About 35 Brown students - most belonging to emPOWER, a student group campaigning to make Brown climate-neutral - marched from the Main Green to the State House Saturday afternoon to urge Congress to make reducing carbon emissions by 80 percent from 1990 levels by 2050 a priority.
Holding signs reading "Step It Up" and "80% by 2050," students followed the Brown Band to the State House, where they formed the number "80" on the steps. Students chanted, "It's getting hot in here, there's too much carbon in the atmosphere."
"Even though our numbers are modest, we're joined by 1,367 groups," said emPOWER organizer Jon Magaziner '07, speaking to the group on the State House steps. "It's up to us to continue to hold our institutions accountable. Carbon dioxide is something you can't conveniently sweep under the carpet," he added.
Step It Up is a movement started by environmentalist Bill McKibben to draw attention to issues of global warming and climate change. The Brown march was one of 1,367 registered rallies around the country on April 14, the national day designated for climate action and awareness, said Tess Hart '09, one of the protestors.
The rally will "generate media coverage" and present "tangible evidence that people care" about the environment, Hart told the crowd before students formed the "80" shape.
"We want to make (carbon emissions) a priority for presidential campaigns and congressional campaigns," she told The Herald.
Danny Musher '10, one of the protesters, said he hopes similar events across the country will have an impact on the legislators.
"People's voice in theory is supposed to move our representatives to action," he said. "I don't know if one day alone will have an impact, but it is one in a series of events."
Karen Kovalevich '10, another protester, said reducing carbon emissions should be "a high priority" for Congress.
"We only have one world, and we're not doing a good job taking care of it," she said.
"I think things like this do work so it's worth our time," she added.
Some students at the protest said they wished more Brown students had joined the march. Shane Easter '10 said it was "sad" that they "couldn't mobilize a lot of our own campus."
