SALT LAKE CITY (KTVX/NEXSTAR) — Hundreds of snowmen surrounded the Utah State Capitol on Sunday in a climate protest targeting Sen. Mitt Romney.
Sending a message to the Utah Republican, many of the more than 200 snowmen held signs demanding a price on carbon to save their “endangered species.”
The snowmen were also seen displaying Twitter handle @pricecarbonplz, a Twitter account known for highlighting snowmen from across the country also demanding a price on carbon.
Carbon pricing is a market-based strategy for lowering global warming emissions aimed at putting a monetary value on carbon emissions.
Romney, a former GOP presidential nominee, has acknowledged climate change before, saying he believes climate change is happening and human activity is a significant contributor.
Nick Huey, a spokesman for a group called “PriceCarbonPlz,” said he and about 50 others built the snowmen.
“The biggest message about climate change that I have as a registered Republican is that climate change is not political,” Huey said. “What could be political are the solutions, but that’s why we need to be working together to solve it. It’s a bummer it got politicized, but Republicans have a lot to offer.”
Polls have shown that climate change is a top issue for Democrats, but it barely registers for Republicans overall, though a generational divide is growing, NPR reported.
Last week, doppelganger snowmen also appeared outside Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer’s New York office demanding climate action, according to a press release.
Officials said it wasn’t immediately clear whether the Utah Capitol building faculty would attempt to remove the snowmen, but a spokesperson for the group said the snowmen will be gone by Monday afternoon.
