Antinuclear

On Sunday 21 September, tens of thousands of people in Australia will join the global people’s march. Find out why from 350.org‘s Blair Palese. New York will be the focus of global “people’s marches” for climate action.

350.org is a global climate organisation that has rapidly expanded to become a leading voice across the world for action on climate change. Blair Palese is the Australian CEO of 350.org, and she has enormous experience in fossil fuel and oceans campaigning. 350.org is one of the primary organisers for the people’s march on 21 September, and Blair has written this guest blog to explain why tens of thousands of Australians will be marching.

This weekend will see be the biggest public climate event in history. More than 100,000 people will march in New York alone and hundreds of thousands of others will join them on the streets of 150 countries around the world, all calling for climate change action.

RT @350: Exactly 1 week to the #PeoplesClimate March worldwide – Will you be there? pic.twitter.com/gjrPZVf9Ud

This weekend also will see the heads of state from more than 125 countries, including Barack Obama and David Cameron gather in New York for a summit on climate change organised by Ban Ki Moon. This is the first time world leaders have come together on the issue since the landmark Copenhagen summit in 2009 and the UN Secretary General hopes the summit will inject new momentum to reach a global deal on cutting greenhouse gas emissions in Paris at the end of 2015.

Amazingly Australia’s our own prime minister, Tony Abbott, will be in New York for the UN Security Council meeting – no doubt to talk about war – but refuses to attend the Climate Summit. Although this may have come as a disappointment for the EU Commissioner for climate action, few in Australia are surprised as this government has already made its priorities and prejudices abundantly clear.

The fact that the Prime Minister of Australia, the world’s second largest exporter of coal, has chosen to shun this summit speaks volumes about why we need the People’s Climate Mobilisation. With global leaders so far failing to act in the world’s best interest to address climate change, it’s time for the global public to not only show that it is demanding change but that we will also act together to bring about the change we need.

People’s Climate events are planned in almost every continent in the world. In Bogata, Columbia, over 10,000 people are expected to join in a march through the capital calling for action. In rural Papua New Guinea, students from a primary school will march to a nearby lighthouse, recently semi-submerged due to rising sea levels. In Tanzania, the Maasai people plan to march, calling for action to protect their ancient homeland in the Serengeti. On the other side of the world, on the border between Vancouver and Seattle, thousands of people will link hands across the boundary to show that climate change knows no borders.

In Australia, an epic Climate March will convene in Melbourne with a group committed to walking 700 km along the eastern seaboard to Canberra, arriving at Parliament to raise awareness about climate impacts. There are over 30 People’s Climate events taking place in Melbourne, Sydney, Adelaide, Perth, Canberra and Brisbane, as well as on Magnetic Island on the Great Barrier Reef, in Alice Springs, Darwin and the remote mining town of Mount Isa. Organisations such as Get Up!, Avaaz, the Australian Youth Climate Coalition, Our Land Our Water Our Future and the Leard Alliance are working nationally to organise and support large and small events alike.

One of the most impressive things about the day and the 2,000 plus events taking place across the globe is not just the individuals organising and taking part but the thousands of organisations – including unions, medical professionals, faith, social justice and community groups and those fighting for the rights of immigrants, refugees and indigenous peoples, that have signed on. The People’s Climate Mobilisation is about how we use this opportunity to build the networks we need to demand global leadership and real action on climate change.