On Saturday, environmental campaigners took to the streets to demand that more action be taken to tackle climate change. The march went from outside the American Embassy in Grosvenor Square to Westminster, ending with a rally in Parliament Square.
It focused on four issues: opposition to plans for a third runway at Heathrow; opposition to new coal-fired power stations; opposition to increased use of agrofuels; and support for a ‘Green New Deal’ to create jobs and further shift our energy supply to renewable sources.
Estimates place turnout for the march at between 5,000 and 10,000. Numbers seemed to dwindle significantly for the rally. Headline speakers at the rally included Nick Clegg, Caronline Lucas and George Monbiot.
In 2005, the Make Poverty History march in Edinburgh mobilised an estimated 225,000 people. Whatever one thinks about popular mobilisation, these campaigns surely stand or fall on the scale and diversity of their support (both active and passive).
Perhaps the biggest challenge for organisers and campaigners is to agree on a succinct message that contains a clear and inspiring goal. End apartheid. Votes for women. Equal rights for all Americans. Unlike these social movements, which could point to more concrete targets and grievances, there is much greater uncertainty when it comes to climate change. There is a lack of consensus over the scale of the problem and what needs to be done to face up to it.
Ultimately, things are out of our hands. We cannot be sure that proposals to mitigate global warming will be entirely effective. That is not to question the soundness of action, such as reductions in carbon emissions and moves towards increased use of renewable energy sources. Neither is it to suggest that we should not try at all. But isn’t much of the appeal of direct activism supposed to be the act of standing up and taking back a measure of control?
