The march was officially led by several Native American groups including Indigenous Environmental Network and the Ponca Nation. Despite freezing temperatures, the crowd was highly energetic, cheering on any calls to invest into wind and solar power to cut carbon emissions. The crowd maintained peace but could not help control their feelings of mistrust in the Obama government. “The time is right for this rally, we want president Obama to know that if he takes bold action to stabilize the climate and create jobs, the American people will get behind him,"
Citing damage from intense storms like Sandy, more intense and frequent wildfires and prolonged droughts, a coalition of national groups, including the American Meteorological Society and the American Fisheries Society, are calling for a national, science-based climate summit. Further, the American Meteorological Society is also going to hold climate science day on 27th Feb, to give the visiting members of the congress party, the best possible access to scientific information on climate science when making policy decisions.
This event has been gathering a lot of attention from India and around the world now. CEO Jatin Singh of Skymet Weather said, “Everybody has to start somewhere, not just the Americans, Indians too should have risen to the global warming and climatic change issue, a lot harder and a lot sooner, if not really rallying on the streets. It’s still not too late. India too needs to take more radical actions now about the rapid weather change. We can’t keep ignoring the climate crisis, it’s time for a serious world summit to call upon the issue.”
Photo by Juan Luis Loza.