An all-day Earth Day rally and concert has attracted massive crowds to the National Mall in Washington Saturday.
Usher, Mary J. Blige, Gwen Stefani, Common and Train were set to perform during the free Global Citizen 2015 Earth Day concert hosted by will.i.am and renowned journalist Soledad O’Brien near the Washington Monument.
The rally is a joint initiative with the Global Poverty Project, which is live-streaming the event, to end extreme poverty. Organizers are seeking to highlight the problems of poverty and climate change around the world. They are also encouraging participants to commit to making environmentally friendly “acts of green” this year, and asking attendees to sign petitions for a U.N. conference on climate change planned for Paris in December.
“Whether it’s the big migrations we expect to see or soil depletion or emptying the oceans, loss of species, loss of timberland — all these things are creating poverty at the same time that they are also creating climate change issues,” said Kathleen Rogers, Earth Day Network president. “Eliminating poverty will require solving climate change.”
Earth Day organizers also are announcing plans with developers of the popular “Angry Birds” game to create a new in-game experience about climate change. “Angry Birds” has been downloaded 2.8 billion times worldwide. The game’s climate change campaign will coincide with the U.N. General Assembly in September as world leaders tackle sustainability goals.
United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, World Bank President Jim Yong Kim, actor Don Cheadle and Coldplay’s Chris Martin were expected to speak to attendees.
The concert and rally coincide with the spring meetings of the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund, top officials of which are also expected to speak at the rally.
Earth Day is officially observed on Wednesday, April 22. This year marks Earth Day’s 45th Anniversary.
Earlier, President Barack Obama said in his weekly address there is “no greater threat to our planet than climate change.”
“Climate change can no longer be denied or ignored,” with 14 of the 15 hottest years on record happening in the first 15 years of this century, he said. Last year was the warmest recorded year.
The Earth’s rising temperatures are having “very serious implications,” the president said, including stronger storms, deeper droughts and longer wildfire seasons.
The U.S. leader said he will observe Earth Day Wednesday at Florida’s Everglades, a location he described as “one of the most special places in our country” and “one of the most fragile.” He said rising sea levels are putting the “national treasure” at risk.
The world is looking to the U.S. to take a leadership role in dealing intelligently with climate change, President Obama said. “And that’s what we’re doing,” he said, adding that America is using more clean energy than ever before and is number one in wind power. He said other measures taken include an increasing number of energy-efficient cars and buildings that save consumers money.
Some material for this report comes from AP.
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