On a sunsplashed Saturday afternoon, hundreds ditched the car in Madison and instead biked, skated, walked, and (in the case of Janesville resident Ravelle Rosenberg who was dressed as a penguin) waddled up to the Capitol with concern.
"We're calling on Congress and elected officials to step it up and take real action to cut carbon," said Carla Klein, the president of the Wisconsin Sierra Club.
Saturday's rally in Madison was one of more than 1,300 taking place across the country. Organizers billed it the biggest grassroots environmental protest since the first Earth Day in 1970. The goal is to reduce the nation's carbon output by 80-percent before the year 2050.
"That sounds like a lot, but it's only two-percent a year, which is totally achievable, doable," said Klein.
To help people visualize how they can reduce pollution, people could step up to the Carbon-o-meter. Steve Burns with Preserve our Climate Coalition would use it to let people
plug in their car's mileage and the number of miles they drive, then telling them the number of pounds of carbon they put into the atmosphere. He showed the same total with a bag of charcoal.
Rally-goers were also asked to write letters to Congress in exchange for a fluorescent light bulb.
A lot of small actions, but outgoing Madison alder Austin King said preaching to the choir only does so much. "I haven't owned a car in seven years, I live in a small downtown efficient apartment," he said to sheers from the crowd. "And that means nothing without collective action, and that's the point I want to make today."
