Over 200,000 demonstrators took part in the People’s Climate March in Washington, D.C. last Saturday. Forty-three of these protesters, who walked across the National Mall before moving down Pennsylvania Avenue to surround the White House, traveled from Binghamton.

The group, which included faculty and graduate students from Binghamton University, traveled to the nation’s capital to show their disapproval of the current administration’s environmental policies on the 100th day of Donald Trump’s presidency. The bus trip was organized by the Susquehanna Group, an organization committed to environmental advocacy in Broome, Chenango and Delaware counties, primarily.

The Susquehanna Group acts as a local chapter of the Sierra Club, a national environmental organization. According to Susquehanna Group Chair Scott Lauffer, the group aims to explore and protect the earth and educate the larger population about the dangers humans can pose to the environment. Lauffer said members of the group traveled to Washington because they find many of Trump’s environmental policies alarming, particularly those involving the United States’ potential withdrawal from the Paris Agreement and the dismantling of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.

“There’s some horrible things going on,” Lauffer said. “If we can survive four years of it, maybe the damage can be kept to a minimum. But all along it’s been about keeping the damage of climate change to a minimum.”

Lauffer said he did not have much confidence that the current administration will change its stance on climate change, but that the American people have an opportunity to take a stand by electing representatives who believe in environmental action.

“When we march and rally I think we’re talking more to the public and kind of trying to get media exposure,” Lauffer said. “In 2018, the next big election that’s not that far off, we can do a lot with a change in Congress and the Senate to stymie some of Trump’s plans.”

Carl Lipo, director of the environmental studies program at BU, echoed Lauffer’s stance on the march and wrote in an email that demonstrations like the People’s Climate March are important in showing policymakers the will of the people.

“Whether or not any individual will make a direct change is not necessarily the point; the marches help to provide courage to those willing to stand up and take this issue seriously,” Lipo wrote. “It provides a measure of public support for citizens, business leaders and politicians who are willing to challenge the status quo.”

Devin DiGiacopo, a second-year graduate student studying biology, said he attended the march to protest the current administration making “a mockery” of science. DiGiacopo said he hoped the nation’s current policies would spur his fellow citizens to vote in the 2018 election.

“Large portions of the population were absent at the polls and now we are stuck with the current administration,” DiGiacopo said. “Until we get another chance to elect a reasonable leader, we need to be active and stand together to prevent the undermining of our nation’s people, resources and ideals.”