UC Berkeley students from CALPIRG, Powershift, Avaaz, and other environmental groups hosted a flashmob of about fifty students Monday to raise awareness about global warming. The students, dressed in attention-demanding red,  gathered in Sproul Plaza where they set off their cell-phone alarms and and banged pots and pans, collectively ‘sounding the alarm’ on the issue. At least thirty students then called Senator Dianne Feinstein and President Obama on every available phone, urging them to support the American Clean Energy and Security Act (ACES) and take a strong stance against global warming in time for the UN Climate Change Conference in December.

"It's still a huge issue," said Katherine Lockwood, a sophomore who is co-coordinating CALPIRG's Global Warming Solutions campaign at UC Berkeley this semester. "But somehow a lot of our leaders have been focusing on other problems, and I really think this is one of our most pressing problems.  So we need to give them a wake-up call."

"What was really appealing to me was bringing together...different organizations," said junior Stephanie Rawlins, excited to see students teaming up in large numbers to take grassroots action.  Rawlins represents the groups Powershift and and Avaaz.

Many students who were not affiliated with any group also turned out, demonstrating their support of the issue.  "I'm showing up today because…I think it's really important that we're seeing a lot of smaller scale actions all over the country," said Bria Morgan, a graduate student studying forest and climate policy. "I'm just really excited to get more people involved and more people energized."
 
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