Mayor John Hickenlooper told a rally Friday not to let the sputtering economy stifle efforts to switch the state and the nation to green energy.

"Today, this economy is kicking everybody in the gut," Hickenlooper told several hundred people on the west steps of the Capitol. "But it is exactly times like this that you have to stay focused and recognize that belief and optimism are the most important traits, the most important resources we have."

The rally was called to support efforts in Colorado and Washington, D. C., to pass legislation friendly to alternative energy.

At the legislature, HB 1126 by Rep. Dickie Lee Hullinghorst, D-Boulder, and HB 1149 by Rep. Michael Merrifield, D-Colorado Springs, encourage solar energy.

Merrifield told the rally that "people power" is needed to push the measures through.

Many people in the crowd carried signs backing solar or wind energy.

One read, "The answer comes up every morning," while another bore a picture of the sun and the words, "Stick it where the sun DOES shine."

Keith Hay of Environment Colorado, which helped organzize the rally, said the event was designed to show that people want "a green economic recovery."

"What we saw today is the power of the people to deliver the message that politicians will hear," Hay said.

morsonb@RockyMountainNews.com or 303-954-5209