People’s Climate March – I went!

My name is Jamison, and I am a 6th grader.

On Sunday, September 21, 2014 I attended the People’s Climate March in New York City with my mom and brother. We stayed with my brother in Brooklyn where he has an apartment. Walking to the subway that morning we passed many people carrying signs and wearing t-shirts that were environmental or had climate-related statements on them. When we got on the subway, even more people had clothing that represented a message about the climate. We saw people with handmade felted hats and others who were carrying signs. Everyone was talking to each other.

When we arrived at the 72^nd street station, it was jammed with people, and everyone looked pumped for the march. But that was just a small part of what was to come when I walked up the stairs and out into the day. There were thousands of people in the streets. The streets were jammed with people in costume, with painted flowers on their faces, with huge banners that said what or for whom they were marching. There was a huge Earth balloon. There were people with drums. There were signs everywhere. It was packed.

We walked around for a while looking for our section – the section that had youth and students in it and merged into the crowd at 68^th street. Once we were in the crowd and took our posts, it was totally different than walking on the sidewalk. We waited nearly an hour and a half for the march to start, but during that time we were chanting and singing and smiling at each other. It was full of excitement and purpose and real change. I got up on my brother’s shoulders to see what was happening and a girl came over to me and said, “Little dude, start a chant!” So I did: “What do we want? Climate Justice! When do we want it? NOW!” That was very cool. Then we started moving and a roar went up in the crowd that was so charged and electric and different than a sports game.

We marched for climate justice, and I wore a placard that read “Green Students NOW!” I felt so alive walking with so many people who believe in the same thing. I am not alone in wanting action. I really believe that we can make a difference now that 400,000 people have marched in the People’s Climate March. I think that we made a strong statement to say that we care about what happens to our Earth and we must stop burning fossil fuels. We need to take to the streets and get out of the stores. We need to continue to march and make an impact as young people, because it’s our future that is at stake.