All over the world, people who believe in science, facts, and reality are marching for action on climate change, against a backdrop of overt (Trump) and insidious (Trudeau) climate-change denial, which puts the future of our species and its habitat in grave peril.
As I write this at 6AM on the west coast, they’re already marching in Australia, New Zealand, the Philippines, and Europe. Soon, they will be in the streets in America.
It’s a key moment. The urgent questions of our day — economic justice, gender inequality, racial injustice, discrimination on the basis of sexuality — are all in play. A planet that is flooding and boiling is a planet where authoritarian strongmen can push aside these questions, barking “lifeboat rules!” and insisting that in a crisis, obedience must be swift and total, and that the captain of the lifeboat gets to decide what is and isn’t a pressing concern.
Get out there.
Here’s a directory of 600 global marches. Here’s an excellent 3-minute video on protecting your data-privacy at protests.
More than 600 marches, largely concentrated in the US, Europe, South America and Australia, began amid warnings from organisers that science is “under attack” from the Trump administration.Placards demanded “science not silence”, declared “there is no plan b”, and offered support from “florists for research-based legislation”, showing the crowd was not restricted to those in scientific community.
Chants asked what people wanted? “Science”, the marches bellowed. When? “Following peer review.”
Wellington in New Zealand, was one of the first marches to start, with protesters gathering on the waterfront and waving signs calling for action. Similar crowds gathered in Auckland.
Sydney #marchforscience pic.twitter.com/TqrNTVO5Aj
— Mike Ticher (@mikewsc1) April 22, 2017
Global ‘March for Science’ protests call for action on climate change
[Helen Davidson and Oliver Milman/The Guardian]