Mt. Rainier asks us to save the snow

On Saturday, July 17 at 7:30 a.m., four moms reached the peak of Washington's iconic Mt. Rainier in a healthy political statement about coal power and the future of children of the Northwest.

The four moms, all parents of children between the ages of 3-6 years old, climbed Rainier to call for the closing or conversion of the TransAlta coal plant near Centrailia by 2015. They are asking state leaders to get serious about converting the state to green energy to protect our National Parks, wildlife, and our global climate.

The TransAlta plant is already the target of a campaign to bring its pollution down to levels that comply with emerging federal standards.

The threatened glaciers of Mount Rainier served as the backdrop for the moms' message. View more photos from the climb here.

"Today, we demand that coal burning end in Washington," said climber Genevieve Raymond. "The Governor's plan to burn dirty coal for fifteen more years is unacceptable. The time to transition to clean energy is now."

Climber Jennifer Williams said, "Every hour of every day, lax regulations allow poisonous mercury to be dumped onto the glaciers and dirty carbon into the atmosphere. Our children are counting on us to transition to renewable energy now."

You can read the moms' diary of the climb and join their page of Facebook supporters.