Tens of thousands of protesters were on the National Mall today, urging President Barack Obama to take action on climate change and reject the Keystone XL oil pipeline that would carry oil derived from tar sands in western Canada to refineries along the Texas Gulf Coast.

Continue reading

Called Forward on Climate, the protest was described as the largest climate rally ever in the U.S.

This comes just days after members of a group including Robert F. Kennedy Jr., Julian Bond, Bill McKibben, and Daryl Hannah were arrested for protesting the pipeline project in front of the White House on Wednesday.

In San Francisco, organizers say members of 65 Bay area groups including the Sierra Club, Greenpeace and 350.org held a rally outside of a U.S. Department of State office to coincide with the demonstration in D.C.

The proposed 1700-mile pipeline is in the midst of a complex permitting process and must be approved by the State Department and the president.