Group holds rally for environment

Step It Up, a national organization designed to make people aware of environmental issues, held a rally beside the University Alma Mater, Saturday.

"We are burning our oils faster than any time in history of the world," said Joe Futrelle, research coordinator for the National Center for Supercomputing Applications. "Policy is such that when we have more traffic, we build more roads. This has to be stopped."

Students and participants helped people sign up for the organization and write letters to politicians, urging for a change in climate regulations.

Misty Barron works for the State Natural History Survey at the University and helped organize the event. She said people could write their own letter or use a pre-written one to send in. After the rally, Step It Up plans to send the letters as a group to make more of a statement.

Throughout the rally, members held up signs such as "Congress, Step It Up" and "Too Hot to Handle."

"We need to change the way we live," said Walter Pituc, junior in LAS and the Green Party candidate for the seventh district of the Champaign County Board. "It is a complete lifestyle change."

While the government needs to begin taking actions to clean up the environment, some of the responsibility lies in the hands of the energy companies that profit from the use of fossil fuels and do their share of damage, said Futrelle, who plans to file as the Green Party candidate for the eighth district of the county board.

Urbana Mayor Laurel Prussing was also among the people that spoke at the rally.

Prussing discussed Urbana's strides to become more environmentally friendly and its recent recognition as one of the top 10 green cities in the United States.

"Even during our city meetings, we get water from the tap instead of bringing in other water," Prussing said.

She also gave some details on a new project the city is working on.

"The city is sponsoring a low income housing development and have hired a green architect from Chicago," Prussing said. "It is low income but energy efficient."

To save energy, Prussing told people at the rally to walk, bike or use public transportation to get to work, instead of driving every day. She added that people should try to keep thermostats on a low setting.

"We need to use natural things instead of power," she said.