Backstage, Train frontman Patrick Monahan said he didn’t know much before about the environmental movement and the push to end extreme poverty. But now he wants to stay involved permanently.
“It’s about all of us being aware but getting our hands dirty because it’s not going to be an easy thing,” Monahan said.
Monahan said he’s been inspired by the charitable work of Coldplay’s Chris Martin and the Global Poverty Project, which has set a goal to end extreme poverty by 2030.
Patrick Stump and Pete Wentz from Fall Out Boy played some of their hits and said they wanted to show their fans everyone has a responsibility to help.
“How do you wake up every day knowing that a lot of these things are within our grasp and just kind of be like oh, ok, whatever,” Stump said. “It’s frustrating. But I think we’re here for the reality that it’s hopeful. We can actually do something. We can actually effect change.”
Wentz said issues around the environment and poverty will be as big as the citizens’ demand during the upcoming presidential campaign.
“We’re who elect our officials. We’re who empower them,” he said. “So if we care about them, and they’re important to us, then they’ll be important to the politicians running.”
The rally also touched on global health and development needs. The U.S. Agency for International Development announced from the stage that it will commit $126 million to rebuild West African health care systems that were broken by the Ebola outbreak. The U.S. government already has spent $1.4 billion on the crisis to support 10,000 humanitarian responders and to provide equipment, laboratories and training.
While Earth Day is officially on April 22, the Saturday rally asked participants to commit to making environmentally friendly “acts of green.” Organizers also asked attendees to sign petitions for a U.N. conference on climate change planned for Paris in December.