A Tale of Two Marches

The March for Science in Washington, DC, on April 22, 2017.

Front banner at the March for Science in Washington, DC, on April 22, 2017.

Front banner from the People's Climate March in Washington, DC, on April 29, 2015.

Front banner on the left side of Pennsylvania Avenue at the People’s Climate March in Washington, DC, on April 29, 2015.

One banner from the People's Climate March in Washington, DC, on April 29, 2017.

Front banner on the right side of Pennsylvania Avenue at the People’s Climate March in Washington, DC, on April 29, 2017.

April is Earth Month – which under a Trump administration means a lot of environmental activism. This year saw two historic marches in Washington, DC, each with sister marches around the country: the March for Science and the People’s Climate March.

A denier dinosaur at the March for Science.

A denier dinosaur at the March for Science.

I had planned to go to the March for Science in Columbus, where thousands of people said they planned to attend, then go to Washington for the People’s Climate March.  But when a family gathering unexpectedly pulled me to North Carolina, my husband, Paul, and I decided to go to Washington for both marches. It was a grueling but rewarding experience.

The weather at the two marches could not have been more different. On April 22, it was cold, rainy, and windy at the March for Science. I hadn’t brought an umbrella, and ended up buying one from a street vendor. Even so my clothes, shoes and everything inside my backpack got soaked.

Marcher at March for Science.

Marcher at March for Science.

The rain didn’t seem to depress turnout. We arrived at the Washington Monument as the pre-march rally was getting under way. There was just one checkpoint to have bags searched, and the line to get in ran for dozens of blocks. Instead, we took refuge inside a tent that had wifi, where I plugged in my phone and watched the speakers through the live feed from Democracy Now.

When it came time to march, Paul ran out to get some photos at the front of the lineup. I lingered behind to take photos of people’s signs. The signs were unique and creative, based on specific areas of science or supporting science, facts, and evidence in general. These were people who had spent a long time studying in their fields and were proud of their accomplishments.

A sign left at the Capitol building.

A sign left at the Capitol building.

Eventually I worked my way out of the crowd to find the march had already started. So I ran down Constitution Avenue for what seemed like forever, and got in front of the lineup at the intersection with Pennsylvania. There I was able to get a few photos of the parade banner, where if you look closely, you can see Bill Nye and climate scientist Michael Mann leading the charge. I also got 20 minutes of video of the march until my phone batter ran out.

The March for Science ended at the U.S. Capitol, where I continued to get photos of people and their signs. Despite the rain, the mood was happy and defiant. People gathered in drum circles to chant “This is what peer review looks like” and wore dinosaur costumes with signs saying “The meteor is a Chinese hoax.” Many signs were left on the fence of the Capitol building as a message to those inside.

You can see a slideshow of 142 photos I took at the March for Science below.

March for Science, Washington, DC

People’s Climate March

Whereas weather during the March for Science was cold and wet, it was hot and sunny a week later for the People’s Climate March. The temperature hit 91 degrees F, tying a record for April 29 in Washington, DC. Marchers were told to bring sunscreen, which we did. Despite using an SPF 70, the sunscreen sweated off, and I got sunburned enough to peel on my face and arms.

The Indigenous Rights banner at the People's Climate March.

The Indigenous Rights banner at the People’s Climate March.

Still, it was an incredible experience.  We arrived an hour before the march began and got to take lots of photos at the lineup on Pennsylvania Avenue near the Capitol building. Environmental justice was a huge theme of the march, with the Protectors of Justice –indigenous communities and people of color who are at the frontlines of climate change – leading the charge.

The CO2LONIALISM wagon at the People's Climate March.

The CO2LONIALISM wagon at the People’s Climate March.

Some particularly notable displays included the CO2LONIALISM wagon shot full of arrows depicting sovereignty, language, reparations, and feminism; the 10-foot puppet of murdered Honduran environmental activist Berta Caceres; and the many colorful parachute banners.

The lineup wound down Pennsylvania Avenue, turning on Third Street in front of the Capitol, then on Jefferson down the Washington Mall. After the Protectors of Justice were

  • Creators of Sanctuary – immigrants, LGBTQUI, women, Latinos, waterkeepers, food sovereignty and land rights
  • Builders of Democracy – labor, government, workers, voting rights, and democracy groups
  • Guardians of the Future – kids, parents, elders, youth, students, and peace activists
  • Defenders of Truth – scientists, educators, technologists, and health community
  • Keepers of Faith – religious and interfaith groups
  • Reshapers of Power – anti-corporate, anti-nuclear, fossil fuel resistance, renewable energy and transportation
  • Many Struggles, One Home – environmentalists, climate activists, and more
Resist banner near Trump International Hotel in Washington, DC.

Resist banner near Trump International Hotel in Washington, DC.

I tried again to take a video of the entire march, this time getting three 20-minute videos before running out of space. After clearing off a few things, I joined the march and quickly found myself among chants of “Hey hey! Ho ho! Donald Trump has got to go!” at Trump International Hotel – the same spot where people shouted “Shame! Shame!” during the Women’s March.

The next stop for the climate march was the White House. Marchers came up Pennsylvania Avenue, then turned up 15th Street NW to Lafayette Square. On the way they encountered the large “Climate Change Affects Us All” chalkboard that had made its debut at the 2014 People’s Climate March in New York City, along with the large Mercy for Earth balloon and a display of members of the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission as puppets of the oil industry.

The Climate Change Affects Us All chalkboard made its debut at the People's Climate March in New York City in 2014.

The Climate Change Affects Us All chalkboard made its debut at the People’s Climate March in New York City in 2014.

By the time I got to Lafayette Square, I was exhausted. Everyone was sitting down, and I found a place in the shade to rest and put on more sunscreen. Finding my husband took a while, and finding water took even longer. I had long since consumed the water I had brought, and saw no water on the march route. Unfortunately there were only a few street vendors with water, all with long lines. Finally a police officer sitting in his air conditioned SUV gave me a bottle of water. He must have felt sorry for me – and might not have done the same for a person of color.

The climate ribbon display was also in Paris during the 2015 climate conference.

The climate ribbon display was also in Paris during the 2015 climate conference.

That water allowed me to finish the march and stay for the rally at the Washington Monument, full circle from where we had begun the week before at the March for Science. The rally featured indigenous leaders, music, and a long list of speakers including the children who had touched off resistance to the Dakota Access Pipeline by running from Standing Rock to Washington, DC.

The climate ribbon tree that I saw at the climate conference in Paris was there, with people hanging ribbons for what they did not want to lose to climate change. Then everyone left their signs in front of the Washington Monument arranged to spell out “Climate Jobs Justice.” The crowd was buzzed a couple of times by low-flying helicopters from the White House.

You can see a slideshow of 170 photos I took at the People’s Climate March below.

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An assessment

A marcher at the rally after the People's Climate March.

A marcher at the rally after the People’s Climate March.

What do these two marches mean? First, they show the widespread public support for policy based on science and evidence, and for action to address climate change. About 1.1 million people marched for science on April 22, with 100,000 in Washington, DC. Over 200,000 people marched for climate in Washington on April 29, with 370 sister marches around the country.

Polls show that the vast majority of people think science has improved their lives and support public funding for science, while concern for climate change is at an eight-year high. Large majorities of Americans, including a majority of Trump voters, support action on climate.

A sign left at the U.S. Capitol after the March for Science.

A sign left at the U.S. Capitol after the March for Science.

Will Trump or his cabinet to listen? Not likely. As of this writing, Trump’s administration has issued a series of disastrous orders regarding climate and environment, and he is close to pulling out of the Paris climate agreement.

Fortunately, we don’t need Trump to start taking action on climate. Some things you can do in your individual life include:

  • Bike, walk, or take public transportation to work
  • Trade your gas car for a hybrid or electric vehicle
  • Get an energy audit for your home
  • Ask your utility about energy from renewables
  • Eat less meat or eliminate meat consumption altogether

You can also act to change things on a collective level. Some ideas are:

  • Join the Sierra Club or another environmental group and sign up for action alerts. Sierra Club has a rapid response team to keep you posted on actions and events in your area.
  • Save phone numbers for your U.S. and state representatives into the favorites on your phone so you can call them quickly and easily when news breaks out.
  • Find and follow your local Indivisible or progressive group on social media.
A sign left near the Washington Monument after the People's Climate March.

A sign left near the Washington Monument after the People’s Climate March.

One promising front in the climate campaign is cities. Urban areas are responsible for 70% of carbon emissions, and 90% of cities are at risk from climate change. At the Paris climate conference, 1000 cities across the world pledged to go 100% renewable by 2050. Now that movement is coming to the United States with the Sierra Club’s Ready for 100 campaign. So far 28 cities and one state have committed to going 100% renewable, with discussions in dozens more.

Although things seem so bleak right now that scientists have to come out of their labs and Native American grandmothers into the streets, it’s times like this that show us what we are made of. I was heartened by the massive participation, creative signs, and visionary art at the March for Science and People’s Climate March. Millions of Americans are not going to let the current administration exploit the planet and destabilize the climate without a major fight.

A version of this post appeared in the July 2017 newsletter for Sierra Club Central Ohio Group.

Monday, November 30 – Opening Day of COP 21

Members of Climate Action Network watch the opening of COP 21.

Members of Climate Action Network watch the opening of COP 21.

Today was a lot calmer than yesterday but no less busy.  It was the opening day of the 21st Conference of the Parties to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change, known for short as COP21.  Because of all the security measures, Le Bourget, the converted airport north of the Paris city center where COP21 is taking place, was closed to the public.  So I went with several members of the Citizens Climate Lobby delegation to the hub for the Climate Action Network, or CAN, a network of organizations from around the world working on climate change.  The CAN hub is about a 10-minute walk from my hostel at Place to B, but my phone got confused at an intersection where several streets came together.  Eventually I found it, and several of us congregated in two rooms to watch the ceremonies, which were being livestreamed on the Internet.

After the so-called “family photo” of all the visiting world leaders, more than 150 country presidents, prime ministers, and other heads of state were scheduled to speak at the Leaders Event starting at noon.  Even though each leader was only given three minutes to speak, there were so many of them that speeches ran in two rooms simultaneously and still went on into the evening.

President Obama speaks at COP 21.

President Obama speaks at COP 21.

President Obama spoke about 12:45 and gave what I thought was an excellent speech.  He called the Paris climate conference a “turning point … the moment we finally determined we would save our planet.” “I’ve come here personally, as the leader of the world’s largest economy and the second-largest emitter, to say that the United States of America not only recognizes our role in creating this problem, we embrace our responsibility to do something about it,” Obama said.  He talked about his recent trip to Alaska and called for an ambitious and transparent agreement.  He talked about how this is life or death for island nations and said he was meeting with their leaders tomorrow. He also mentioned the multibillion-dollar investment fund in clean energy research and development to be launched by Bill Gates and others today.

You can see video of Obama’s speech here and read statements by all the world leaders here.

My CCL colleague Chuck Lynd leads the Global Climate March in Columbus.

My CCL colleague Chuck Lynd leads the Global Climate March in Columbus.

While I was listening to the various leaders speak, I was also paging through my social media accounts and saw that my CCL colleague Chuck Lynd had pulled off quite a march for climate in Columbus. As I was trying to avoid arrest at Place de la Republique in Paris, Chuck and others had gotten over 100 people to come out as part of the Global Climate March organized by 350.org.  I was amazed because before I had left, only a handful of people were signed up.  In less than a week, Chuck got the word out to environmental advocates across Central Ohio, and they turned out in droves, resulting in a great photo in the Columbus Dispatch.  That made my heart sing.

See video of the Columbus march from Carolyn Harding and photos from David Roseman via the Sierra Club Central Ohio Group.

On the frustrating side, the keys on my iPad stopped working.  I had planned to live tweet the Leaders Event, and even posted that I would on my Facebook page. but was unable to.  This was a cause for some panic, as I had not brought a laptop to Paris but was relying on the iPad to do the heavy lifting.  I was worried it had crashed even though it was only six months old.  Perhaps the blog posts and photos from yesterday had worked it too hard.  I wasn’t sure what to do, so I sent out a query through the CAN-talk listserv asking if anyone had a laptop I could borrow.  Most people recommended that I take the iPad to an Apple store in Paris, which I finally decided to do.  One was about a mile away, which gave me my first chance to truly walk around the city.  Once I got to the Apple store, it took awhile to figure out the system for getting some help, but when I finally did, the technician simply told me to call Apple support.  Well, I could have done that from the CAN hub!  But unfortunately I did not buy international minutes from Verizon.

Then I noticed that the operating system for the iPad needed to be updated.  I prayed that would solve the problem and pressed the button.  It was an entire new install of the IOS operating system and took a long time to work. After that, I sat at the store playing with the keys again for awhile.  Eventually I decided the iPad was indeed fixed, though I considered buying a new laptop in France anyway. Posting blogs and processing photos is so much easier from a laptop, and I will not travel to an event like this again without one.  But not only is the electrical outlet on French laptops different, the keyboard is different — it is not a QWERTY keyboard but AZERTY.  So I decided not to.

Members of the Citizens Climate Lobby delegation meet in Paris.

Members of the Citizens Climate Lobby delegation meet in Paris.

Finally tonight I ended up at the dinner and meeting for Citizens Climate Lobby.  Both took place at apartments that CCL members had rented out for the conference through Air B&B.  I’ve never used Air B&B, but after seeing their apartments, I decided to try it next time I am traveling internationally.  Their setup looked much more comfortable than the hostel, which is basically a dormitory, and they have access to full kitchens so they can cook their own food.  This is cheaper than buying every meal out as I have to do.

The highlight of the CCL meeting was hearing from Joe Robertson, the global strategy director, about the launch today of the Carbon Pricing Leadership Coalition.  CCL’s entire platform is carbon pricing, specifically a proposal called carbon fee and dividend that would tax carbon at the source of extraction and return all proceeds to American households.  There is a lot of talk nationally about a carbon tax, but a formal discussion of pricing carbon was taken off the agenda for COP 21 in October.  Christiana Figueres, executive secretary of the UNFCCC, said at the time that countries had too many different carbon pricing schemes for them to be reconciled into one document.

Even so, the launch of the CPLC on the first day of COP 21 put carbon pricing front and center in the conference. Consisting of 15 national governments (including Canada, Germany, and France), five subnational governments (Quebec, British Columbia, Alberta, Ontario and California), and more than 60 businesses (including BP, Enel, and Shell), the CPLC has a goal of adding carbon pricing to all national strategies by 2020 — only five years away!  And they just may be able to do it.  At the launch was a powerhouse of leaders: World Bank President Jim Kim, German Chancellor Angela Merkel, Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, Chilean President Michelle Bachelet, Ethiopian Prime Minister Hailemariam Desalegn, Philippines President Benigno Aquino III, and Mexican President Enrique Peña Nieto. Joe saw the entire thing inside the Blue Zone.

CCL has two blog posts about the launch of the Carbon Pricing Leadership Forum, one by Peter Joseph, leader of the Marin County Chapter, and one by Jessica Langerman, a volunteer from Massachusetts.

Sunday, November 29 – Nearly caught up in a crackdown

Today has been an adventure, much more than I bargained for. First I got seven glorious hours of sleep which really helped after two days of travel. I woke up with hopes my luggage had arrived overnight, but no such luck. No clothing shops would open before 10 a.m. when the Sierra Club’s orientation for all members at COP21 was set to take place. So either I had to miss the orientation hope a shop would be open and have my my size, or wear the same old sweats to the orientation. I elected to do the latter thinking I could sit in the back. I was glad I did because the information shared there was crucial to understanding the negotiations.  I’ll post a series of “State of Play” updates by Fred Heutte, lead volunteer with the Sierra Club Federal and Climate Campaign, to cover this.

Mini-march at Place de Republique

Mini-march at Place de Republique

Orientation got out about noon, so several people headed over to Place de Republique to see if we could find the shoes exhibit. Earlier in the day, Sierra Club volunteers and others had put out thousands of pairs of shoes to symbolize those who could not march. However by the time we got there, we couldn’t find them and figured they had been removed, as they were only going to be on display for a few hours. Lots of people were in the plaza, and they would have stumbled all over a large exhibit.

Media interviewed demonstrators.

Media interviewed demonstrators.

We looked for a few minutes at the huge memorial to the terrorist victims – two large rows of flowers, cards, and items left all around the huge bronze statue of Marianne, the symbol of the French republic holding an olive branch in her right hand and resting her left on a tablet engraved with the Rights of Man. Then we went to lunch. See video of the memorial to the Paris terrorism victims

After lunch, the others headed to Musee D’Orsay, but I decided to go back to the hostel to check on my luggage. My metro train changed at Place de Republique, so I decided to go up to see if I could get photos of the terrorism memorial and look again for the shoes. There were again a lot of people, some groups doing “mini marches” around the plaza, and other people just hanging out. I decided to also get pics of some of the activists, their activities and signs. I also found a small shoe exhibit, which people were just then adding to.

A second shoe exhibit, smaller than the morning exhibit, appeared at the plaza.

A second shoe exhibit, smaller than the morning exhibit, appeared at the plaza.

While I was doing that, the police arrived and stood in phalanxes along the streets leading into the square. They stood on the sides of the square for a long time. I asked people if the police would come into the square and make arrests. People who I talked to said no, they didn’t think so. But that was wrong. They started with tear gas around the edge of the plaza and not near me, but it pushed people my direction. Then was a series of loud booms. I wasn’t affected because it was all across the plaza, but I could smell it. If you’ve ever lit those old firework snakes on July 4, it smells like that.

tear gas at the other end of the plaza

Tear gas at the other end of the plaza

As this was going on, I found an AP van and talked to their staff member. She was inside the van watching video their camera people were getting from above and sending them instructions over a walker talkie as to what to close in on. I wasn’t sure if things would escalate, but the AP person told me the police would not bother them, so stood near their van in hopes of looking like media just in case. I also pinpointed where the metro entrance was so I could get out quickly if needed.

Row of police move closer

Row of police move closer

Then the police started to move in. That’s when I decided it was time to leave. I started down the stairs to the metro only to find the police had closed the metro stops. Another nearby metro stop was also gated shut, with police behind the gate. So I could not leave. Then police started to cordon off the streets. Fortunately some well-dressed people with luggage showed up to get into the Crowne Plaza, whose doors were also closed. But the bellhop opened the doors for them and I took advantage. See video of police moving in on protesters

View from the hotel: Police vans move in

View from the hotel: Police vans move in

From the hotel window I watched dozens of police vans move in, presumably to start arrests. There was a crowd demonstrating a few hundred feet down from the hotel, so that’s probably where the police were going to start. I have no desire to get arrested, so I hung out in the hotel bar for a couple of hours with a soup and tea. Finally by 5:45 I was ready to leave, but the metro stop was still closed and the police were still making arrests. The hotel staff pointed me to the next metro stop down away from the arrests, and I found a train and got back to the hostel. It was eerie riding through the Place de Republique stop, which is normally extremely busy but tonight was totally empty.

Vegan demonstrators

Vegan demonstrators

So what are my feelings about all this? On the one hand, I did not see anything different in Paris as at the countless demonstrations in the US. People were simply expressing themselves and their feelings of urgency about the climate, which I understand and share. On the other hand, Paris has just suffered one of the worst terrorist attacks since 9/11, which took place not far from today’s events. The government is understandably concerned about another attack, and it would be easy for bad people to hide in the crowd. So while I wish the government hadn’t felt the need to cancel the climate march, I can see why they did, and I wanted to respect that.

An AP staffer directs camera angles from the van.

An AP staffer directs camera angles from the van.

Then there’s a third hand, which is that with a previous career as a journalist, I also wanted to document events, and here I had a front row seat. I could have left the moment police showed up, but I wasn’t sure they were going to make arrests. I thought maybe they were just trying to contain the crowds in one area or making sure it didn’t get above a certain size. So I decided to see what happened. Part of why I’m here is to witness history, and this was the history of a cancelled climate march.

Men in black moved past just as police moved in.

Men in black moved past just as police moved in.

One more thing happened just as I was walking toward the metro stop to leave. A group of men all in black pants and jackets came running toward me. As I took a picture, one of them slapped down my arm and yelled at me “No photo!” I was afraid he would take my phone, so I just said “Okay” and tried to look harmless. They moved on, and I was left wondering who they were. They could have been civil demonstrators, anarchists, rabble rousers, or genuine terrorists, but clearly they didn’t want their picture taken, and you couldn’t see their faces anyway because they were covered in black too. So while I feel like the police did not need to crack down on civil demonstrators as harshly as they did, I am also not convinced that everyone in the crowd was a climate activist. Some may have very well not had good intentions.

P.S. My luggage finally arrived! 11:30 pm after three more calls to the airline.

 

Here are some more pictures from the day’s events:

Another mini-march around the plaza

Another mini-march around the plaza

 

Idle No More France was present

Idle No More France was present

 

Activists let their frustration with the cancelled march be known.

Activists let their frustration with the cancelled march be known.

Sustaina Claus - I'm not sure what was in the bag!

Sustaina Claus – I’m not sure what was in the bag!

more bike signs

more bike signs

detail of shoe exhibit.

detail of shoe exhibit.

Signs left behind

Signs left behind

Demonstrators start to get louder

Demonstrators start to get louder

Bicyclist with sign

Bicyclist with sign

Police gathered outside the plaza.

Police gathered outside the plaza.

Tear gas at the edge of the plaza

Tear gas at the edge of the plaza

The hotel TV showed events just outside the doors.

The hotel TV showed events just outside the doors.