There aren't many who can attract a crowd of 150 to talk about the environment on only a few days' notice, but U.S. Representative Edward Markey (D-Mass.) proved he is one of them when he spoke before a crowd in the World Court in Lemberg Friday.Markey, whose district includes Waltham, called on students to take on environmental issues, saying they will affect young people and this planet for years to come.

"We will need your energy, we will need your imagination, we will need your commitment in this effort," Markey said.

Students should be thinking about how they can "reverse the policies of the United States in regard to our contribution to the catastrophe which is unfolding not just for us but for the entire planet," he said.

The event, which was only announced days before, aimed to raise awareness about global climate change. After Markey's speech, participants were invited to eat "eco-friendly" snacks and sit for a screening of Al Gore's award winning documentary An Inconvenient Truth.

"There is no greater environmental champion in congress than Ed Markey," Prof. Dan Perlman (BIOL) said in his introduction of Markey, who was recently appointed chairman of the House Select Committee on Energy Independence and Global Warming. Markey spent much of his time Friday discussing some of the issues he hopes the committee will tackle in the next two years.

The Congressman, who drives a Toyota Camry hybrid that averages 40 miles per gallon, spoke about the steps the United States can take to reduce its use of energy and its environmental impact. He said that until this country takes such measures, however, we cannot expect others to make changes.

"You cannot preach temperance from a barstool," Markey said.

Markey said that when President Bush mentioned the words "climate change" in his State of the Union address, many people wondered what he actually meant by that in light of his administration's inaction in the area of global warming.

"So far there has been no significant elaboration by the president on this phrase and what he means by it," Markey said. "We don't know yet what the president meant and what he will do about it."

In the past six years, the Congress and the current administration failed to take the issue of climate change seriously, Markey said, noting that the administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency, currently Steve Johnson, did not testify once before Congress during the previous six years.

Markey also said that the president and Congress should have spent the last six years working to raise fuel-economy standards in Detroit. He said he balks at the argument that this would be too expensive, or even impossible, as Washington successfully forced the auto industry to double fuel-economy standards in the late 1970s under President Gerald Ford.

Markey also mentioned that the day before his talk at Brandeis, he held a press conference with Boston Mayor Thomas Menino in which Markey announced an initiative to reduce Boston's emissions by 80 percent by 2050.

"Boston now has two green monsters. One is at Fenway Park, and the other is the mayor of Boston," Markey said.

In the back of the room, a number of students held banners that read, "Step It Up Congress" and "Stop Global Warming."

The banners were made for a rally that was held the next day in Waltham Common to raise awareness about global climate change, according to Jamie Pottern '09. The rally was planned before Markey was invited to speak, she said.

Pottern said about 50 Brandeis students marched from the Shapiro Campus Center to the Moody Street bridge, which overlooks the historic mill that started the American industrial revolution, for a group picture.

The Brandeis students and other groups then went to the Common where a few bands performed, a petition was circulated and various speakers addressed the group including Mayor of Waltham, Democratic State Senator Susan Fargo and Prof. Eric Olson (Heller).