Student environmentalists capitalized on debate media at Climate Rally
As people flocked to Dartmouth yesterday to witness the Republican Presidential Debate and catch a glimpse of the candidates, many students hoped to use the media to spread their message to a broader audience.
Student environmentalists gathered on the Green in an attempt to garner media attention for climate change awareness through a climate rally. Organizers Michael Berger ’14 and Jillian Mayer ’14 believe they can have a greater impact by capitalizing on the media presence for the debate than they would by targeting Republican candidates, they said.
“Having this kind of access to the media is really an incredible opportunity,” Annie Laurie Mauhs-Pugh ’14, a member of the Climate Rally directorate, said.
In coordinating the rally, Berger and Mayer reached out to students, particularly those involved in campus environmental groups. However, the event was not sponsored by a particular group, and was organized independently.
While the students did not aim to necessarily persuade the candidates at this event, they recognized political action on climate change as an end goal and hope to draw the attention of other politicians and the public, rally members said.
“Climate change is one of, if not the largest environmental issue of our time and it seems to have fallen off the national policy agenda. We wanted to remind our policymakers that it’s still a huge issue to us,” Berger said.
Berger estimated that 40-50 students joined the rally on the Green over the course of three hours, waving signs and handing out media flyers with this statement:
“This is a crucial time for our country to act on behalf of our planet, our economy, and our health. All of the Republican Presidential candidates propose increasing carbon emissions. This isn’t a Republican or Democrat issue, it’s a human issue.”
To get the message across that climate change affects everyone, several of their signs read, “Climate Change, It’s Personal.”