Last week’s strike on #climate change inaction saw millions of people from across the globe participating – as a matter of fact, the number might have been as high as 4 million.
Protestors came out to bring attention to the climate change crisis from Antarctica to Berlin, and from New Delhi to London. This happened ahead of the United Nations (UN) #Climate Action Summit, which is about to kick off.
Fighting Climate Change in NYC
Students were excused from classes in New York City. This allowed more than 1 million students to be dismissed to participate and voice their concerns over climate change. The preliminary crowd estimate, according to Mayor Bill de Blasio, was 60,000, but the number might have been more like a quarter of a million, which makes this particular strike surrounding climate change inaction potentially the biggest protest in the United States that day.
Fighting Climate Change Worldwide
Crowd size estimates vary. As per organizers, the climate change demonstrations that were the largest in size were in Australia (100,000 people protested in Melbourne alone); London saw roughly 100,000; and Berlin saw 270,000 climate change activists step forward. The United States had a solid turnout, too, as roughly 2,000 climate change activists came out in Portland and Washington, D.C.; 3,000 came out in Chicago; 7,000 came out in Boston; 7,500 came out in Denver; and 40,000 climate change activists came out to make their voices heard in San Francisco.
How did this massive global movement start? Look to a teenager named #Greta Thunberg. At 16-years-old, she is said to have sparked this global climate change movement. She participated in the strike in New York City. Together with other organizers, she estimates that the worldwide crowd was around 4 million. This is substantial and absolutely worth talking about – it demonstrates that people across the globe believe climate change is real, or better yet – know it is real, and want to do something about it.
Thunberg discussed how approximately 4 million people were striking around the world. She mentioned how it was the biggest strike regarding climate change in history and that “we should be so proud of ourselves.”
Her estimates on the climate change strike appear to be accurate.
Standing Up to Climate Change Inaction
This past March saw more than 1.4 million across the globe (according to organizers) take part in the first worldwide strike regarding climate change. In the United States, roughly 100,000 young people participated. Participation increased at the second global climate change strike which took place in May.
The numbers are absolutely worth looking into, even though it can be difficult to be precise. The Crowd Funding Consortium has researchers attempting to document crowd size estimates worldwide. This effort is being led by Erica Chenoweth, Harvard Professor, and Jeremy Pressman, Professor at University of Connecticut.
Pressman told USA TODAY that data is collected on as many protests as possible, by consulting traditional media and social media, as well as listings and maps provided by organizers.
Here is how the recent climate change strikes look in comparison to other strikes – the Women’s March was estimated to have 4 million show up in the United States alone, making it one of the biggest protests in world history. In France, close to 4 million people marched after the Charlie Hebdo attack in 2015, in unity against terrorism. Up to 15 million protested during the 2003 protests against the war in Iraq.
According to Pressman, data is still being put together on the crowd size in last week’s climate change strike. The number of locations that participated are making it difficult to come up with a precise number, but it is a work in progress. Either way, many people are concerned about climate change, as they should be.
What is Next?
People care about climate change and want to do what they can to save our planet. The strikes are not over yet. #Earth Strike is coming up next. It is going to be a worldwide walkout taking place in just a few days on September 27th.
The time to take climate change seriously is now. And it looks as though many people realize this truth. Do you plan on using your voice to fight inaction on the climate change crisis? Was your city involved in the recent climate change strike? Stay in the know and don’t ever underestimate the power one person has to make a difference!
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