Over 300,000 people gathered on the National Mall for the 45th annual Earth Day event April 18. The non-profit organization Global Citizen sponsored the free event in an effort to advocate the mitigation of global climate change and reduction of worldwide poverty.

Musicians such as Usher, Train, Fall Out Boy, My Morning Jacket and Mary J. Blige headlined the performance.

Kathleen Rogers, president of Earth Day Network and event organizer, discussed the goal of the event, emphasizing advocacy.

“We’re trying to join together the poverty world and the environmental world into one movement, so we can create a bigger, broader group of people who are talking to and pressuring government to do something about climate change and poverty,” Rogers said in an interview.

Several environmental advocacy and poverty organizations funded this event, including The Global Call for Climate Action and Boxed Water is Better.

“Our company is trying to raise awareness for an issue, climate change, that touches us all in different ways,” said Andrew Schenkel, managing editor of The Global Call for Climate Action.

Boxed Water is Better, a company attempting to eliminate plastic bottles, supplied water in an environmentally-friendly alternative.

“We created a carton that is 100 percent recyclable and 76 percent biodegradable,” said Matt Bloom, District Manager of Boxed Water is Better. “If the whole world used boxed water it would have a huge impact on carbon emissions—it will reduce so much waste in the landfill.”

Musicians and performers spoke out to promote the importance of being aware about poverty and climate change.

To end their performance, Train covered the song “Dream On,” emphasizing the lyrics “Dream on, dream until your dream comes true” to encourage the audience to protect the environment and to have hope that poverty can be eliminated.

Usher, one of the musicians who performed, discussed how young people need to be taught about the issues occurring in the world.

“To end poverty, it starts with the education about it,” Usher said.

The concert also educated its listeners about what is truly happening to the environment, sophomore Devin Pierce said.

“After listening to all the issues on the world we live in, it really opened my eyes on how much we need change,” she said.

As the event came to a close, Rogers explained that the goal of Earth Day is to emphasize the importance of taking care of the environment and ending poverty, which is meant to influence people to make changes in their own lives.

“We’re not going to fix the world with a concert or singular action,” Schenkel said. “Solving problems means countless little actions.”