The highly anticipated People’s Climate March this past Sunday in New York City has come and gone. With a turnout of more than 300,000 people, hopefully a new era will be ushered in.
The highly anticipated People’s Climate March this past Sunday in New York City has come and gone. With a turnout of more than 300,000 people, hopefully a new era will be ushered in.
Many notable people were in attendance, including United Nations Secretary General Ban Ki-moon, former Vice President Al Gore, dozens of labor unions and religious groups, and many more impassioned voices like Robert Kennedy Jr., Leonardo DiCaprio and former president of Ireland Mary Robinson.
With the number of people growing by the second, the march was chaotic at times. However, it was beautiful that so many people showed up. Organizers had to act quickly to keep the march under control but the sheer numbers of people will hopefully have sent the message to the UN summit on climate change.
Secretary of State John Kerry believes in this fight for climate control, and called on the world’s biggest economies to fight climate change at an economics forum in which he said, “We can already see climate refugees, and in some places fighting over water. This has an immediacy people need to understand.” The forum had 20 foreign prime ministers of the world’s largest economies.
The climate march not only represents the world as whole but those who feel the effects of climate change on a daily basis. Among them are Kentucky miners, represented by retired workers with coal worker’s pneumoconiosis, or black lung, which is caused by long exposure to coal dust. Also, there are New Hampshire workers who extract maple syrup from trees who will be out of a job if temperatures keep rising. Climate change affects us all at some level and will do so even more in the future if we don’t start changing now.
Some protesters held “Don’t frack with us” signs to fight against fracking, a problematic practice that hits close to home for us in Athens County and Ohio. An event of this stature will hopefully cause a trickle-down effect to support all climate change efforts on a small scale. Climate change starts with everyday people and can gain power by showing that this is what the people want. “100% for the 100%” was another common sign at the march that calls for 100 percent clean, renewable energy for all people.
Overall, the climate march set out to be the voice for clean energy. Now that the march is over, I hope world leaders will see the urgency of this issue and will listen to what the people want: a planet that is working in unison to keep our environment healthy so we can prosper for many more years to come. It will be a long and tough road, but change starts in the everyday lives of those who care about our beautiful home.
Grant Stover is a sophomore studying English and a concerned environmentalist. Email him at gs 155412@ohio.edu.
