My random protest

Yesterday I was casually walking along Princes street, as you do, when I saw a man with a megaphone and a crowd. My curiosity immediately peaked as when I saw a woman dressed as a fairy. I joined the crowd and ten minutes later I was involved in a huge march around Edinburgh. It turns out I was part of the ‘People’s climate march and gathering’.

It turns out the man with the microphone was Arron Thiery.

He was one of the organisers of this march. This was to capture New York’s attention as three summits are being held on climate change I was informed, while standing next to a woman who looked like a tree (pictured below), that despite years and years of meetings and laws being introduced to prevent climate change, virtually, nothing has happened. Another one of the key points was to ‘bring people together and have fun.’

 << Tree woman with a fairy ahhh!!!

So after 10 minutes of listening to the earth’s gradual decline and how we could change it me and my slightly bewildered friend, we only went out for a subway, began to march.

The march was actually fun. For 40 minutes I was a revolutionist amongst like-minded people. I happily waved at bus drivers as they waited for the looooooong group of hippies to move on. People gave us the finger, I viewed this as a backwards sign of love and moved on.

It was amazing to see so many people passionate about this cause. It wasn’t just young students who decided to join Greenpeace because it looks good on their CV but people of all ages. There was groups in their 60s, I presume, marching with their signs, families with young children and even dogs.

About 20 minutes into the march I started feeling passionate about climate change. Simply put, global warming is happening so quickly. One of the facts mentioned was that in the 14 years since the millennium, 13 have been the hottest in history. If this continues to be ignored it will have serious consequences.

The slogan of the march was action not words.

One of my favourite moments was when I heard a woman let out an exasperated sigh and walked over to a sign and grammatically corrected it. That was a beautiful moment.

The march made me realise that this an issue that needs to be addressed more seriously. The more people that become involved the better chance climate justice has of being recognised. It is currently the Edinburgh World Justice Fair and these marches aren’t just happening in Edinburgh but all over the world. To become more active search Facebook for ‘World Justice Fair’ and see which one is local to you. Peace and love and all that jazz.