The Ohio Valley Environmental Coalition sponsored the Ohio River Rising Huntington Rise for Climate Rally Saturday.  Huntington community members attended in support of environmental protections.  This comes after President Donald Trump rolled back environmental rules that aimed to reduce carbon emissions in West Virginia.

Attendee Warren Whitaker said he capitalized upon the opportunity to express his opinions on political issues.

“The man is against everything I believe in,” Whitaker said.

The rally offered a place for people who oppose the president’s stance on environmental protections to express their concern.

“If we don’t share what we think is important in the world we can’t be an inspiration to younger people,” Judith Deutsch, who attended the event, said.

Judith and her husband Leonard Deutsch both mentioned their concern about the lack of younger people at the rally.

“Young people are going to inherit this planet from us,” Leonard Deutsch said.

Bob McAllister, an aide to Al Gore’s environmental policy team during the 2000 election, spoke at the event.

“This isn’t only a planet problem, it is a political problem,” McAllister said. “We aren’t winning fast enough. We’ve got to convince the people of Appalachia that there is a better future.”

OVEC is sponsoring a ‘Treehugger’s Ball’ Sept. 15 at 3 p.m. at Bahnhof WVrsthaus restaurant on Seventh Avenue in Huntington.

Meg Keller can be contacted at [email protected].