Mobilizing the People’s Climate March on the Streets of Vancouver
photos and article by Victor Lam
On Sunday, September 21st, several thousand people gathered by the CBC plaza by Georgia and Hamilton to gather and march for action on climate change.
The Vancouver march was a local effort and sign of solidarity in concert with the focal march in New York City, which drew more than 400,000 participants to march for unified action on climate change. The event was particularly relevant when leaders of more than 120 nations gathered at the United Nations Headquarters on Tuesday for the UN Climate Summit. Other cities like London, Berlin, and Sydney also had similar demonstrations.
The march began with a series of speeches by the march organizers, prayers by First Nations leaders, and a moment of silence to reflect upon all those affected by climate change. Much of Georgia Street was later cordoned off for marchers to rally down a large section of downtown.
In the periphery of the crowd, some parents with children had brought chalk for them to draw on the sidewalks. Others set up makeshift tables and urged participants to sign petitions against the twinning of the Kinder Morgan Pipeline and demanding the transition for cleaner, renewable energy. One of the primary concerns of the protesters was increased oil tanker traffic along the coast, particularly with expansions of oil, gas, and coal exports.
While climate change publicity has always been in the media spotlight, it has mostly remained alongside scientists and politicians hammering out nuances to the policy solutions and the scientific consensus over man-made climate change. This march was pivotal and effective in part because people, regardless of where they were, came out and spoke on behalf of the issues they felt were threatening at home as well as beyond. They optimized available public space to their advantage. Although a march could have been organized in front of the Vancouver Art Gallery — arguably the go-to space for public demonstrations — the organizers appeared to understand the importance of publicity for a wider audience. Namely, reaching an audience who is plugged into social and mainstream media, thus linking this local movement in solidarity to the larger one on the other side of the continent, and making the entire People’s Climate March an excellent case of democratizing public space for social and environmental justice.