Global Climate March – Sunday, November 29th
Announcement on behalf of People’s Climate Movement NY
Dear Friends,
We are contacting you to ask for your help in the coming days.In the aftermath of the horrific events in Paris, French authorities have said they will not allow the big climate march on Nov. 29, the day before the UN Climate Talks begin. After many months of planning and organizing the stage had been set for a truly massive turn-out for this march, and for other activities during the two weeks of the climate talks. Now all of that is in question.What is certain though is that marches and other climate activities around the world that same weekend will go on. More than 2,000 actions in 150 countries will take place – and we’ll be part of that international demand for climate justice here in New York City! Now, given the situation in Paris, it is important that each of these actions be as strong and as large as possible.We have an opportunity to make the link between our local NYC struggle for bold climate policies and the global fight to halt the climate crisis. Mayor de Blasio is scheduled to participate in some parts of the climate talks in Paris. Before he leaves we will be calling on him to make the strongest possible commitments on climate! The climate crisis is real and NYC must take leadership by enacting policies that dramatically reduce our carbon emissions. NYC alone produces more greenhouse gas emissions than 97 countries!The People’s Climate Movement NY has put together a plan for Sunday, November 29th that has two parts:1) At 1 pm we will have a press conference on the steps of City Hall laying out our specific asks of the Mayor: strong support for off-shore wind, mandatory retrofitting of large buildings (making them energy efficient), full divestment of NYC funds from all fossil fuels, etc. (Exact messaging still to be worked out.) We will bring props that help communicate this message…a large scroll with a Climate To Do List, a suitcase covered with climate commitments, etc.We want to have broad representation from many communities and constituencies. Please let us know if your group can participate!2) At 2 pm there will be a much larger gathering on the plaza on the east side of City Hall, the Brooklyn Bridge side. We hope to make this as large as possible…aiming for 1,000 people, if we can! We will march around City Hall, on the sidewalks, chanting and singing our demands to the Mayor…and the City Council.
We need your help getting the word out widely about the 2 pm activity! Yes, we know we only have a little more than week to pull this together, and we are about to go into a major holiday. But we’ve seen it before and we believe this is another one of those times when people can rise to the occasion and terrific things happen.