Climate Rally!

April 22nd was Earth Day. To me everyday was Earth Day, but I quite enjoy the festivities that others put on during this time. On Sunday April 25th I along with two buses of NYC students and residents drove five hours to attend the Climate Change Rally in Washington D.C.

We woke up at 6:00 am in order to get to the bus at Penn Station by 8:00. We ended up leaving at 8:45 and arriving around 1:00. Once we got to the Rally we walked on the National Mall in the direction of the White House. There was a giant stage on in the distance after a parade of tents and booths housing various environmental organizations; profit and non-profit.

By the time we weaseled our way to about fifteen feet from the stage, many speakers had started. Most were interesting, but the noise of the surrounding crowd kept it from getting too educational. The most prominent and effective speech was made by one young woman who shouted "Green for All, All for Green" From the Green For All foundation. Green for All is a national organization working to build an inclusive green economy strong enough to lift people out of poverty. Check them out here: Green For All

I had prepared for rain, and as a very pale person who despises getting sunburns, I left the middle of the crowd for safer ground underneath the shade. After enjoying some great music from Passion Pit (a band from my home of BOSTON!) I got extremely distracted by all the history around me and got up to explore the Mall. I hadn't been to D.C. since 8th grade (7 years ago!) I remember it as my favorite trip and have been desperate to get back there ever since. I walked alone to the Sculpted Art Garden and decided I wanted to live in D.C. at some point of my life.

I headed back to the Rally area and met back up with my friends and we went on our own much longer tour of the National Mall. We trekked up towards the Washington Monument, past the new World War II memorial, along the Reflecting Pool and up the stairs to the Lincoln Memorial. There I took a picture of the view that MLK Jr. had when he gave his famous "I have a dream" speech. Something I am pretty sure I did not do in 8th grade, nor had no idea what it really meant.

We went back to the Rally and listened to some more speakers, explored the tents and booths (we got our picture taken in Pandora via green screen). And signed up for a ton of different organizations' newsletters.

James Cameron, director of Avatar, was giving his speech when we returned and urged all 200,000 of us there to convince 10 people that Climate Change is real and to do something about it.

We jammed out to some more music and headed out before it ended (there was a tornado warning?!?!)

Overall it was a good time, and a good way to spend my Earth Day Weekend. Although I was seriously exhausted, sun burnt, and in pain from walking so long; totally worth it. Hopefully the Obama administration will think it's worth it and start actually making legislation that gets us back to 350.