There’s a lot you can take away from the People’s Climate March. From one perspective, it taught us the sheer extent of what’s possible when diverse groups rally behind a common vision for the future. From another, it taught us how much that kind of grassroots movement can shift the narrative, and draw focus to an issue that simply doesn’t get its share of media attention.
Put simply, there’s a lot from last weekend that can inspire and teach us as we continue to build our long-term movement for a future without fossil fuels.
But one of the most significant takeaways from The People’s Climate March has to be the impact it’s having on our political dialogue. Before the march even began, we woke up to a story in The New York Times announcing that New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio announced a $1 billion plan to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and improve energy efficiency. That alone was a major victory, and represented one of the strongest steps taken by a major city in recent memory to address climate issues.
But the impacts of the march didn’t stop there. Politico wrote that the People’s Climate March is reflective of a new, modern environmental movement “that’s louder and rowdier than the old-school greens,” one powered by people “brushing aside staid Washington lobbying strategies…” in favor of events like last Sunday’s march that “have created lots of buzz.” MSNBC wrote about the impact of the People’s Climate March on the 2016 presidential race, and The Guardian’s headline blared: “The Global People’s Climate March is a Reason to be a Climate Optimist.”
These are significant effects, changing the media and political landscape on an issue that has long thought to be on the backburner compared with what voters in the U.S. really care about. But if headlines from the People’s Climate March are telling us anything, it’s that that conventional wisdom no longer holds up. Lowering our reliance on fossil fuels, investing in clean energy jobs and technologies — these aren’t issues that matter only to Sierra Club, nor are they just talking points for Silicon Valley Congressional candidates. Meeting the threat of climate change concerns all of us, gravely, and voters are responding in kind.
In the coming months, look out for how climate change plays in key electoral races in the 2014 U.S. miterms, and how it begins to emerge for a defining issue on the left as we vet a crop of prospective Presidential candidates to succeed Barack Obama. My prediction is that this issue will only become more important.