Five days after the Obama Administration announced they will install solar panels back at 1600 Pennsylvania Ave, hundreds of climate activists gathered for a rally in Lafayette Park in front of the White House to celebrate the decision and urge the President to demonstrate bold leadership in the battle against climate change.

One of over 7,000 events in 188 countries celebrating the 10/10/10 Global Work Party

WASHINGTON, D.C. – Five days after the Obama Administration announced they will install solar panels back at 1600 Pennsylvania Ave, hundreds of climate activists gathered for a rally in Lafayette Park in front of the White House to celebrate the decision and urge the President to demonstrate bold leadership in the battle against climate change.

“Solar panels on the White House are no replacement for strong climate legislation,” said Bill McKibben, environmental author and founder of 350.org, who led efforts this fall to convince the White House to go solar. “But the decision has given new momentum to the movement that’s pushing for real change.”

The White House rally was organized by 30 major environmental and progressive organizations as part of the 10/10/10 Global Work Party, a day of climate action coordinated by 350.org that is uniting over 7,000 events in 188 countries and may be the most widespread day of environmental action in history.

Highlights from the Global Work Party include:

• In the United States, over 1,200 events are planned, from parishioners weatherizing their church in Atlanta to a hip-hop show at a community garden in Oakland, California.
• In China and India, over 300 universities will join 10/10/10 as part of the Great Power Race, a student clean energy competition.
• In Afghanistan, students will be planting hundreds of trees in a valley outside of Kabul.
• In Congo, refugees will be planting a “Forest of Hope” outside of Goma, home to thousands of refugees from regional conflicts.
• In Mexico City, the Mayor will sign a commitment to cut carbon emissions 10% over the next year and join thousands for a solar-powered festival in Chapultepec Park.

Keith Harrington, Grassroots Organizer for the Chesapeake Climate Action Network, coordinated the White House event. “If President Obama decides to really get to work on climate solutions, the country and the world will follow suit,” Harrington said. “So as the world calls on our leaders to get to work today, there are few more important places to be to deliver that message than the White House.”  

Attendees called on the President to put his full support behind passing strong and just national and international climate change and clean energy policies at both the national and international levels that will return the atmosphere to 350 parts per million of carbon dioxide – the level scientists say is necessary to avoid the potentially catastrophic effects of human-made global warming. 

Lester Brown, President of the Earth Policy Institute, spoke at the event. “It is decision time. Like earlier civilizations that got into environmental trouble, we have to make a choice. We can stay with business as usual and watch our economy decline and our civilization unravel, or we can push for cutting carbon emissions to 350 ppm. Our generation will make the decision, but it will affect life on earth for all generations to come. Saving civilization is not a spectator sport.”

Other speakers at the White House Climate Work Party included world-renowned climate scientist Dr. James Hansen, Hip Hop Caucus president Rev. Lennox Yearwood, Green for All CEO Phaedra Ellis-Lampkins, DC city councilwoman Mary Cheh, and Rick Piltz, the whistleblower who ousted the Bush Administration for attempting to stifle climate science.

Other work parties across the city included rooftop solar installations, a “climate action” bike ride, a sustainable local food block party featuring gourmet chefs, and an urban harvest gathering at a community garden.

“We’re mad that our politicians have largely failed to act on climate, but instead of just complaining we’re trying to show them the way forward,” said McKibben. “It’s not a tea party, it’s a work party.”

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