Opinion: Through My Eyes – New York Climate Week

I had so many interesting experiences at New York Climate Week last week. Climate Week has become an annual event in late September at the time that national leaders gather at the United Nations. Climate activists come to New York City to share grassroots workshops and often to demonstrate in favor of bolder climate action by governments. There are meetings of climate justice groups, journalists, lobbyists, advocates, climate experts, businesses, and countless organizations. I don’t actually know the full scope of what happens, but here are some of my personal experiences.

I was there primarily with a U.S. delegation of Sustaining All Life and United to End Racism, two sister grassroots international organizations. Friday night some of us met to make signs for the march on Saturday. We had fun discussing slogans we might use and trying to create somewhat artistic signs.

One person wanted to emphasize how harmful war is to the climate (and in every other way) and cleverly used, “No More Global WARming”. Several signs featured, “People Power Over Billionaires: Tax the Rich”. Another was “Never Give Up, Never Give In.” Another featured a drawing of two people of different races and said, “Together We Are Better.”

The March
Saturday was a big march sponsored by many different national and local groups with one theme and a three-part demand:

Make Billionaires Pay

• Shut Down Billionaires. Fund Our Future
• Shut Down Fascists. Protect Migrants and the Global Majority
• Shut Down Polluters. Defend Mother Earth.

The march was an animated, high-toned affair with lots of chanting, and ended with a five minutes of silence sit-down around Columbus Circle. The organizers had been denied a permit for the march, but the police let us be in the streets and provided traffic control and were mostly quite cordial. Apparently there were about 25,000 marchers. That was smaller than some marches, but I still experienced a gratifying sense of being part of a large group of people all in the streets together making demands that are important to me.

SUN Day
The next day was the day that Third Act, Bill McKibbon’s group, had dubbed “SUN Day” and sponsored nearly 500 rallies and actions all across the country to celebrate and promote the growth of solar power. At the one in Manhattan, Sustaining All Life and United to End Racism had a table and engaged many of the people who walked by. The initial draw to our table was “free stickers!” – “I’m a Climate Voter,” “Defend Immigrant Rights,” “Climate Justice – Immigrant Justice,” and “Love, Protect, Defend.”

We invited people to write on a colored ribbon, “what do you love and hope to never lose to climate chaos.” People of all ages seemed eager to do this and tie their ribbon to our Climate Ribbon Tree. This project seemed to touch people’s hearts and led to good conversations.

Then I would ask people if they knew what our organization is all about, and explain that we are a grassroots organization that believes we can do something about the climate crisis. And that we believe to be successful, we must help people bridge whatever divides us, especially racism, and make emotional healing part of climate activism because of the discouragement and despair that so many of us are dealing with. It was remarkable how many people immediately agreed with these ideas and wanted to know more.

Workshops by Sustaining All Life and United to End Racism
I shared with them an attractive colored flyer that listed 20 free in-person workshops that our multi-racial team was offering over the course of the next week, including:

• Backing Indigenous Leaders: Where Ending the Climate Crisis and Decolonization Meet
• Staying Hopeful, Connected, and Engaged in Challenging Times
• How Do We Create Meaningful Climate Action in an Increasingly Authoritarian USA?
• No “Throw-Away” People: Racism and the Climate Crisis
• How to Listen to (and Win Over) People We Disagree With
• And workshops on climate and war, young people, fast fashion, immigrant justice, climate grief, etc.

The workshops themselves were quite successful. Attendance ranged from 12 to 125 depending on the workshop. The presenters shared important information, but more importantly engaged participants in listening exchanges and listening circles. These gave participants opportunities to share their own experiences, thoughts and feelings about many aspects of the climate crisis — including grieving about the damage being done to people and planet. Some used listening exchanges to plan next action steps. Some planned to use listening exchanges with their own organizations and groups back home.

Despite the grim nature of the climate crisis, participants consistently reported that they felt uplifted by the chance to unload some of their feelings of upset and by the deeper sense of connection with others who are caring and taking action on the climate. I’m convinced that we all can benefit from opportunities to heal climate grief and fear and from building wider and deeper connections with each other.

Russ Vernon-Jones was principal of Fort River School 1990-2008 and is currently a member of the Steering Committee of Climate Action Now-Western Massachusetts. He blogs regularly on climate justice at www.russvernonjones.org.