L.A.'s Climate March: A diverse new mainstream goes green?

It was a comfortable Saturday afternoon, cool compared to the past week’s scalding heat. As I stepped off a Metro Rapid bus onto Wilshire Boulevard, the sounds of earnest protest rang through the street. Extending for nearly 2 miles, the Sep. 20 Building Blocks Against Climate Changedemonstration expressed L.A.'s solidarity with the hundreds of thousands who marched in New York City the next day demanding action from leaders at the U.N. Climate Summit.

Though there were only 200 or 300 of us, the mood on Wilshire was charged, even festive. In addition to slogans, conversation, and the odd bullhorn, the protest included live music and a Sierra Club press conference, backed up by an L.A .chorus of supportive car horns. For four hours, a demand for action sounded from the city’s restless heart.

In an ingenious move by the event’s organizers, participants preselected their corners of choice along a vast swath of Wilshire, thereby avoiding the potential trouble of a large crowd and increasing ground covered. One of the demonstration’s central nodes happened to be the intersection of Wilshire Boulevard and Normandie Avenue, my preferred spot. There gathered members of the Sierra Club and the Natural Resources Defense Council among many others.

I chatted with the NRDC delegation for a while and held up one of their signs. They are committed attorneys and policy analysts based in a LEED Platinum Santa Monica office whose efforts over the past decade have made for a cleaner, greener city, especially along the coast and in the Port of LA. They are friendly, though serious environmentalists with specialized education and access.

Students add their voices

Beside the NRDC demonstrators, a group of Latino boys from a local high school chanted their own green slogans ripped from song lyrics. Of all the groups lining the intersection, those three boys really brought the noise, waving signs scavenged from other groups as they ran alongside vehicles urging the drivers to “honk for climate change”. Many motorists obliged. As far as I could tell, the students weren’t hardcore activists, just passers-by caught up in the street excitement. But their boisterous support did a lot to galvanize the block.

In another time, scientific environmentalists might have resented the diverse tapestry of L.A .political life gathered on Wilshire that day, from ultra-vegans claiming that factory farming dooms the world to old-guard socialists selling their organization’s newspaper. Climate change is deadly serious, but does that mean only the “educated” need show up? More than anything, the demonstration reflected an unprecedented diversity of support from all sectors of the city.

The same thing happened in New York, albeit on a grander scale. The People’s Climate March was certain to draw classic environmentalists: cadres of college students fighting the power next to nature-lovers from their parents’ generation, all fairly white, all fairly well-off. But the NYC march didn’t stop there. Ethnic minorities, social justice campaigners, and people of every age, class, and creed came out to support our planet.

More than any other issue, climate change and the environment speak to the human community as a whole. When we take the time to consider our relationship with the biosphere – and with the universe – we can put aside differences that might otherwise break us into squabbling factions. Environmental protection is a common hearth for activism, an idea that encourages people to express their desire for health, wealth, and equality.

Me, environmental attorneys, a disabled veteran, and a group of minority high school kids – our stories probably don’t have much in common. But they all wound up Saturday at a place of harmony with the Earth, a place of collective excitement that transformed urban diversity into common purpose. While I wasn’t in New York, I believe something similar happened at the largest climate march to date.

For whatever reason, the LAPD had only a token presence at the demonstration. Maybe environmentalists don’t pose much threat to public order. Or maybe it had to do with the fact that I first heard about the protest from a city employee, in City Hall. Even in the offices of government and the towers of commerce, the green movement is gaining traction. And judging from the dedication of so many disparate groups, organizations, and individuals to build a healthier society, environmentalism is finally at the cusp of going mainstream.

Wherever life takes them, when those young high school students look back, concern for the environment will have been there from the start. I’m not really much older than they are, but I never stumbled on a climate protest growing up in my suburb. As a multi-ethnic young person, I believe it’s never too early (or too late) for any one of us to start learning about the Earth. For that reason alone, coming out on Saturday was worthwhile.

The city of Los Angeles brims with the power of millions, whole neighborhoods full of young people and underprivileged families who will feel a changing climate’s bite. Diverse commitment must launch conservation and environmental justice into the mainstream where they belong. It’s our job to stand up with our fellow citizens and move toward a society at peace with the Earth.

Philip Rojc is a writer Angeles Chapter Sierra Club member. You can find him at philiprojc.com or follow him on Twitter at @PhilipRojc.
Photo: City Councilman Paul Koretz speaks at L.A.'s Climate March on Sept. 20. Credit: George Watland