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Marchers carried signs expressing their opinions about global warming.

SEATTLE - More than 1,000 people marched through downtown Seattle on Saturday in an effort to protect the planet.

The goal of "Step it up 2007" is to call on Congress to cut carbon emissions 80 percent by 2050.

"Things are happening faster than anyone expected. its like if your kid gets sick or you get cancer, you don't sit around and figure out exactly what the outcome is, it's you know it's time for me to do everything I can," said Mike O'Brien of the Sierra Club.

At a press conference in Seattle on Friday regarding global warming, local and national leaders vowed to find solutions.

"Some people would look at that and cities are the problem, but we think cities are going to be the solution," said Seattle Mayor Greg Nickels.

House speaker Nancy Pelosi is expecting results soon.

"I have asked all the committees of jurisdiction in the congress to have legislation to me by June 1 so that we can have an energy independence proposal by the Fourth of July," she said.

Seattle Mayor Greg Nickels is already prepared to get the ball rolling. He will launch the city's neighborhood protection fund later today. The fund will make available matching funds of up to $15,000 for community-based projects.

"For the first time in human history, more people live in cities than do not and two thirds of the energy consumed on our globe because we are the engines of our economy is consumed in cities," he said.

The march began at 2 p.m. at Occidental Park in Pioneer Square and ended at Myrtle Edwards Park on the waterfront.

Events were held in nearly three dozen cities in Washington State, from Spokane to Port Angeles.

Events were also planned throughout Oregon and Idaho and across the country.