That was the message loud and clear at the climate rally held yesterday in Washington, D.C., delivered by the 40,000 or more people who congregated around the Washington Monument before marching to the White House in the largest climate-focused rally in history.

Though the weather was absolutely frigid, the crowd could not have been more fired up. Parents and kids, students and seniors, people of all races and religions came together to demonstrate their love for the environment, their concern for their families and their communities, and their commitment to a cleaner, greener world.

The biggest focus was on President Obama, who made climate change a top priority in his recent State of the Union Address and who must decide whether or not to greenlight the controversial Keystone Pipeline, which would carry oil from Canada, across the U.S. to the Gulf of Mexico. Former White House green jobs advisor Van Jones told the audience from the state, “This will define your legacy, Mr. President.” Indeed, it will.

 I marched with the Alaska Wilderness League, a terrific organization that’s been leading the fight to keep oil drilling out of America’s Arctic Wildlife Refuge for more than 15 years. AWL staffers dressed like polar bears carried signs reading Save the Arctic as we chanted, “What do we want? Polar Bears! What do they need? Ice!”

Moms and dads brought their children to the rally to demonstrate the impact that climate change is having on our families. In many parts of the world, poison ivy has gotten much worse because hotter than normal temperatures have created such ideal growing conditions for this noxious plant. Moms Clean Air Force was there, too, reminding us that the same fossil fuels that cause climate change are polluting our air, a big reason why so many more kids are suffering from asthma these days.

Speaking of kids, they were everywhere at the rally: on their dad’s shoulders, getting their pictures taken with the polar bears, clapping their hands in time to the music. It was great to see so many college students, too. In fact, they’re the ones who led the “Yes, We Can!” chant when one of the stage speakers asked, “Can we stop climate change?”

Thousands of people traveled from far and wide to lend their voices to the rally crowd. When I boarded my local subway to get down to the event, the car was brimming with folks from as far away as Texas and Oklahoma, two states that are directly in the path of the Keystone Pipeline. At the Washington Monument, a woman from my home state of Michigan sported a big cut-out poster to remind us that an oil leak into an important river in the northern part of that state still had not been cleaned up. Meanwhile, rallies were happening in many other cities in the U.S., too. Mary Clare Hunt was among the 2,000 or more who turned up in Los Angeles to say “not” to climate change. You can read her report here.

After rousing speeches at the Monument and much cheering, the massive crowd headed toward the White House. The point of this, afterall, was to persuade President Obama to make good on his pledge to bring climate change to a halt.

But I couldn’t help but feel like a bigger point had been made, too. We live in a democracy, and we have the right to exercise our free speech, assemble for peaceful protest, and determine our own future. That future, and the future of our children, grand children, and great-grandchildren, is very much at stake as we determine not just whether, but how to stop climate change. Peaceful rallies like this one show elected officials, corporations, and other citizens that we take our right to democracy seriously — and so should they.

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The post We Can Stop Climate Change. Yes, We Can! appeared first on Big Green Purse.

1. Poison Ivy.  Poison ivy leaves have gotten bigger and their toxic oils more potent because the plants are thriving in hotter conditions. As climate change increases, it will be easier to get poison ivy and harder to get rid of the rash once it occurs.

2. Asthma. In a hotter environment, plants produce more pollen, which makes it more difficult for people with asthma and other respiratory problems to breathe. If you have trouble breathing now, catching your breath in the future could be a real challenge if the planet continues to warm.

3. Malaria and Dengue Fever. These deadly illnesses, once restricted to the tropics, are creeping into northern latitudes as disease-bearing mosquitoes migrate north into increasingly warm regions. In this country, states like Florida and Texas are on alert.

4. Drought. As rain patterns change, many unexpected cities — like Atlanta! — find themselves running out of water. Climate change has jeopardized one of our most basic rights – being able to quench our thirst with a cool drink of H20.

5. Starvation. People in less developed countries are starving as their agricultural systems shrivel up due to lack of rain. We feel the effects in this country, maybe not in starvation, but certainly in food shortages that result from extreme climate events.

6. Polar Bears. As arctic ice melts, polar bears are losing the habitat they need to reproduce. They’re not the only species endangered by climate change. Here are more.

7. Hurricanes. Just two words: Hurricane Katrina. Need I say more?

8. Money. It is costing the global economy trillions of dollars to “fix” the problems caused by climate change. You’ll feel the impact on higher taxes that need to be charged to cover these costs as well as in higher prices on the consumer goods you buy.

9. National Security.  A nation that faces drought, starvation, hurricane damage, food shortages, and a variety of human health problems is at risk for civil unrest and international instability. Don’t like the idea of going to war? Support global efforts to control climate change.

10. Our Kids. Virtually every generation since the beginning of time has left the world better off for the generations that followed. Will we be able to same the same thing about our generation? Not if we leave behind a severely altered global climate that weakens the natural systems upon which all life depends.

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Despite its “G” rating, the film is more suspenseful than a James Bond movie — and more stressful, too. As it follows three animal families through a year of their life, tension reigns: will they live, or die?

It is not easy going for any of the animals: two adult polar bears and their baby cubs; a baby elephant and its mother; a young humpback whale and its mother. All face the treachery of Nature as they search for food and water.

The whales need to beware the potential attack of a great white shark as they migrate from the tropics to Antarctica in search of krill. Though the shark never attacks them, the footage of a Great White jumping 32 feet into the air as it devours a seal is absolutely spine-tingling. On screen, the Great White seems as big as a T-Rex. Clearly, in the ocean, it is just as deadly.

The gorgeous blue waters the whales ply contrast starkly with the ghostly, parched African desert the elephants must cross to reach drinking water in the Okavango delta. The baby and its mother manage to dodge the hungry jaws of a pride of starving lions – but one of their companions is not so lucky. At several points during their arduous journey, the little one, blinded by dust storms and weary from lack of food, appears on the verge of collapse. An aerial shot of the spreading desert and the shrinking Okavango leaves the disturbing impression that, even if the elephants make it this time, they may not be so lucky in the future.

The polar bear cubs couldn’t be cuter as they emerge from their den to a snow day every child can relate to. But miles away, their father struggles to find food. Polar bears use ocean ice as “hunting platforms” to snag seals. But as climate change melts ice faster, it is becoming harder and harder for the bears to find food. Papa bear eventually must take to land to avoid drowning. His desperate attempt to kill a walrus backfires as the walrus spears him with his tusk.

The cinematography is breathtaking, especially the shots of thousands of birds in flight. The filmmakers worked from hot air balloons and helicopters fitted with specially-made stabilized cameras to capture their subjects as they exist in the wild. One of the side stories in the film shows baby mandarin ducks emerging from the hole in a tree high above the ground that served as their nest. Each one tests its tiny wings in the same way: it leaps into the air, flaps a few times, and falls soundly to the ground – fortunately into a cushioning pile of leaves. It’s absolutely adorable.

The film leaves no doubt about the beauty and value of Nature. But it makes almost no mention of the threats the natural world faces due to pollution or toxic chemicals, beyond some slight, passing references to climate change as the polar ice melts and as the desert spreads. This seems like a lost opportunity. The survival of all the animals featured in “Earth” is in question due to the impact people are having on the planet. The filmmakers made a beautiful movie – but they could have made an important one if they’d included information on how the audience affects the lives of the subjects on screen — and what they can do to make a difference.

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