A large Vineyard contingent will travel to New York city this weekend for what is predicted to be the largest climate march in history.
More than 200,000 people are expect to converge on Central Park West on Sunday for the People’s Climate March, a national cry for action from world leaders to address the impacts of climate change. The 2014 UN climate summit begins in New York on Sept. 23.
“There are thousands of buses going, from all over the country and out of the country.” said Sarah Nevin of Edgartown, who plans to march with her husband, Bruce, and daughter, Katrina. Mr. and Mrs. Nevin have taken part in local climate demonstrations before, but this is their first climate march.
“We’re going to be coming into Grand Central,” Mrs. Nevin said. “And then I’m not sure what we’re going to find, but I know the city is preparing for this enormous deluge.”
One of the main goals is to send a message to world leaders “that they need to act on this and not continue with the type of nonsense we’ve had with Kyoto and Copenhagen,” said Mr. Nevin, referring to previous efforts that fell short of people’s expectations.
Two buses organized by the Cape Downwinders, an anti-nuclear group, will leave from the Cape on Friday. The Nevins will be traveling separately, but others from the Vineyard, including a group of teachers and students from the Martha’s Vineyard Public Charter School, will be traveling with the Cape group.
The buses will leave very early Sunday and arrive in New York at 10:30 a.m. Diane Turco, who is coordinating the bus service, said both buses are full and there is a wait list. “We could have filled another bus or two,” she said. A total of 22 people from the Vineyard will be riding the buses, she said.
Several Vineyard groups and their representatives will take part in the march, including the Martha’s Vineyard Democrats, the Shalom Center, the Martha’s Vineyard Peace Council, and members of 350 Martha’s Vineyard Island, an offshoot of 350.org, a national advocacy network.
Nicola Blake, a climate researcher for the University of California, recently hosted a screening of the film Disruption at her house in West Tisbury. The film highlights the urgency of the march, and includes major voices from the climate movement. Ms. Blake will be traveling with the charter school group, which attended the screening.
Ms. Blake is a member of 350MVI, which works to raise awareness of climate change and to connect concerned groups on the Island. She has been in involved in local politics in New Hampshire, but does not necessarily consider herself an activist.
“I think it’s a little bit extreme, really, having to turn out on the streets,” she said. “But the political process isn’t working, so I feel I have to do something.”
“Nothing really substantive is being done about this issue, and I think it’s the most important issue of our age,” she said. Although the UN climate summit this week will not lead immediately to legislation, she said, world leaders will be able to make concrete suggestions for the 2015 summit in Paris. “That’s our big goal.”
Following the march, she hopes to put together photographs from the trip to share through 350MVI, and with the local students.
“What we hope for — I think everybody hopes for down there — is it won’t get chaotic,” said Mrs. Nevin.
For more information, visit capedownwinders.org or peoplesclimate.org.
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