Guardian: “From Melbourne to Manhattan, tens of thousands of people took to the streets on Sunday to stage the biggest display of popular support for climate action ever seen, and demand that their leaders take action.”
“The day of protests, which organisers claimed involved some 2,700 events in 161 countries, came on the eve of the first United Nations leaders’ summit on climate change in five years.
In Manhattan, a noisy, hopeful cavalcade of protesters – led by Hurricane Sandy survivors carrying placards of sunflowers and native Americans in traditional headdresses – took over the streets of midtown, juggling, singing, blowing synagogue shofars, whistling and beating drums, with biodiesel powered floats chugging along.
“I think it will make a difference,” said Tashina Red Hawk, aged 10, who wore intricately beaded traditional Sioux Indian dress, and who lives on the Rosebud reservation in South Dakota. “But it would still be good to do all kinds of other stuff.”
In London, organisers said 40,000 had marched through the city to the Houses of Parliament. The protest was peaceful, although loud jeers rose up as the crowd passed both Downing Street and the Department of Energy and Climate Change.
….But the agenda for Tuesday’s gathering is uncertain. The UN has said repeatedly the gathering is not a negotiation. That will take place in Lima in two months’ time, when diplomats will enter the final stretch of long and difficult negotiations aimed at reaching an international agreement to cut the greenhouse gases that cause climate change by the time of a Paris conference in late 2015.
….Sunday’s protests were at the very least an organising triumph for Avaaz, 350.organd a new breed of climate activists who are trying to reach out beyond traditional green constituencies.
The day started in Melbourne, where demonstrators carried their giant Tony Abbott puppet in protest at his repeal of the carbon price.
The usual call-and-response of “What do we want? Climate action. When do we want it? Now” was revised to “10 years ago”, by a crowd that felt it had already fought this battle.”
Tree Alerts:
– The People’s Climate March in New York is the largest call for action on global warming in history, with at least 310,000 people packing the streets of the city. The sheer size of the march completely eclipsed all expectations, with lines of people filling up more than 30 blocks of Manhattan. To change everything, we need everyone, and as “everyone showed up”, the pressure is now on government leaders to listen and act.
– Along with those in New York, more than half a million people around the world took to streets to demand real action from their leaders. From the crowded streets of New Delhi, to Melbourne, Johannesburg, Rio de Janeiro, London, Paris, Brussels and Berlin, people in more than 156 countries joined 2646 events and rallies calling for policies that address climate change. The fact that this is also one of the most diverse public movements in history demonstrates the broad public consensus on the need for swift, concerted action globally.
– With the UN Climate Leaders Summit kicking off on Tuesday, world leaders simply cannot ignore such an unprecedented and resounding call to address the climate crisis. It is now up to Heads of States to accelerate the transition to clean energy sources and rapidly phase out dirty fossil fuels. If leaders from around the world harness the momentum generated by the half million who took to the streets this weekend and the more than two million calling for a 100 per cent renewable energy future, then there is still time left to avoid the most dangerous and costly impacts of climate change.
Future Today
