Ellen Hawkins and her husband Rick Brandenburg joined with more than 20,000 people in Washington, D.C. on April 29 to participate in the Climate March.
“It was our passionate concern for the future of life on Earth in the face of a rapidly warming climate that inspired us to go to Washington,” said Ellen Hawkins of Tofte. She and her husband, Rick Brandenburg, participated in the People’s Climate March in the nation’s capital on April 29 and took that message to the president and lawmakers.
Said Brandenburg, “20,000 of us marched from the Capitol to the White House, as the heat index soared to a record-setting 96 degrees, to protest this administration’s dismantling of regulations and agreements meant to slow global warming. We demanded a stop to the pervasive heads-in-the-sand approach to the reality of crises unfolding around the world that are caused by climate change, and called for immediate action to cut greenhouse gas emissions.”
Hawkins and Brandenburg saw and talked with a wide variety of people who attended the march. Many were older folks who were speaking out for their grandchildren’s future, indigenous people who have been on the front lines for climate action, people from low-lying coastal areas who are extremely vulnerable to already-rising sea levels, farmers and inner cities dwellers, and countless young and energetic people who weren’t wasting much time debating scientific realities but instead spoke passionately about the ways and means of dealing with this problem.
Earth’s climate systems have gained a powerful momentum toward warming, fueled by the energy consumption of billions of people over several decades, said Brandenburg. “But the consensus among the marchers in Washington and others around the world is that the millions of people who understand the science and have the will to act can change the disastrous course we’re on.”
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