The climate march

Upwards of 30,000 people marched in Melbourne while a paltry 300 turned out in Auckland (admittedly in foul weather and the day after an election). There was no march here in Wellington.

Aussies are right in the middle of it.

Aerial Drone Video Footage from People's Climate March in New York City

It is estimated that more than 300,000 people filled the streets in New York City for the People’s Climate March on September 21, the largest climate action to date.

Organizers say some 2,600 solidarity events took place around the world. The events were scheduled around the world this weekend ahead of Tuesday’s United Nations climate summit.

This video footage was taken from a drone in New York City and provided to Democracy Now! Anonymously.



Watch the 3-hour special live Democracy Now! broadcast from the climate march in New York City here: ‪http://www.democracynow.org/live/peop.

David Cameron went in hiding London Peoples Climate March is HUGE

Many of us have addresses that we didn't get a chance to deliver. Here is one from Kevin Hester in Auckland, NZ from yesterday's climate march.

First his introduction:

So the world wide marches mobilised to draw attention to the unfolding Climate Change catastrophe have passed with little adieu. 

Over 300,000 turn out in New York, vented their spleen's and then went home to await their uncertain future firm in the knowledge that either nothing will be done or filled with delusional hope that we have now raised the alarm and the U.N. will act. The Summit will commence, proclamations will be made and there will be no commitments because there is no mandate for any.. There will be nothing but vacuous platitudes. This summit is yet another toothless talkathon which has no remit to make binding resolutions..

I attended a U.N. conference on Namibia in the early 1980's in Canberra, Australia representing H.A.R.T. Halt All Racial Tours, our anti-apartheid movement which went on to morph into HART, New Zealand's anti-racism organisation. Our addressing the horrendous and blatant oppression of the Indigenous people of Africa made us all aware of the endemic and instutionalised racism here in NZ thus the struggle against racism in South Africa focused us on racism at home.

I had a very public run-in with Australian Foreign Minister Gareth Evans over the issue of Swapo's armed struggle. My position was in support of the armed struggle where I defined it as an armed self defense. Evans came from a country with an appalling human rights record to their own aboriginal people and he was a blatant racist and apologist for colonialism so you can imagine how we clashed, he the experienced right wing diplomat, me an angry 24 yr old activist . I was naive and idealistic, he was experienced and reactionary. It caused quite a stir but was only a storm in a tea cup. funnily enough the NZ government had been asked to send a representative but failed to do so,meaning NZ's only spokesperson at a U.N. Conference was yours truly! It was hilarious.

I was originally slated to speak at our march but one of the people on the organising committee who obviously saw herself as the 'leader' made an arbitrary decision who the speakers would be and axed me. I am unsure why that decision was made but I assume that it is because my position is that 1) we are passed the point of no return on climate change and that the world is now in hospice and all that reducing carbon emissions will achieve is buying us time whilst preparing for the social and geo-political armageddon that will soon unfold as crop failures decimate world food production . 2) I planned to advocate for direction and civil disobedience, I suspect this was frowned on.

My unedited address is hear should anyone want to read it. Un-edited because i knew it would never be delivered.

The Auckland climate march, 21 September, 2014

Today I want to speak to the young people who are here demanding that the officials who are attending the United Nations Climate Summit face up to the catastrophic consequences of Climate Change. 

Abrupt climate change is going to change your world enormously and the old paradigm that people of my age have lived with doesn't exist anymore.In the 26 years since it's inception the Intergovenmel Panel on Climate Change has been warning us to reduce our CO2 emissions and we haven't even started. 

Our emissions increase every week, month , year. There are 1200 coal fired power stations under construction or being planned world wide and nothing is going to stop them because the narrative and dominant culture of capitalism won't allow it and our present living conditions of unlimited growth on a finite planet are incompatable with a sustainable culture. 

Most of these power stations are under construction in places like China where they commission a new one every week and India where our financial system has economic slaves working for below survival wage rates .

Less than a week before the summit,India and China announce their non appearance!We now have over 400 ppm of predominantly Human released CO2 in the atmosphere and counting."The Greenhouse Gas Bulletin shows that, far from falling, the concentration of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere actually increased last year at the fastest rate for nearly 30 years," .

There is a forty year lag between when climate change gases are released and the changes we are witnessing now are a result of CO2 emisions released before the 1970's.I totally agree that it is imperative that we reduce our emisions drastically and urgently but the reality is that the IPCC will continue to talk and do nothing and whatever reductions that are agreed will be voluntary and not mandatory thus ensuring that they will not be met. 

 Humans have never existed on this planet before with this level of CO2 in the atmosphere. Our species stands guilty of ecocide resulting in a terminal genocide of ourselves, most other species on the planet and most likely the planet's entire ecosystem. 

The final chapter of the Human story unfolding today is a grand finale of uncaring barbarity with just a few lone voices like us howling in the wind. 

Whilst it can be lonely standing here confronting the Empire, to hear a similar clarion cry echo back from other corners of the world is heartening. Whilst it may well be to no avail,we can at least say we tried.I would suggest to you that you don't make the same mistakes that I and my generation have made and conform to the rules of engagement that the government allows us. 

Gathering here and waving flags makes us all feel better but it is not achieving our objective and never has. 

The amazing American Journalist Chris Hedges has advocated that the hundreds of thousands of people marching in New York later today adopt civil disobedience and push back against these fossil fuel fools like our own Lucy Lawless did with Greenpeace by boarding the drill ship in Taranaki and as I did by blocking this harbour 30 years ago to stop Nuclear Ships coming into our harbours. 

What did that achieve? 

Tepco, who always lie to us tellus that 300 Tons of radioactive water is flowing into the pacific Ocean every day. This is a diversion so that we won't concentrate on the billions of radioactive nuclides erupting into the atmosphere above the plant from the Three reactor cores that have melted down and escaped primary and probably secondary containment. 

Everything is changing, our planet is dying, we have passed so many tipping points and unleashed so many positive feed back loops. 

It is impossible to exagerate how bad this situation is . 

There is no going back from where we are and our ecosystem is tumbling down a cliff.

Don't let anyone bullshit you and say it will be all right, 

It will Never be alright ever again, call this bullshit for what it is.get up stand up,stand up for your planet.

On October 22 Professor Guy McPherson a Climate Change expert from the U.S. will be touring NZ speaking Nation wide, come to hear him speak and learn how bad the situation really is. 

Thanks for your valuable time because time is shorter than you think.

Kia ora.