Harry, UK Junior 8 representative, and Alison Marshall, Head of Public Affairs at UNICEF UK, lead the march.
Matthew Oldfield Photography http://matthew-oldfield-photography.com/
Over 50,000 protesters (including 100 UNICEF campaigners and staff) took to the streets of London on Saturday 5th December to demand climate justice from the Government. The Wave, organised by the SCC (Stop Climate Chaos Coalition) was the UK’s biggest ever climate change march and featured hundreds of organisations including Greenpeace, Christian Aid , WWF, Oxfam and many more.
Starting outside the US Embassy in Grosvenor Square , the march continued down towards Westminster to the Houses of Parliament. On the same day over 8,000 protesters joined The Wave in Glasgow while another march was organised in Belfast.
Director of Stop Climate Chaos, Ashok Sinha said: “I have been really impressed by the number of parents who came and marched today with their kids, those people who left home several days ago to come by bike, and the many people who got up at the crack of dawn to be here and won’t be home till the early hours.”
An open-top double-decker bus decorated with banners telling the Prime Minister "Get on board Gordon” led the march followed by a carnival atmosphere of street performers , musicians , floats and more. Watch Brazilian drumming troupe A Batida da Rua performing at the march here:
Birzi and Mellika, part our very own J8 crew encouraged the crowd around them to chant "Our Children Act Now. Our Climate Act Now!" while Harry and Sara, our spokespeople for the event were at the front of the march holding the Stop Climate Chaos banner. They then met with Ed Milliband, Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change, to talk about his hopes for the crucial climate summit in Copenhagen.
Campaigners at the march called for a deal to be made to reduce carbon dioxide emissions and help developing countries adapt to the change that is already happening. In particular they appealed to governments to:
-
Deliver a fair deal in Copenhagen that keeps global warming under 2°C.
This means rich countries taking the lead by reducing their emissions by at least 40 per cent by 2020.
-
Protect the poorest - provide resources to help the world's poorest and most vulnerable people who are already suffering the effects of climate change.
This means rich countries providing at least $150 billion a year for developing countries to deal with the impacts of climate change and be able to follow a low carbon development path.
-
Take action at home to show leadership internationally, by quitting dirty coal.
End our reliance on dirty coal power, and instead boost the UK's renewable energy supply to help build a green economy and create new jobs. This means ruling out the construction of coal-fired power stations that cannot capture their carbon emissions.
Watch Gordon Brown’s response to the March here:
The world's poorest children have contributed least to climate change and they are suffering the most. Extreme weather due to global warming can affect children's health , nutrition , education and safety. It is even estimated that every year in the next decade 175million children will be affected by sudden climate related disasters and if climate change goes unchecked it could cause between an additional 60 ,000 and 250 ,000 child deaths in South Asia and sub-Saharan Africa.
Climate change is denying children their basic rights to life, health, education and protection but it’s not too late to change this!
You as a young person have a right to have your voices heard on these outcomes of climate change as it is you and your peers that will be affected most!
We asked our J8-ers what they thought of the day’s event and here are their responses:
Sara and Harry were at the front of the march. Afterwards, they interviewed Ed Milliband about his hopes for COP15.
Matthew Oldfield Photography, Matthew Oldfield Photography http://matthew-oldfield-photography.com
Harry:
"The best moment for me was not only looking back and seeing how many people were behind me (including people dressed up as trees) but also at the end of the march when we did the Big Shout Out outside Parliament – basically loads of noise and chanting - one of the chants was: 'Be a hero Gordon Brown, make a good decision at Copenhagen now'."
Meeting Ed Miliband was really important to me, as climate change is something that is affecting all our lives. It’s important to have a voice especially as it’s going to affect me at some point in my life.”
Sara:
"Being at the march was great, it was really empowering to stand outside Parliament for at least 25 minutes chanting ‘we want climate justice’ with hundreds of other people and despite the rain everyone was in great spirits. If you want a change you need to voice your opinion - it’s important to remind the Government to listen to their people and there were about 50,000 of us there!"