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The crowd assembled themselves into a human postcard telling Congress to cut carbon 80 percent by 2050. Step It Up, an organization created to coordinate 1,400 events in all 50 states for the National Day of Climate Action, organized the event.
It was the largest day of global warming activism in America's history, according to Step It Up's Web site. There are currently five bills before Congress concerning global warming, the most notable is the Global Warming Pollution Reduction Act calling for 80-percent cuts in carbon emissions before 2050.
"The debate is over about global warming. We know it's a problem," said Gene Karpinski, president of the League of Conservation Voters, a national environmental activism organization. "It's time for America to stop being the biggest part of the problem and start being the biggest part of the solution."
Organizers said that both the Democratic majority in Congress and the film "An Inconvenient Truth" have heightened awareness for global warming legislation. There is still resistance in government, they added.
"The recent elections have given us an opening, and polling shows most Americans know there's a problem," said Bill McKibben, a chief organizer of the event, in an online letter to supporters. "But the forces of inertia and business-as-usual are still in control, and only our voices, united and loud, joyful and determined, can change that reality."
Change must happen soon, organizers said.
"We are in a state of moral urgency," said Kristin Lee, a spokesperson for the League of Conservation Voters. "We can no longer rely on our foot-dragger-in-chief to do something; we have to take action and show we are committed to reversing the effects of climate change."
