. . . [T]he largest rally for an environmental cause in US history is happening this Sunday, September 21, in Manhattan. More than 100,000 people are planning to join a historic march for climate action two days before President Obama and world leaders attend a Climate Summit at the United Nations. (The Nation’s “The People’s Climate Weekend: A Guide)
There may only a few people left who haven’t heard about this weekend’s momentous People’s Climate March, taking place in New York City and other major cities across the world. If you haven’t signed up to participate directly or otherwise support this effort, there are numerous portals to sign in (here, here, and on Facebook, for example).
Organizers say it is impossible to predict how many people could show up. But 1,400 “partner organizations” have signed on, ranging from small groups to international coalitions. In addition, students have mobilized marchers at more than 300 college campuses, and more than 2,700 climate events in 158 countries are planned to coincide with the New York march, including rallies in Delhi, Jakarta, London, Melbourne and Rio de Janeiro. (New York Times)
United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon this week announced he would be marching with us. Companies are joining the marchers as well. Patagonia is closing all four of its NYC locations so that employees can participate.
It happens that Naomi Klein’s much anticipated book, This Changes Everything, is also being launched this weekend. It is a must read for everyone, not just those deeply concerned about the environment but all those who wish to reverse once and for all the power brokers stranglehold that values profit over people.
Klein exposes the myths that are clouding the climate debate. We have been told the market will save us, when in fact the addiction to profit and growth is digging us in deeper every day. We have been told it’s impossible to get off fossil fuels when in fact we know exactly how to do it—it just requires breaking every rule in the “free-market” playbook: reining in corporate power, rebuilding local economies, and reclaiming our democracies.
We have also been told that humanity is too greedy and selfish to rise to this challenge. In fact, all around the world, the fight for the next economy and against reckless extraction is already succeeding in ways both surprising and inspiring.
Climate change, Klein argues, is a civilizational wake-up call, a powerful message delivered in the language of fires, floods, storms, and droughts. Confronting it is no longer about changing the light bulbs. It’s about changing the world—before the world changes so drastically that no one is safe. Either we leap—or we sink.
You can get live updates of events as they unfold this weekend by signing up here.
Also, there is a fresh call to action for an entire week in Washington, DC, starting on November 1, in part to demand that our country’s Federal Energy Regulation Commission stop letting big industry call the shots at everyone else’s expense. You can get started here.
Since its inception VenusPlusX has joined others for a complete remaking of our world starting with universal plurality so that all voices are heard and respected and finally drown out the greedy who reap profit from the pain of others, the singular obstacle to peace.
Show your support in some way this weekend, and consider this: Solidarity devoted to reclaiming our planet and nursing it back to its prior state of health can be the fulcrum that transforms our global economy and rescues our inherent human rights from those who wish to enslave us.
