San Antonio Express-News

By Jenny Lacoste-Caputo

Read the full article at www.mysa.com.

Nearly 200 people worried about climate control gathered in front of the Alamo on Saturday as part of a nationwide rally encouraging U.S. lawmakers to enact legislation to cut carbon dioxide emissions.

More than 1,300 Step it Up rallies were held around the country, including on levees in New Orleans, on top of melting glaciers on Mount Rainier in Washington state and even underwater at endangered coral reefs off Key West, Fla.

In San Antonio, state Rep. Mike Villarreal told the crowd about pending legislation in the Texas House of Representatives, including his bill that encourages the use of green building for Texas public schools, a bill by Rep. Lon Burnam, D-Fort Worth, that would establish a global warming task force for Texas and one from San Antonio Republican Rep. Joe Straus that would require solar power panels for new public schools.

"We can choose to act now or we can miss this chance," said Villarreal, D-San Antonio.

Bexar County Commissioner Tommy Adkisson, Rose Ryan, San Antonio's interim director of environmental services, and Bill Sinkin, founder of the nonprofit group Solar San Antonio, also spoke, touting local success stories such as a solar-powered water heating system in the Bexar County Jail annex and the city's recycling program.

Event organizer Heather DeGrella, a board member for the local chapter of the U.S. Green Building Council, said lawmakers need to realize global warming is a threat that many Americans are taking seriously and that they want action. "We want to get a message to Congress," she said.'
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jcaputo@express-news.net