Rally calls for action on climate change

About 80 people converged in downtown Whitefish on Sunday to call for action on climate change. The event coincided with a rally at the National Mall in Washington D.C. attended by an estimated 35,000 people.

A steady snow fell Sunday at noon as protesters held signs and a giant banner at the corner of Second Street and Spokane Avenue. The local rally was one of two others held in Kalispell and Bigfork.

“Beat the heat. Confront global warming,” one protester’s sign read.

Another sign encouraged passing drivers to “honk for solar and wind.”

Earlier in the day a group took a banner to the summit of Big Mountain that read “Forward on Climate Change — Glacier National Park.”

Event organizer Steve Thompson called the local rallies a success.

“People were energized,” he said. “We got a lot of thumbs ups and honks from people driving by.”

Thompson said it’s time for Montana and national leaders to show urgency in combating global climate change.

“It’s time to start acting and stop talking about it,” he said. “We know the science, it’s very clear. The threats are real and solutions are feasible. We can’t wait any longer.”

Some of the local impacts of climate change, Thompson argued, could come in the form of more forest fires and flooding.

Forward on Climate Flathead is against the proposed Keystone XL oil pipeline and the Tongue River Railroad to the Otter Creek coal beds.

The Keystone pipeline would transport crude from the tar sands in Alberta, Canada to Nebraska and eventually the Gulf Coast. A portion of the line would run through eastern Montana.

Proponents say the pipeline would reduce U.S. dependence on overseas oil while creating thousands of jobs.

Opponents see approval of the pipeline as a major step back in the fight against climate change.

Thompson agrees, saying both crude from the Alberta tar sands and coal from southeast Montana’s Otter Creek coal beds belong in the ground.

Wind and solar are cleaner sources of energy, he said, and they provide jobs that can’t be exported.

“Those are American jobs,” he said.

Some at the Whitefish rally signed a petition against the proposed Tongue River railroad line, partially owned by BNSF Railway.

The line from Miles City to south of Ashland would haul up to 20 million tons of coal annually, which is about half the state’s current coal production.

Thompson said it makes no sense to extract coal from Montana, only to ship it to China.