25,000 march for the climate in Bonn before COP23.
Bonn, 4 November 2017. Called upon by numerous environmental and political organisations, some 25,000 people of all age groups came to march for the speedy implementation of the Paris Climate Agreement of 2015. The dominant focus was on stopping coal NOW and leaving oil in the ground.
The marchers understood full well that the various issues are connected. That was also reflected in the slogans, e.g. "produce food not emissions". Eat more veggies rather than meat and Abandon industrial mass meat production were other slogans forcefully put forward. As in previous occasions Mundus maris distributed flyers and alerts about the need to protect the ocean in order to stablise the climate.
International solidarity and cooperation were noisily demanded as the only way to achieve climate justice NOW. The creativity and energy were everywhere. Polar bears accompanied a limousine with President Trump pulling a trailer with a toppled freedom statue spitting out black emissions and surrounded by emaciated Africans.
Another group with some members in disguise carrying a banner with the symbols of the 17 sustainable development goals pleaded for sustainable Santa Claus.
The final rally was framed by music and a series of speakers from civil society organisations from the Marshall Islands in the Pacific, Senegal in Africa, Peru in Latin America and the Philippines in Asia pleaded strongly to fight for the implementation of the Paris Agreement through strong international cooperation and push governments and companies to stop procrastinating. The larger than expected turnout sent a strong signal to the negotiators at the Conference of the Parties (COP23) starting on Monday under the leadership of Fiji and to people around the globe: We have only this one Earth. Let's step up cooperation to save if and us all from runaway climate change. End fossils, change lifestyles, protect the ocean.
Pictures are by CE Nauen.
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