US protesters urge Obama to act on global warming

WASHINGTON (AFP) – Tens of thousands of protesters gathered in Washington Sunday to generate pressure on President Barack Obama to take concrete measures to fight global warming.

Waving banners and signs with slogans like “What will be your climate legacy?” the protesters called on Obama to reject the $7 billion Keystone XL pipeline that would bring oil from Canada to Texas, and order the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to set carbon standards for power plants.

Protestors stands in front of the White House calling on President Barack Obama to reject the Keystone XL oil pipeline from Canada, as well as act to limit carbon pollution from power plants and “move beyond” coal and natural gas. REUTERS

“We want to challenge president Obama to be a main actor as opposed to being a puppet of the big oil companies,” Canadian-born actress Evangeline Lilly, star of TV’s “Lost,” told AFP. “It’s about telling him his speech did not fall in deaf ears.”

The event at the National Mall was organised by local and national environmental groups, including the Sierra Club, under an umbrella group named Forward on Climate.

“It’s time for the country to wake up, the US has been dragging its feet too long,” said Mimi Brody, one of the protesters.

Among the protesters was Nolan Gould, the 14 year-old star of the TV series “Modern Family.”

“I’m very hopeful things will change for kids and we’ll start realising we need to take it even further – take further steps to save this world, because it’s all we have and it’s not fair to mess it up,” Gould told AFP.