The first day of Washington's 2018 legislative session inside the House chambers started like most others, with just a few extra red shirts in the public viewing gallery.
Except, those wearing red suddenly stood up and started shouting across the room at each other: "We're in a climate crisis! We need to act now!"
The activists were promptly escorted out.
"I guess we'll have to leave now. I don't want to leave," said Kathy Mahan.
"We want them all together. We want them to know that we're passionate," Rachael Hogan added.
The rally cry continued outside the Capitol building, as four large teepees set-up on the lawn called for action. They want tougher regulations on carbon emissions and more investment in alternative fuel.
"To stand up and say, we will not allow this. We cannot have any more new fossil fuel infrastructure and we have to be on a path toward 100% renewables in the next 10 years," said Emily Johnston of 350 Seattle.
Johnston expects a lot more action like it this year. Activists have shut down banks, turned off oil pipelines, and they plan to get more aggressive.
Climate scientists have called for serious reductions in carbon emissions by 2020 in order to keep global temperatures from rising 2-degrees celcius, that point at which most argue the Earth will witness severe environmental consequences.
"We can make their lives really difficult and we intend to do that. We definitely intend to make life difficult for the representatives in the legislature if they don't heed the importance of this moment in time and recognize that we're in an emergency," Johnston said.
