area, you say? You want to join the final leg of the ride (and have a good reason to leave work early)? The rider will be meeting at Thompson Boat Center in Georgetown to the Capitol building at 3 p.m. today and they're inviting all to join the last few miles.

Not in the DC area? You can support the cause by making a call to your senator to remind them that it's time to take a stand and support strong clean energy legislation. Hey, walking to the phone and dialing burns calories too, right?