Thousands take to streets in New York City for climate change march; de Blasio unveils new greenhouse gas reduction plan
UPPER WEST SIDE (WABC) -- Accompanied by drumbeats, wearing costumes and carrying signs, thousands of demonstrators filled the streets of Manhattan and other cities around the world on Sunday to urge policy makers to take action on climate change.
Organizers are calling it the largest climate change march in history.
The crowds of marchers, which included actors Mark Ruffalo and Evangeline Lilly, wound through midtown Manhattan, joined along the way by United Nations Secretary General Ban Ki Moon, former Vice President Al Gore and New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio.
The march comes on the same day that New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio announced a plan for the city to significantly reduce its greenhouse gas by 2050, starting with efforts to make the city's buildings more energy efficient. Most of the city's greenhouse gas emissions can be traced to the energy needed to power electrical, heating and cooling systems in its buildings.
The plan calls for about 3,000 city-owned buildings that have "significant" energy use to be retrofitted by 2025. That includes schools, hospitals and libraries. The city will also offer incentives for private owners to upgrade their buildings.
The march was one of a series of events large and small held around the world - organizers said 40,000 marches took part in an event in London, while a small gathering in Cairo featured 50-foot art piece representing wind and solar energy - two days before the United Nations Climate Summit. More than 120 world leaders will convene Tuesday for the meeting aimed at galvanizing political will for a new global climate treaty by the end of 2015.
The New York march drew people from all over the country. A contingent from Moore, Oklahoma - where a massive tornado killed 24 last year- took part, as did hundreds of New Yorkers affected by Superstorm Sandy, which the U.S. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration and the British meteorological office was made more likely by climate change.
Some streets were closed to traffic, including Columbus Avenue from 86th to 66th Streets, and Central Park West from 66 to 59th.
More than 120 world leaders convene Tuesday for a U.N. summit aimed at galvanizing political will for a new global climate treaty by the end of 2015.
The one-day U.N. summit, while not part of the formal negotiation process, is the pinnacle of the 7-year-old tenure of Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, who has made fighting climate change his rallying cry and traveled the globe to personally invite world leaders to the gathering. Saying he was "humbled by the overwhelming response," Ban urged leaders to come with bold ideas.
Yet whatever happens at the U.N. summit is unlikely to bring the Earth closer to a goal set in Copenhagen: Preventing Earth's temperature from rising more than 2 degrees Fahrenheit (1.2 degrees Celsius) from where it is now.
"Our expectation is this is a political event," said Zou Ji, deputy director of China's National Center for Climate Change Strategy.
Rather than firm commitments from closed-door negotiations, the summit is expected to jumpstart a series of much publicized initiatives and partnerships. Six oil companies will join with governments and environmental advocacy groups to slash methane leaks from the production of natural gas. There will be a massive commitment to combat deforestation. There will be initiatives announced to clean up agriculture and make freight shipments greener.
"Ultimately, we are going to need much more ambitious, concerted government action and government policies," said Nat Keohane, who worked as a special assistant to President Barack Obama on energy and climate issues before rejoining the Environmental Defense Fund in 2012. "This summit is not going to be one fell swoop where we are going to announce all those policies."
(Some information in this story is from the Associated Press.)
