VERGENNES, Vt. (AP) – Marchers continued on a journey Friday that started a day earlier in Ripton and is to end Monday in Burlington to bring attention to global warming.

“It’s perhaps the largest single demonstration yet in this country against global warming,” said Bill McKibben, a Middlebury College environmental scholar whose book, “The End of Nature,” was among the first to present the problem to a popular audience.

Some 200 people from around the state and across the country joined the march and set off Thursday for the 49-mile trek from Ripton to Burlington, where a rally is set for Monday.

Organizers said a focus of the rally will be to urge statewide political candidates to endorse legislation recently introduced by Sen. James Jeffords, I-Vt., which calls for steep reductions in greenhouse gas emissions.

Several march participants said it marked a turning point.

Rebecca Sobel, state organizer of the Project HotSeat campaign for environmental activist group Greenpeace, said: “People no longer are questioning the science of global warming. They’re demanding solutions.”

The Vermont Public Interest Research Group used the event to issue a new report, “Rising to the Challenge: Six Steps to Cut Global Warming Pollution in the United States.”

Those steps include cutting back on vehicle travel, raising fuel economy standards to 40 mpg and getting 20 percent of electricity form renewable sources.

Raven Burchard of Brattleboro said political fighting must end and global warming must be dealt with squarely. “Politics won’t mean squat if we can’t survive on this planet,” Burchard said.

Organizers invited walkers to join them at any and all points, which are listed on a Web site devoted to the purpose.

“It’s really good to look around and see 8-month-olds and 80-year-olds,” McKibben said. “This is the most important issue on the planet. It feels really good to do something about it.”

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On the Net: www.vtwalc.org