Last Sunday, I attended the People’s Climate March in New York City, intent on offering my own visual record to what should be the enormous documentation of this important event. Several days before the March, Bill McKibben, et. al., wrote an essay entitled, “Why We March.” In it, the three authors rightly anticipated that this March “will almost certainly be the largest rally about climate change in human history, and one of the largest political protests in many years in New York.”
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.
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Three Women, People’s Climate March, Central Park West, New York City, September 21, 2014 |
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Woman with Dog, People’s Climate March, Central Park West, New York City, September 21, 2014 |
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Crips for Climate Justice, People’s Climate March, Columbus Circle, New York City, September 21, 2014 |
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Butterfly Pasties, People’s Climate March, Columbus Circle, New York City, September 21, 2014 |
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Asian Man, People’s Climate March, Columbus Circle, New York City, September 21, 2014 |
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Sri Lankan Woman, People’s Climate March, Columbus Circle, New York City, September 21, 2014 |
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Sikh Couple, People’s Climate March, Columbus Circle, New York City, September 21, 2014 |
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Man in Orange Pants, People’s Climate March, Columbus Circle, New York City, September 21, 2014 |
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Asian Woman, People’s Climate March, Columbus Circle, New York City, September 21, 2014 |
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Man in Three-Piece Suit, People’s Climate March, Columbus Circle, New York City, September 21, 2014 |
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Two Women I, People’s Climate March, Columbus Circle, New York City, September 21, 2014 |
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Love Your Mother, People’s Climate March, Columbus Circle, New York City, September 21, 2014 |
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I’m Marching, People’s Climate March, Columbus Circle, New York City, September 21, 2014 |
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No to Keystone, People’s Climate March, Columbus Circle, New York City, September 21, 2014 |
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Woman Videotaping, People’s Climate March, Columbus Circle, New York City, September 21, 2014 |
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Ubuntu, People’s Climate March, Columbus Circle, New York City, September 21, 2014 |
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.
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Smiling Woman, People’s Climate March, Columbus Circle, New York City, September 21, 2014 |
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Cat in the Hat Hat, People’s Climate March, Columbus Circle, New York City, September 21, 2014 |
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Boycott Convenience, People’s Climate March, Columbus Circle, New York City, September 21, 2014 |
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Canadian Women, People’s Climate March, Columbus Circle, New York City, September 21, 2014 |
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.
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Sax Player, People’s Climate March, Columbus Circle, New York City, September 21, 2014 |
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Monarch Girl, People’s Climate March, Columbus Circle, New York City, September 21, 2014 |
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.
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Girl with Pumpkin, People’s Climate March, Columbus Circle, New York City, September 21, 2014 |
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At Peace, People’s Climate March, Columbus Circle, New York City, September 21, 2014 |
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Two Women II, People’s Climate March, Columbus Circle, New York City, September 21, 2014 |
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Man in Profile, People’s Climate March, Columbus Circle, New York City, September 21, 2014 |
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Two Latinas, People’s Climate March, Columbus Circle, New York City, September 21, 2014 |
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Clean Air, People’s Climate March, Columbus Circle, New York City, September 21, 2014 |
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I Am Someone!, People’s Climate March, Columbus Circle, New York City, September 21, 2014 |
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Breath…or Money?, People’s Climate March, Columbus Circle, New York City, September 21, 2014 |
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Under Water, People’s Climate March, Columbus Circle, New York City, September 21, 2014 |
Here’s a new and important study of the global rise in sea levels as a result of climate change.
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Wet, People’s Climate March, Columbus Circle, New York City, September 21, 2014 |
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We Need Everyone!, People’s Climate March, Columbus Circle, New York City, September 21, 2014 |
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Blue Scarf, People’s Climate March, Columbus Circle, New York City, September 21, 2014 |
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Stop King C.O.N.G., People’s Climate March, Columbus Circle, New York City, September 21, 2014 |
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Looking Up, People’s Climate March, Columbus Circle, New York City, September 21, 2014 |
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Looking Back, People’s Climate March, Columbus Circle, New York City, September 21, 2014 |
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Woman in a Hijab, People’s Climate March, Columbus Circle, New York City, September 21, 2014 |
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Stop the Pipeline, People’s Climate March, Columbus Circle, New York City, September 21, 2014 |
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.”
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Honors Student, People’s Climate March, Columbus Circle, New York City, September 21, 2014 |
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Maryland Mom, People’s Climate March, Columbus Circle, New York City, September 21, 2014 |
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Nature Belongs to Us All, People’s Climate March, Columbus Circle, New York City, September 21, 2014 |
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.
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Sikh Man, People’s Climate March, Columbus Circle, New York City, September 21, 2014 |
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Bahamian, People’s Climate March, Columbus Circle, New York City, September 21, 2014 |
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Floral Tiara, People’s Climate March, Columbus Circle, New York City, September 21, 2014 |
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Flower Maiden, People’s Climate March, Columbus Circle, New York City, September 21, 2014 |
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Floral Crown, People’s Climate March, Columbus Circle, New York City, September 21, 2014 |
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Woman with Fedora, People’s Climate March, Columbus Circle, New York City, September 21, 2014 |
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Buddhist Monks, People’s Climate March, Columbus Circle, New York City, September 21, 2014 |
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Frackin’ Crazy, People’s Climate March, Columbus Circle, New York City, September 21, 2014 |
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.
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Brooklyn Unitarian, People’s Climate March, Columbus Circle, New York City, September 21, 2014 |
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Divest, People’s Climate March, Columbus Circle, New York City, September 21, 2014 |
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We Can Do It!, People’s Climate March, Columbus Circle, New York City, September 21, 2014 |
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Running, People’s Climate March, Columbus Circle, New York City, September 21, 2014 |
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Striding Woman, People’s Climate March, Columbus Circle, New York City, September 21, 2014 |
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Pink T-Shirt, People’s Climate March, Columbus Circle, New York City, September 21, 2014 |
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Bronx Chick, People’s Climate March, Columbus Circle, New York City, September 21, 2014 |
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Red & Black, People’s Climate March, Columbus Circle, New York City, September 21, 2014 |
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Surfriders, People’s Climate March, Columbus Circle, New York City, September 21, 2014 |
Surfrider is an environmental organization dedicated to protecting oceans, beaches and coastal ecosystems.
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Red Jumpsuit, People’s Climate March, Columbus Circle, New York City, September 21, 2014 |
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Netted Woman, People’s Climate March, Columbus Circle, New York City, September 21, 2014 |
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Reject Keystone XL, People’s Climate March, Columbus Circle, New York City, September 21, 2014 |
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Naming Names, People’s Climate March, Columbus Circle, New York City, September 21, 2014 |
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.
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Mapping Climate Change, People’s Climate March, Columbus Circle, New York City, September 21, 2014 |
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.
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