Global Warming, Global Action

London - Day of ActionThe weather cleared and yesterday, Sat December 8th, was a gorgeous day in Auckland. When the Be The Change bus crew set up our open day exhibition in Weston Park, we were also kick-starting the day of action globally.

Aucklanders came to visit the bus and enjoy the Climate Rescue Carnival, but also to take part in the human banner. Our ‘Climate SOS’ yesterday was our part of the collective voice that called out to the UN Climate Conference taking place in Bali at the moment.

Over the last day tens of thousands of people around the world have repeated this message. Ten thousand people marched in Germany, ten thousand in Taiwan, two thousand in Uganda, six thousand in London despite the rain… and the list goes on.

In diverse cultures and locations the vast numbers of people taking to the streets to have their voices heard gives an indication of the people who are, like you, are doing their part to reduce their carbon footprint.

“If you go to a demonstration and then go home, that’s something... but sustained pressure that keeps on building, groups that keep on doing things, people that learn from the last time and do it better next time…” (Noam Chomsky), and that’s what this is about.

Be The Change is all about us making sure that our concern about the climate is heard, but it’s also about us all taking this message home, doing things, and building on them, and about us being “the change [we] wish to see in the world” (Mahatma Gandhi).

By being on the streets, in the parks, on the stalls, and all the other activities that were going on around the world yesterday, we were making that concern visible, and putting a symbolic face to our action. It’s important that we do this so the UN reps in Bali know that behind the scenes we’re all building and learning and doing it better.

jojo