Last week, I was one of more than 2,000 Vermonters who traveled to New York for the People’s Climate March. Spearheaded by Bill McKibben’s 350-dot-org and planned to coincide with the United Nations Climate Summit, 400-thousand people hit the streets of New York calling for climate justice.
More than 2,800 solidarity events took place around the world in over 160 countries, making this the largest day of climate action in history. Wearing green for our Green Mountain State, Vermonters young and old marched with friends, families, environmental groups, faith organizations, unions, social justice groups, businesses, and government leaders including Bernie Sanders. In fact, Vermont had one of the highest per capita representation of any state in the nation.
People held signs, many of them creatively hand-made, to “Ban fracking” and “Tax carbon,” to “Save the humans” by demanding “People over profit.” Cloth banners stretching a full block read “Divest from fossil fuels” and “To change everything, it takes everyone.” There were marching bands, megaphones, drummers, and people chanting, “Climate justice NOW!”
Although my two-year-old daughter stayed home with my wife, she provided inspiration and motivation. Our future generations will pay a higher price for today’s inaction.
Climate change also disproportionately impacts people of color and the poor. Therefore, it’s not only an environmental issue, but also a race, class, and human rights issue.
People from all walks of life united to march for this common cause. There were indigenous people, frontline communities, scientists in white lab coats, anarchists, socialists, war-tax resisters, farmers, conservationists, vegans, anti-nuke protesters, LGBTQ activists, the raging grannies, and a group of people walking for climate action from L.A to D.C. There were pregnant women, young children, hordes of teens, buses from colleges, fathers carrying babies, and elderly people transported on pedi-cabs. The multi-generational and multi-racial diversity was astounding.
Organizers planned to begin marching at 11:30, but the massive crowds created a bottleneck. We stood for hours in the streets along Central Park West, connecting with friends and strangers. A nine-year-old girl from Indy Media collected stories for a newspaper article. Another marcher handed me her notebook, so I could write down one hope and one fear related to climate change: I shared how I fear catastrophic extinction, while I hope the people’s voices will inspire global political action.
Then, at exactly 12:58, there were two minutes of silence that spread like a wave throughout the miles-long march route. Our silent solidarity was followed by a noisy alarm call to action. The roar that swept through the multitudes became the sound of democracy!
