Rally to put focus on climate change

Environmentalists from the Inland Northwest are planning a rally Sunday at Riverfront Park as part of a national call for curtailing human-caused climate change.

The Forward on Climate rally and walk has gathered support from the Sierra Club’s campaign to stop coal exports to Asia out of proposed new ports in Washington and Oregon.

The Occupy Spokane movement, part of a nationwide movement started in 2011, is lending its support to the rally.

The rally at the Rotary Fountain at 1 p.m. will coincide with a national rally in Washington, D.C., on Sunday.

The organization promoting the national rally said it wants to make the event “the largest climate rally in history.”

The action stems in part from opposition to construction of the Keystone XL pipeline to move Canadian oil across the middle of the U.S.

Locally, the Beyond Coal campaign launched by the Sierra Club will be a focus of the Spokane rally, said Michael Beasley, one of the organizers.

He said organizers want to send the message to President Barack Obama and Washington Gov. Jay Inslee that human-caused global warming is a serious environmental issue.

Those who attend the rally will pose for a photograph at 1:45 p.m. and then walk down Main Avenue to the Community Building.