The Wave - and start of Copenhagen

Nick

Categories: climate change, copenhagen, march, the wave

Dec 7, 2009 01:00 am 1 Comment

What a great weekend.

Saturday 5th December - The Wave march for strong climate action at Copenhagen.

Saturday started out sunny, and spirits were up looking forward to what was billed as the UK's biggest public action on Climate Change. As midday came around, the storm clouds were gathering though, and by early afternoon it was already drizzling with rain.

Still the crowd's spirits were not dampened, and in the event around 50,000 of us turned up to march towards Parliament, dancing, waving, whistling... you name it.

It's always impressive to end up at Big Ben when it chimes the hour and the crowd roars... it gave a massive feeling of solidarity. We all know this is important. We all want to ask our politicians to demand strong action at Copenhagen. So it was a good surprise to learn that Gordon Brown had asked 24 members of The Wave to join him 'at home' for a chat in 10 Downing Street afterwards. Haven't yet heard how that chat went, but by all accounts the UK representation is going to be one of the key proponents for a strong and decisive deal to be struck. Let's see how that pans out!

It was also really great to see so many Project Dirt members out and marching! Mark and I - separately today! - met up with members of Transition Town Brixton, WWF, and the London Low Carbon Community Network. And we know that three side-events were planned and advertised on the site in the run-up to this week, including a cycle ride from Tooting, a pre-march and a cafe meet-up beforehand to enable local people to meet and discuss what they were doing in the run-up to Copenhagen. Good on you!

Copenhagen is a massive opportunity, and the world is waiting with bated breath as it kicks off today. We'll be watching closely and reporting back on our thoughts as it progresses - both here on Changents and on the Project Dirt website.