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Posted: 7:29 AM- Salt Lake City put itself on the national map for climate change action by hosting the nation's largest event of 1,400 for Step It Up last spring.

Thousands flocked to Washington Square to hear the band Los Lobos and showed up at five other rally sites to learn what steps they can take to slow climate change.

A fall reprise of Step It Up is planned for more than 500 locations on Saturday. And, as local planners put the finishing touches on three Step It Up events in Utah, Salt Lake City Mayor Rocky Anderson has challenged all the nation's other mayors to do even better. His YouTube video challenge already has drawn a counter-challenge by the mayor of Berkeley, Calif.

Jordan Gates, environmental adviser to Anderson, said the mayor is committed to educating and motivating people on the issue although Saturday's crowd is expected to be a bit smaller than the spring's.

"We saw this as another opportunity for the city, that now is the time for people to step up and get involved," he said.

Last spring's campaign to spur personal and political action on climate change has a new, more political focus this fall: Organizers are working to draw more participation from decision-makers.

Step It Up has set up a storefront headquarters in downtown Manchester, N.H., the focus of presidential primary campaigning, to get noticed by the candidates themselves. In addition, participants have sent more than 10,000 invitations to political leaders, including the five members of Utah's congressional delegation. So far 32 members of Congress and four presidential candidates have said they will attend.

"At this point, none of the federal leaders [in Utah] have accepted our invitation," said Jamie Henn, the national coordinator of Step It Up.

Two Salt Lake City events are planned Saturday. One is a daytime gathering, 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. at Washington Square, which includes a pancake breakfast and youth poetry slam. The other is a panel discussion, 7-9 p.m., at the First Unitarian Church, 569 S. 1300 E., which will focus on stopping the construction of new coal plants.

Michael Mielke, one of the leaders behind the environmental action group Post Carbon Salt Lake and an organizer of the Salt Lake City events, said it is important for people to have a place they can come to find out what they can do on a personal and political level. He noted the health damage air pollution does to valley residents and the prospect that rapid climate change threatens our way of life.

"It's not a theoretical thing for me," he said of efforts like Step It Up. "It's personal. It's my children and not making them walk around in this polluted, chemical soup."

Mark Pittman, an electrical engineering student at Brigham Young University, said the event he's organizing for the corner of Center and State streets in Orem will be more of a rally.

"There won't be any speeches," he said, noting that there will be educational flyers and all the posters that participants are willing to bring.

Pittman said he hopes some Utah leaders - from city council members to the members of Congress - will come out for the 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. rally.

Whether Salt Lake City will be able to maintain its biggest-event standing for Step It Up 2 remains to be seen. Henn recalled how surprised national organizers were in April when they realized how successful Salt Lake City's festive, action-oriented event turned out to be.

"Salt Lake," he said, "completely blew us away."

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FactBox: More Step It Up information: To learn more about local activities, check the national web site, http://www.stepitup2007.org" Target="_BLANK">http://www.stepitup2007.org/. It includes information about the three Utah events on Saturday and on how to RSVP.

The Rocky Anderson challenge can be seen at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XEdkgCOMLuM" Target="_BLANK">http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XEdkgCOMLuM And the counter challenge by Berkeley, Calif., Mayor Tom Bates is at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ucg4wP-SL94" Target="_BLANK">http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ucg4wP-SL94