Hundreds of Maritimers marched through communities on Sunday as part of the international day of action on climate change.

Attendees and organizers came together with hopes of showing Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and other world leaders the importance of protecting the environment.

"Climate change is something that's going to impact our planet for a long time and if we're going to ruin our environment, the entire world will pay for it in the future,” said student and attendee Leon Yu.

Dozens gathered in Saint John to voice their concerns.

"Tomorrow several countries in the world are getting together to negotiate the better targets forcombat climate change, and we are asking the Prime Minister Trudeau to please come to the stage and take leadership and help us to transition from a fossil fuel economy to an economy that uses the sun, wind and renewable," said organizer Leticia Adair.

Saint John is the proposed destination for the Energy East pipeline, a fact not lost on those attending Sunday’s rally.

"Energy East will really increase the amount of greenhouse gases incredibly, because all of it is coming from the tar sands which are the worst polluters in Canada. So we would like this to stop," said Adair.

Similar events were held in other parts of the region, including Halifax where hundreds gathered in Victoria Park.

Organizers say we're already feeling the effects of climate change.

“We've had a pine beetle infestation devastating forests in western Canada. We've had huge storms that have created problems in different parts of the world, and droughts. It's very clear that action on climate change is needed,” said volunteer organizer Brian Gifford.

Policies protecting the environment and focus on renewable and sustainable energy solutions are what environmentalists say they want to see come from the 12 day summit.

New Brunswick Premier Brian Gallant will be at Monday’s summit. He has stated he is in favour of the Energy East pipeline, but those at the rally say they're still hopeful he will change his mind.

With files from CTV Atlantic’s Ashley Blackford.