Anti-Coal Day on Capitol Hill

By  David Murdock  Harry Hanbury  Lagan Sebert on Mar 03, 2009

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This weekend, twelve thousand students converged on Washington demanding the U.S. lead the world with a cleaner, greener, and more innovative energy policy. Power Shift '09 attracted double the numbers of its '07 convention. All day long, students filled the halls of Congress lobbying their elected officials to fight global warming. Meanwhile, a parallel protest called the Capitol Climate Action was taking place out in the streets. Thousands marched to the Capitol Power Plant (owned by Congress) demanding that it convert from coal to natural gas. Activists like writer Bill McKibben, poet Wendell Berry, and NASA scientist James Hansen-who all risked arrest to make their point-hailed the day's activities as the kickoff for a year of worldwide mobilizations leading to the Copenhagen Climate Conference in December.