I’m often asked if the big marches we’ve seen so many of recently serve any purpose. I’m getting that question a lot right now since two major marches related to climate change are occurring a week apart. Wouldn’t it be better if people took action, ideally local action to cut down on all the greenhouse gases emitted as busloads of people make their way to Washington or even one of the satellite marches? Having been among the legions of organizers of several of the big climate and anti-fracking marches of the past few years, trust me, it’s a question I ask myself all the time, especially in the days and hours immediately before the march.
To be honest, my feelings are mixed. No, I don’t think a single climate march is going to turn around our broken political process that privileges the interests of the fossil fuel industry over those of the people every time. Yes, by all objective measures it would be better to plant trees in your community than to march in Washington. Still, I think there’s great value in coming together and showing our numbers.
The fact is, it’s not a binary decision. We hope people will come to the march next weekend and plant trees or visit a lawmaker’s office to ask for climate action or fight a pipeline in the days that follow. In fact, we hope that some people who come to their first climate march will be inspired to act by the experience of being with thousands and thousands of people speaking out for a swift and just transition to renewable energy. Marches are movement builders.
For those of us who are already in the movement and have been for years, marches can rejuvenate our spirits. It’s easy to lose sight of just how big your numbers have grown when you spend day after day engaged in the unending whack-a-mole of preposterous actions by the industry and its partners, a.k.a. our government. It’s easy to become discouraged when a Republican governor can sign a bill to ban fracking in Maryland at the same time that our Democratic governor gives Royal Dutch Shell the biggest tax break in our state’s history, $1.65 billion, to build an ethane cracker plant in Beaver County that will tie us to fracking for decades to come. It’s easy to become cynical when the Department of Environmental Protection cries lack of resources every time you ask why they’re so bad at, well, environmental protection and yet has the resources needed to approve fracking permits on the rate of one every hour and fifteen minutes since Governor Wolf took office.
No, I don’t think a single climate march is going to turn around our broken political process, but I think it will help. I’ve always believed that we are the ones who affect change when enough of us speak with one voice. Don’t miss this chance to add yours. See you in D.C.! And when you get home, plant a tree.
Karen FeridunFounder, Berks Gas Truth
Kutztown Borough
