Ahmer Inam felt like being a part of something. The 39-year-old packed his bags and headed from Charlotte to New York City before the third weekend of September to participate in the People’s Climate March, the largest single stance against climate change in history. For about seven hours, environmentalists, Hollywood actors, political leaders and performance artists marched through Manhattan to call for global action against climate change. The effects were almost instantaneous. The day of the march — Sunday, Sept. 21 — the Rockefeller family’s charitable arm announced it would join about 49 foundations in divesting from 200 major oil and gas companies, according to New York Times.
Days after he returned, Inam talked to CL about why he went, who else was there and how Moral Mondays even made an appearance. The following has been edited for brevity and clarity.
Creative Loafing: Why did you decide to participate in this year’s march?
Inam: I knew this was going to be the biggest and largest mobilization that has ever happened on climate-change issues. I wanted to be a part of that. I’m especially passionate about clean water, and with clean water comes all the pollution that is leading to problems. Especially in North Carolina, where coal ash is an issue.
Tell us about your trip up.
I knew Greenpeace and the Sierra Club were taking buses, so I signed up to ride along. I collected donations — snacks for the trip, etc. — to do my part. We reached New York at about 7:30 Sunday morning. The people I met on the bus were total strangers, but we became friends. Some were from North Carolina and South Carolina, even Georgia. We shared stories about why we are passionate about environmental issues. Everyone had a story. It was good to learn everyone’s perspectives. I’ll continue to stay in touch with many through email.
What were your takeaways from the march itself?
I was struck by how diverse the crowd was, and not just ethnically or racially. There were so many religious groups, young people, people in the technology industry, celebrities. The international director of Greenpeace marched with us. There were African bands, Native Americans, folk musicians and performance artists. It wasn’t just your typical environmentalists who showed up. The secretary-general of the U.N. even marched.
I know 300,000 people makes for a big group, but who was the message geared toward?
We tend to hear that people don’t care about these issues, so I think this was done to prove to governments and global leaders that people do care and we will hold them accountable for their decisions.
About 150 people from Charlotte rode with you. Was the local contingency heard?
That was really interesting. Some of the chants were actually led by local activists. That was pretty awesome. I even recognized some of the chants from Moral Monday protests. North Carolinians were actually leading the march, in a way.
This article appears in Best of Charlotte 2014.
With 60 BILLION food animals on the planet, this should be our first step in the Climate March! The best chance to mitigate climate change is to severely reduce consumption of animal foods. Easily 1/4 of human induced warming is attributable to animal agriculture. Methane is 24 times more potent than CO2 but takes only 7 years to cycle out of the atmosphere. CO2 takes around 100 years to come out. Human pursuit of animal protein is the leading cause of methane release and a primary cause of CO2 concentrating in the atmosphere. Check the facts and act!
Methane vs. Carbon Dioxide: A Greenhouse Gas Showdown
http://tinyurl.com/kwnwz6n
“As environmental science has advanced, it has become apparent that the human appetite for animal flesh is a driving force behind virtually every major category of environmental damage now threatening the human future: deforestation, erosion, fresh water scarcity, air and water pollution, climate change, biodiversity loss, social injustice, the destabilization of communities, and the spread of disease.” Worldwatch Institute, “Is Meat Sustainable?”
“If every American skipped one meal of chicken per week and substituted vegetables and grains… the carbon dioxide savings would be the same as taking more than half a million cars off of U.S. roads.” Environmental Defense Fund
“A 1% reduction in world-wide meat intake has the same benefit as a three trillion-dollar investment in solar energy.” ~ Chris Mentzel, CEO of Clean Energy
Step by Step Guide: How to Transition to a Vegan Diet http://www.onegreenplanet.org/vegan-food/step-by-step-guide-how-to-transition-to-vegan-diet/
Click the link below to listen to Voices of the People’s Climate March from the perspective of one of 400,000 plus marchers for change. Click, Listen Share! The 35 minute audio is not narrated but instead lets marchers from around the country tell the story in this 35 minute audio mix.Click, Listen Share and engage! https://soundcloud.com/brian-kasher/voices…
Did the Charlotteans in attendance arrive in SUVs as Al Gore did?