About 400,000 people marched to raise awareness about climate change in New York City Sunday in anticipation of the United Nations Climate Summit, which will begin Tuesday. Eighty University students attended the event, joining 230 other university students from across the commonwealth.
Fourth-year College student Dyanna Jaye, a co-founder of the Climate Action Society and chair of the Virginia Student Environmental Coalition, said the atmosphere at the march was “very positive,” with “an overwhelming energy to take action towards combatting climate change.”
Demonstrators from more than 1,100 organizations worldwide participated in the march, with world leaders such as U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio, and former Vice President Al Gore also lending their support to the cause. The event also yielded a large Hollywood turnout, including names such as Edward Norton, Mark Ruffalo and Leonardo DiCaprio.
Kirk Bowers, regional coordinator for the Sierra Club and chair of the conversation committee for the Piedmont Group in Charlottesville, said the march was hosted out of necessity.
“The goals [of the New York City march] are to demand action for climate control policy,” Bowers said. “There are currently 400 parts per million of CO2 in the atmosphere, which is over the 350 parts per million limit which was set. We’re beyond the point … for taking action. Now, we have to demand action.”
Bowers said the march was very upbeat, a “four mile parade” aside a few moments of silence.
“There was a moment of silence at 12:58 … to support the indigenous peoples who have already suffered from climate change,” Bowers said. “At 1:00, two minutes later, we had a moment of noise. … Everybody just started yelling. It was very powerful.”
Bowers said the Charlottesville community showed significant interest in attending the march — so much that organizers could not secure enough buses, taking only two when they likely could have filled three or four.
“We had a waiting list of 60 people, and unfortunately we couldn’t get another bus,” Bowers said. “There were a lot of people who wanted to go, but we couldn't take them all, so there were ride shares organized to help other people get to the march as well.”
Many of the 80 University students who attended the march represented CAS, an organization on Grounds which works to make the University itself more sustainable. Jaye said CAS also works to integrate University students into national dialogues on the environment.
“It’s important for cities likes Charlottesville and others in Virginia to show that we care about the issue,” Jaye said.
Bowers said the Sierra Club attended the march largely to protest a proposed 550 miles natural gas pipeline through Virginia.
“We saw other groups there that were working on their pipelines also, so we have the opportunity to collaborate with other groups from out of state,” Bowers said.
Charlottesville residents also organized a local march to show their solidarity with the New York event. Jason Halbert, a Climate March organizer, said between 75 and 100 people participated in the smaller-scale event. Halbert said Virginians have many reasons to take up the cause.
“Virginia lags in many areas, especially in solar and wind policy,” he said. “We wanted to raise general awareness about the need to address climate change and to get our leaders active on the issue.”
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