FACES: at the People’s Climate March (Sept. 21, 2014)

But then, this March needed to be big to make up for the fact that world leaders and international corporations have chosen to ignore the coming world catastrophe that is climate change. The People’s Climate March had to be big, the authors of “Why We March” pointed out, in order “to serve as a loud and pointed reminder to our leaders, gathering that week at the United Nations to discuss global warming, that the next great movement of the planet’s citizens centers on our survival and their pathetic inaction.“

If world leaders, major corporations and, of course, our do-nothing Congress, deny the clear threats that global warming poses to our lives and our earth, what can we–mere people with limited power–possibly do?  Today’s New York Times editorial, “A Group Shout on Climate Change,” offers us some reassurance.   It praises President Obama’s eloquence and (new) commitment; it cites Bank of America, Nestle and Kellogg for (new) endeavors; and it offers hope that China will join the USA at least in capping coal consumption.  Only our Congress remains a futile, non-player.

However, what should encourage us all, is the last sentence of that Times editorial: “But what might really do the trick — if Climate Week is any guide — is the emergence of a growing bottom-up movement for change.”

In other words, countering climate change is up to us. And so, even as I questioned what possible good would come from my attending the March with my old SLR (besides my own selfish pleasure in making photographic images), I hope that some of my readers may find inspiration among the following 64 “faces.”

The ordering of these photographs is simply chronological. The first two were taken somewhere on Central Park West in the upper sixties, as groups were assembling.  I then hurried back down to Columbus Circle where the March would begin.  I failed to get back there for the beginning, so I haven’t documented the first groups to march, among which were the indigenous peoples and the immigrant communities.

The third photograph, of the woman in a wheelchair, is my first selection of the March in progress.  At some later point, I managed to sneak through the barriers and onto edge of 59th street itself and stopped using my viewfinder.  I simply held my camera, vertically, down by my right hip and shot–blind–whenever I thought an interesting marcher was approaching.

This is the first of what will be several posts on this March. I hope that you enjoy it. 

Ubuntu is a Bantu term meaning “human kindness” and refers to a philosophical belief in a universal bond shared by all humanity. Its origins are in South Africa, people like Nelson Mandela and Desmond Tutu have brought it to much of the rest of the world. 

Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper did not attend this last week’s United Nations climate summit in New York. But, then, this conservative politician assiduously promotes the disastrous Keystone XL pipeline and has been accused of muzzling Canadian climate scientists and not allowing them to speak freely to the press.

Climate change will very likely disrupt the migration of the Monarch butterfly (with results still to be determined).  This year’s migration was the smallest ever recorded.

Here’s a new and important study of the global rise in sea levels as a result of climate change.

So much has been written about the Keystone XL Pipeline, that it’s best to offer this simple, short ten-point reason to oppose it.  For something more thorough, you may also scroll back to my post of March 5, 2014: “Keystone XL Pipeline: Thoughts from the ‘NO KXL’ Vigil, Union Square, NYC.”

Whether it’s seeds for the crops we eat or sources for the water we drink, international corporations (with acquiescing governments) are pushing to privatize these–and other–essential elements of our common, natural heritage and are treating them as products to be sold to whomever can afford them.

See, for example, this article on Nestle and water, and–even more unbelievable–on the air we need to breathe. Again, there is so much on this issue that I leave further research to you.

Hydraulic fracturing, a drilling process commonly known as fracking, should really be outlawed. Besides the fact that its product–oil and gas–contribute to global warming and climate change, fracking causes earthquakes in places where none have been before; it uses millions of gallons of water per well that is then useless for any other use; it contaminates ground water used for drinking in the communities located near any of its wells.

As Bill McKibbben explains, “Fracking may be worse than burning coal.” If this won’t suffice, you also may find several posts I have written on fracking and related processes, four back in 2011 and one from August 25, 2012.

Surfrider is an environmental organization dedicated to protecting oceans, beaches and coastal ecosystems.
 

Below the corporate bastardization of Leonardo’s Vitruvian Man are listed some twenty of the worst corporate polluters and destroyers of our natural world. Blow up the photograph to read them.

I love these two gals. Wish I had been with them when they (and their friends) marked some of the many threats to our earth–as we know it–on this map.

Do a little research. Make your own map. In this way, you will realize how important the People’s Climate March is to a survivable future.

I hope some of these pictures inspired you. I promise more to come.