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PHOTO COURTESY OF SAM RUBIN

Pioneer Valley college students and others sleep out on the Boston Common during a protest there Sunday.

Valley climate change activists have been staging sleep-out protests on campuses and town commons over the past few weeks and on Sunday will be joined in Boston by environmental author and advocate Bill McKibben.

"We refuse to take comfort from homes, dorms and apartment buildings, which are powered by dirty electricity," said Sam Rubin, spokesperson for the Leadership Campaign, a state-based group concerned about climate change. "So we are sleeping out on college campuses across the state."

The group is asking state lawmakers, especially Gov. Deval Patrick, to take the lead on climate change prior to international negotiations in Copenhagen on Dec. 7.

"We are asking for the governor to institute a bill for 100 percent clean electricity within the next decade," Rubin said.

Rubin added in an email that a number of state representatives and senators, including state Rep. Peter Kocot, D-Northampton, all have signed on to a letter calling on Patrick to introduce this legislation.

Members from the Leadership Campaign also plan to meet with Patrick on Nov. 17.

On Sunday, McKibben, author of "Deep Economy" and "Fight Global Warming Now," will march with the group on Boston Common after giving a speech on climate change at Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

This past Sunday, more than 30 students from western Mass. colleges traveled to Boston to participate in a statewide sleep-out. Climate expert Dr. James Hansen, of NASA, joined them. Hansen first alerted the public about the dangers of climate change back in 1988.

Hansen addressed more than 150 students and community members gathered on the Boston commons.

"There exists the real potential for Massachusetts to lead the rest of our nation, and for a real change to begin here," said Hansen in a prepared statement.

On Monday, Hansen testified in front of the Senate Committee on Global Warming and Climate Change.

As congregating on the common after 11 p.m. is illegal, at around 1:10 a.m. Monday Boston police issued summons for trespassing to 67 students and community members, including Hansen, according to Rubin and Boston police.

"The police gave us a chance to disperse, but myself and over 80 of my compatriots chose to stay and receive a summons," said Mount Holyoke College student Leila Quinn in a statement. "We came to Boston common to re-power Massachusetts, no matter what they threw at us."

Asked what members of the community could do to help support the group, Rubin said, "We're always looking for supplies: tents, sleeping bags, tarps - as well as rides and food."