Greenpeace is infamous for its insatiable appetite for inappropriate and illegal publicity stunts. They took a unique (and potentially dangerous) approach on Thursday, sending several climbers up Mt. Rushmore in the middle of the night to hang a giant banner that weighed in at 75lbs and was 65ft. high and 35 ft. wide! The massive poster featured a portrait of Obama and read, “America honors leaders not politicians: Stop Global Warming.”

The Mt. Rushmore banner was to serve as a plea to Obama to be a leader in establishing science-based global warming policy both in the U.S. and internationally at the UN climate change discussions to be held in Copenhagen this December.

The large majority of climate change scientists warn that we need to reduce our carbon emissions by 25-40% below 1990 levels by 2020 and 80-95% by 2050, or we risk crossing a tipping point that will bring about the worst impacts of global warming, including devastating floods, droughts, wildfires and storms.

The House of Representatives recently passed a climate bill, the American Clean Energy and Security Act (ACES), that sets carbon emission reduction targets far below those mandated by science.

This was just one of the many demonstrations Greenpeace has staged this week aimed at G8 leaders meeting in l”Aquila, Italy to discuss the global warming crisis, among other issues. On Thursday, activists rolled out another banner at an Italian coal-fired power station to underscore the need for G8 action on climate change. "G8 stop this!" read the banner, which was unfurled a day after more than 100 Greenpeace activists scaled the chimneys of four other coal-fired power stations around Italy.

You too can get involved in the effort to stop global warming. Check out Do Something's 27 simple things you can do!