It happened today – reported to be the world’s largest demonstration ever. Please comment by telling us of your experience.
These climate strikers were in Burundi.
There are government-level actions that need to be done, that everyone of good will believes should be done, and that are not done, because politicians who do them would lose votes. For instance, everyone in Dubrovnik and Kotor knows that the little towns are being spoiled for their inhabitants, the waters polluted and the seabed scraped, because cruise ships disgorge millions of tourists each year; but the mayors cannot keep them away because too many shopkeepers earn too much money from them. And everyone knows that flying creates more pollution than going by train, yet it is cheaper, because airplane fuel is subsidized instead of taxed; but it will not be made more expensive by stopping the subsidies, because travelers would be up in arms.
But there are shifts in public feeling, seeming at first hopelessly small, until, lo! they approach fifty percent. There has come to be an unexpectedly large shift toward plant-based food; restaurants, manufacturers, and investors are cashing in on it.
When you do things like joining in Climates Trikes, you bring a tipping point an inch nearer. After it is reached, politicians will raise fuel taxes.
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This weblog maintains its right to be about astronomy or anything under the sun.
My experience in London was restricted to enjoying the participation of thousands of youngsters, which is truly inspiring.. I am 82 so I just made a placard of a Socialist Worker front page
STRIKE TO STOP CLIMATE CHAOS, added two photos of Greta Thunberg, got a photo taken of myself holding the placard, and chatted to people on the local bus. One of them told me about the demonstrations in 150 cities throughout the world.
As you say, Guy, it adds a small something to the global surge. When I was younger, a poster on the wall in my shared flat said
WHAT CAN ONE PERSON DO AGAINST THE BOMB?
JOIN THE MARCH FROM ALDERMASTON
Same thing today with Climate Change.
Keith tried to include a photo, which caused his comment to fail to get through the first time. I’ll try to include his photo here, but I’m not sure I’ll succeed either.
–No, I failed in trying to use the “snipping tool”.
“…politicians will raise fuel taxes”…Well, raise fossil-fuel taxes. I think this is the correct way to do it but we need to do it gradually, not the way Macron did it (the gilet jaunes are still protesting). Airplane fuel is subsidized? I didn’t know that. It is true that airplanes are perhaps over-used and trains under-utilized, but obviously there are places one needs to go via airplane only.
Regarding the title of your post, I didn’t participate and neither did my children; in fact there was no mention at all in their school about this (Norther California public school).
Mr, Scheithauer, this is a good idea, I’ll look them up thanks.
I went to the youth-led climate strike here in San Francisco yesterday. I took the day off work (thanks to my coworkers who covered for me) and went with friends from the San Francisco Buddhist Center. Organizers estimated 40,000 people participated, and there were dozens of other smaller actions in towns and at schools around the bay area. It was very encouraging to see many thousands of young people, from grade school on up, leading the march, to see and hear their passion for a livable future. The adults followed the kids. A number of Buddhist sanghas walked together at the very end of the march. The strike march stopped at the headquarters of some of our biggest climate villains: Bank of America, Pacific Gas and Electric, BlackRock Investments, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, etc. Because we were at the very end of the march, we didn’t see or hear the actions at these locations.
It was a beautiful sunny day. I don’t enjoy crowds of people, but this was a good crowd to be part of. People were very friendly to one another. People watching from the sidewalk and buildings were appreciative and encouraging. The cops were mellow, probably grateful to get some easy overtime pay.
Now we need to keep up the momentum, and decisively cross that tipping point in a big hurry.
Donate to Tree Aid or Arbor Day Foundation. As Guy said in his Trees to the Rescue post, we need a trillion more trees, and it is doable.