Over 400,000 people assembled in New York City in what has been noted as “the largest social justice march in New York City in over a decade,” reported Reader Supported News. It’s a bittersweet thing because with that many people marching in the name of climate change, how is it that politicians on Capitol Hill aren’t taking it more seriously?
Organizers anticipated approximately 100,000 participants, but that number quickly tripled, and the group spanned for miles along 42nd Street in Manhattan.
“We said it would take everyone to change everything,” said Eddie Bautista of the New York City Environmental Justice Coalition.
RSN reported that among the hundreds of thousands of marchers, there were environmentalists, reporters, and celebrities including Mark Ruffalo and Edward Norton, as Jon Stewart hilariously indicated. The march is sure to cause ripples in the collective, social mind. But, will the people with the immediate power become convinced?
“This march will be heard in Washington,” said Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT). “The diversity will not be lost on my colleagues.”
However, is the voice loud enough? Will those on the Beltway take the message seriously? The scientific community is largely in agreement that climate change is real and that man-caused carbon emissions are to blame. Despite that, nearly all Republicans and many Democrats are reluctant to seriously address the issue and make appropriate plans.
The problem is that the energy industry (Exxon, BP, and the Kochs) is so dependant on fossil fuels for profit, and the politicians and lobbyists that promote energy industry-friendly laws, that they will stop at nothing to snuff green energy efforts to offset climate change. With endless amounts of money, the energy industry can buy the laws they need to protect their interests.
Lately, the link between fast-and-loose capitalism and climate change has become all too clear.
“We talk a lot about climate change and the root problems of climate change, but not many people are willing to say that the root problem of climate change is capitalism,” said marcher Sam Neubauer. “Large corporations profit from capitalism by extracting oil and burning that oil and we need to call that out explicitly.”
