On Sunday, November 29 loud chants of “Get Up! Stand Up! Climate Justice Now!” echoed off the buildings of downtown Vancouver. Despite the frosty weather, over 6,000 people gathered as part of the Global Climate March coordinated actions taking place around the world that same day. Looking out at the diverse crowd of young and old protesters, colourful hand-made signs reading “System Change Not Climate Change,” or “Pipelines, No Fracking Way!” mixed with gigantic banners that spanned the entire street declaring “We can build a better future!”
The Global Climate March in Vancouver was organized and endorsed by over 70 groups including Fire This Time Movement for Social Justice (FTT) and Mobilization Against War and Occupation (MAWO) as well as many other Indigenous, environmental, social justice, antiwar, faith, student organizations numbers of labour unions. The program of action for the day began at 1pm with a dynamic program of speakers and local musicians MC’d by Shirley Samples of We Love This Coast and Kaschelle Thiessen of 350Vancouver.
By the time the march left for the streets, the plaza at the Vancouver Art Gallery had filled with people from all backgrounds, high school and college students, families, immigrants and workers. Together, they marched united for climate justice, chanting on a wide range of issues related to the destruction of the environment, from the development of liquefied natural gas industry, the expansion of fracking projects, Canada’s pipelines, tar sands and oil tankers, to legislated environmental protections and respect for Indigenous rights and sovereignty.
The action taking place in Vancouver was multiplied the world-wide, with over 2300 actions organized in 175 countries for the Global Climate March. The actions were coordinated to take place one day before the COP21 climate summit began in Paris, France. This summit, officially titled the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change to discuss climate change and the setting of carbon emissions targets.
Together the November 29 demonstrations brought the loud demand for climate justice to all the so-called “world leaders” gathered at the COP21 climate summit, which is in essence a meeting to save mother earth led by those governments that are in fact responsible for her destruction. An estimated 785,ooo people around the world protested and marched on the streets to raise the people’s voice against climate change and environmental degradation.
From the streets of Vancouver and Kyoto to São Paulo and Beruit, the Global Climate March was an important expression of unity in the face of the climate crisis facing humanity today. In order to win the fight to save mother earth we need more united actions in the streets!
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