Organizers say some 300,000 marchers made the climate action the largest in history, by far.
Photo Credit: Climate Action International, Flickr; Additional photos: Jeff Fox, StateoftheNet.net
September 21, 2014
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Organizers claim that more than 310,000 people attended
the People’s Climate March in New York City on Sunday. And while it
might not have been that big, it certainly was immense and
easily the largest climate action in world history with people attending
from across the United States and around the world, with 2,808 other
climate rallies held today in more than 150 countries.
The
New York march was attended by notable figures in politics,
entertainment, science and the environmental movement, including Former
Vice President Al Gore, U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon,
primatologist Jane Goodall, New York Mayor Bill de Blasio, Rep. Keith
Ellision (D-MN), Sens. Bernie Sanders (D-VT), Charles Schumer (D-NY) and
Sheldon Whitehouse (D-RI), actors Mark Ruffalo, Ed Norton, Evangeline
Lily, and Leonardo DiCaprio, rock icon Sting, and activist Robert F.
Kennedy, Jr.
“I'm here primarily for my children,” said
Ruffalo to the media, “I want to see the leaders of the world hear the
will of the people and begin to implement 100% renewable energy for 100%
of the people.” Ruffalo heads the environmental organization
Water Defense, and he marched alongside indigenous people.
Rep.
Ellison gave an impassioned speech, where he called for a Robin Hood
Tax — a tax on Wall Street also known as a financial transaction tax —
as a key solution to addressing the climate crisis. The congressman said
it would be a relatively tiny tax on trades of stocks, bonds and other
financial instruments that would generate hundreds of billions of
dollars of new revenue.
Ellison says that the tax “would
raise funds to help communities deal with the devastating effects of a
rapidly changing climate and curb harmful high frequency trading.”
Thousands
of environmental groups, labor, social justice and civic organizations
from across the U.S. were represented from as far away as Alaska. Groups
also attended from Canada, Mexico, China, India, Senegal, Zimbabwe,
Turkey and South Africa.
Before the parade began,
indigenous leaders hosted a prayer ceremony at sunrise. Later in the
morning, various labor, faith, and environmental groups held their
individual rallies along the route before joining the route along
Central Park West and south of Columbus Circle on Broadway.
Marchers
carried some imaginative and humorous signs, reminiscent of the
artwork carried during the Occupy Wall Street movement. They included:
"There is No Planet B," "Treat The Earth like UrAnus, Keep it Clean,"
and "I Couldn't Afford a Politician, so I bought this sign."
The
parade itself began at 11:30 A.M., and there was a moment of silence at
1 P.M. to recognize those who have been adversely affected by climate
change. The moment of silence was followed by boisterous cheering and
music making from the attendees and marching bands along the route.
However, not everything went smoothly. The unexpected high turnout made
it less of a march and more of a "stand" north of Columbus Circle. At
79th St. and Central Park West, marchers stood and waited until 1:45
p.m. to move south along the route. At times, the parade stretched more
than 4 miles.
The front of the march arrived at a
Climate Block Party on 11th Avenue near the Jacob K. Javitz Convention
Center after 2:30 p.m. Marchers used the "block party" to plan for
future climate actions and to view some of the artwork, signs, floats
and banners used during the march.
The
rally comes just two days before the United Nations hosts many of the
world's leaders at its Climate Summit in New York. Leaders of India and
China, however, will not be attending.
The Obama Administration addressed the climate action and Tuesday’s Summit with a statement:
"We
are taking this summit seriously, both to show the world that the
United States is committed to leading the fight about climate change and
to call on the other leaders to step up to the plate and to raise their
level of ambition to take on climate change," said Counselor to the
President John Podesta.
Many of the marchers—including those visiting from out-of-state—indicated that they would likely take part in the
Flood Wall Street
protest, which begins at Battery Park tomorrow and ends with an
early-afternoon sit-in on the streets in the financial district in lower
Manhattan.
Cliff Weathers is a
senior editor at AlterNet, covering environmental and consumer issues.
He is a former deputy editor at Consumer Reports. His work has also
appeared in Salon, Car and Driver, Playboy, and Detroit Monthly among
other publications. Follow him on Twitter @cliffweathers and on Facebook.
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