Everything You Need to Know to Attend the Biggest Climate March in History

For one week in late September, New York City will be the center of gravity for the fight to confront climate change.

On Sunday, September 21st, a climate march through midtown Manhattan will kick off a week of high-profile climate events in the Big Apple.  Promoted as an effort to bring unprecedented attention to climate change, the gathering comes just as as international climate negotiations ramp up in a major push toward a new global accord.  The People’s Climate March, being called the “largest climate march in history” by organizers, will potentially draw over a hundred thousand people to walk through Manhattan and show a level of demand for action not seen since the era of Civil Rights marches and anti-Vietnam protests.

The day after the march, a United Nations summit on the climate crisis will bring together world leaders, business executives, and activist groups in an attempt to galvanize action for a global climate deal to follow the Kyoto Protocol.  While not an official U.N. negotiating session, leaders have been invited to announce “significant and substantial initiatives to help move the world toward a path that will limit global warming.”

The third major undertaking in this three-pronged climate attack is Climate Week NYC, from 9/22 through 9/28, the sixth annual iteration of the event that features around 100 events, activities, and high-profile meetings across the city.  It is put together by The Climate Group, which includes business and government organizations focusing on the rapid scale-up of low carbon energy and technology.

Overall more than 1,000 organizations have pledged support for the People’s Climate March, including the Sierra Club, the World Wildlife Fund, the National Wildlife Federation, and the Earth Day Network.  Students from more than 300 colleges and universities are expected to attend the march.  While the leaders of China and India recently said they wouldn’t be attending the U.N. Summit, President Obama is expected to be there.  Even if certain world leaders don’t show up for political or logistical reasons, governments and stakeholders across the world will be watching for serious movement on what has become a slowed-down or even stalled path toward an effective global climate treaty.  This mass convergence of interested parties could provide a crucial step in breaking the bottleneck.

This is the hope of Bill McKibben, climate author and environmentalist turned activist, and co-founder of 350.org, who says the march is “a invitation to anyone who’d like to prove to themselves, and to their children, that they give a damn about the biggest crisis our civilization has ever faced:”

The point is, sometimes you can grab the zeitgeist by the scruff of the neck and shake it a little.  At the moment, the overwhelming sense around the world is nothing will happen in time … A loud movement — one that gives our “leaders” permission to actually lead, and then scares them into doing so — is the only hope of upending that prophecy.

Everything You Need to Know to Attend the Biggest Climate March in History