AlterNet / By Cliff Weathers
Giant, Diverse Climate March Makes History, with Protests on Tap for Monday
Organizers say some 300,000 marchers made the climate action the largest in history, by far.
September 21, 2014 |
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.
Photo credit: Jeff Fox, StateoftheNet.net
Click to enlarge.
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.