New York City — Over 1,000,000 flyers have been handed out across New York City in the last five days. Hundreds of volunteers are canvassing subway stations across the city. 496 buses are coming in from nearly all 50 states. More than 32 marching bands are ready to play. It’s official: the People’s Climate March is going to be big.
If the weather holds, over 100,000 people are expected to attend demonstration on Sunday to demand bold action on climate change. Police have blocked off traffic on Central Park West from 59th St. to 86th street to accommodate the tens of thousands of students, workers, parents, scientists, beekeepers, and more who are joining the march.
A People’s Climate March will host a general press availability and press conference will take place on Central Park West between 59th st. and 61st st. from 9:30am-11:00am on Sunday morning. The press conference, from 10:00-10:30am, will feature a diverse group of seven people telling their personal stories of why they are joining the march. Due to limited space, press must RSVP to [email protected] to attend (a RSVP does not guarantee admission).
Beginning at 10:30am, different groups taking part in the march will host small rallies up and down the march route to fire up their contingents or deliver public statements. At 11:00am labor unions will host a rally with thousands of members just south of Columbus Circle on Broadway.
The march will begin at 11:30 a.m. at Columbus Circle, head east on 59th Street, then south on 6th Ave, west on 42nd Street, and finish at 11th Avenue and West 34th Street. The front of the march is expected to reach the end of the route at about 2:00pm.
At 1:00pm, after a moment of silence to honor those impacted by climate change and the fossil fuel industry, the march will “Sound the Climate Alarm” with drums, trumpets, vuvuzelas, and over 20 marching bands. Churches across the city will ring their bells, as Jewish temples blow their shofars, as part of this global climate chorus calling for action.
The march is the product of months of frenetic organizing. At a pop-office on 42nd St and Madison Avenue, dozens of volunteers are working the phones and laptops late into the night to help with the Get Out The March (GOTM) effort. Student activists report that there are now young people coming in from 320 campuses across the country. In the “Faith Hub,” hundreds of local and national religious institutions, from all backgrounds, are turning out their members for the march.
Across the East River at a three story warehouse in Bushwick, artists, cultural workers, and hundreds of volunteers are churning out banners, placards, puppets, inflatable art pieces, and giant floats that will be pulled by biodiesel vehicles (or by hand) during the march.
“This is the final crunch, the product of six months of work to make the People’s March a big, beautiful expression of the climate movement,” Rachel Schragis, who is helping coordinate the arts hub told the New York Times on Wednesday.
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