"This is a small piece of what is far and away the largest nationwide gathering addressing global warming to date," said Ritchie King of the Thayer School of Engineering, the event's master of ceremonies. "We're here because we are concerned citizens in a democracy and we want to make our concerns known."
The event featured speakers, music, food from local vendors and a variety of booths that provided information about environmental issues. Many people participated in related satellite events throughout the Upper Valley Saturday morning, and then biked, hiked and carpooled to Hanover for the main rally in the afternoon.
Senator Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., spoke about the politics behind reversing climate change. He was critical of the current administration's policies toward environmental issues, naming President Bush as the "worst environmental president in the history of this country."
Sanders listed possible policies that would help reduce carbon emissions, which included stricter regulations on vehicle gas mileage and the construction of "the best rail system in the world."
"It's totally insane that we're driving vehicles in this country that get less gas mileage today than vehicles did 20 years ago," he said as an example of how the current government could do more to regulate carbon emissions.
Other speakers talked about the state politics of environmentalism, ways to cut carbon emissions on a local level, the science behind the global warming crisis, and the ethical implications of not addressing the problem. During and in between speeches, rally attendees signed petitions and visited booths.
The Inter-Fraternity Council had planned to participate in the rally with a booth of their own, behind which they intended to pile trash bags full of beer cans collected from Greek houses Saturday morning.
The envisioned purpose of the protest was to display the negative environmental impact of the College's keg policy.
"The keg policy is so restrictive that it makes more sense [for Greek houses] to use aluminum [beer] cans, which end up going into the trash, whereas kegs themselves are reusable," Dave Lindenbaum '08, president of the IFC, said. "We think kegs would be more sustainable."
The IFC did not follow through with their plan, however.
"We ran into a slight problem that caused the event not to happen," Lindenbaum explained. "Basically everyone was willing to participate except that we didn't have any pick-up trucks we could used to transport the trash to the green. Because of that we had to cancel it."
Other campus groups were more successful in their participation with the rally. Dartmouth Organic Farm sponsored an event at the farm Saturday morning where they held workshops on sustainable agriculture, aquaculture and the plan for Dartmouth's solar greenhouse.
The Big Green Bus, which is powered by bio-fuel, also made an appearance at the rally.
Dartmouth Environmental Conservation Organization coordinated the event in conjunction with the Sierra Club of the Upper Valley.
ECO intern Daisy Jones '10 said she was disappointed that more students did not show up, but said that she was altogether pleased with the turnout.
Most speakers similarly expressed pleasure with the number of people gathered for the cause.
"The American people are waking up," Sanders said. "We want action. When we stand together, the future can be incredible."
