If you haven't already heard, there is a mobilization occurring for the People's Climate March on Sunday September 21, 2014 in New York City. Along with other students and concerned citizens, I will being going down on a bus provided by RPI, and I'm excited! This will be the first large demonstration I've ever taken part in, and from looking at the flyer they posted on facebook below, it's going to be an enormous amount of people. To be honest it makes me a little worried... but I know that going will be worth it.
The People's Climate March is to bring people that recognize in diverse ways that climate change and global warming is a major issue. The march was planned on Sunday to coincide with the UN Climate Summit being held with world leaders in NYC on Tuesday September 23. The point of the march is to bring awareness to the issue of climate change, all the issues that are involved in the systems around climate change, and to show the public that yes, the people are concerned and want our world leaders to stop debating and start acting. Now.
Leading up to this event, because I joined the event on facebook, I have been receiving updates on what the plans were, what I needed to prepare, transportation for how to get there and back, information on where I could stay, etc. This march was extremely well organized. I initially signed up because I had gotten an email from 350.org asking me to months ago, and being a big supporter of Bill McKibben's work raising awareness on climate change, I was in.
Leading up to this event, because I joined the event on facebook, I have been receiving updates on what the plans were, what I needed to prepare, transportation for how to get there and back, information on where I could stay, etc. This march was extremely well organized. I initially signed up because I had gotten an email from 350.org asking me to months ago, and being a big supporter of Bill McKibben's work raising awareness on climate change, I was in.
Then in my Energy Politics class we watched the film below called Disruption by Kelly Nyks & Jared P. Scott. I have watched a lot of movies and documentaries on environmental issues and sustainability, and I felt this movie was executed very well. The film went through the timeline of when scientists started notifying and advising officials that climate change was a serious issue and of when and how our government and the public started to really listen to them. It also told viewers when and why the People's Climate March was happening, the importance of a march, and went through a countdown of the days preceding the I was extremely impressed by the quality and variety of experts that took part, including Naomi Klein, Chris Hayes, Bill McKibben, Dr. Heidi Cullen, Van Jones, Dr. James Hansen and more. Not surprisingly it was made by the same team that made 'Do the Math' for 350.org.
There were other events in NYC leading up to the march on Sunday, but since I am a student that lives up in Troy I had to rely on RPI's bus to bring us down. Otherwise I would have done more to contribute and would have gone to more events to show my support, and you have to question how these sort of things affect the outcome of a movement like this. Do people have the means to get there? Do they have other obligations they couldn't put off?
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