300,000 People March In New York To Highlight Concerns About Climate Change

An estimated 300,000 people have taken to the streets of New York City to highlight concerns about a lack of international action to stop climate change.

The People's Climate March is part of a worldwide campaign to persuade global leaders to act decisively on the issue.

The march comes two days ahead of a heads of state summit at the United Nations which it's hoped will lead to a global agreement of climate change.


The message from the streets of New York City this Sunday was that action on climate change is needed now.

Ricken Patel, is the Executive Director of the march organisers Avaaz. He said "the climate change is not a green issue anymore – it's everybody's issue."


The People's Climate March is campaigning for curbs on harmful carbon emissions which contribute to global warming.

UN Secretary-General, Ban Ki-moon joined the march with the New York City mayor, Bill de Blasio as well as the French sustainable development minister, Segolene Royal.

Ban is convening a meeting of heads of state and government at the United Nations on Tuesday to galvanize action on climate change.

He says those leaders should listen to what people on this march have to say.

He added that he "hopes these voices will be truly reflected to the leaders when they meet on September 23rd. Climate change is a defining issue of our time and there is no time to lose. If we do not take action now we will have to pay much more [later]."

It's expected that governments from around the world will come to Tuesday's summit with concrete initiatives.

And that it will provide significant momentum for a global agreement on tackling climate change.

It's hoped a deal will be reached in Paris, France next year.

SHOTLIST:
21 SEPTEMBER 2014, NEW YORK CITY

March starting
Various shots, march
Various shots, march
Marchers passing carrying a sign in Chinese
March
Ban, Al Gore and other dignitaries marching
Ban
Ban waving
Ban, Jane Goodall and others
Royal Ban, de Blasio and Al Gore
Marchers passing by
Various wide shots, march

SOUNDBITE (English) Ricken Patel, President and Executive Director of Avaaz:
"So far, it looks absolutely amazing. A lot of the 2500 events that have been planned for today have already happened and the numbers are off the charts. We had 40 000 people in London, 30 000 in Melbourne, tens of thousands in many cities around the world. So it's a good start. We are very confident that this will be the largest climate change mobilization in history. "

SOUNDBITE (English) Ricken Patel, President and Executive Director of Avaaz:
"Climate change is not a green issue anymore. It is everybody's issue. It threatens everything we love. So if you look at the march today, just in New York City, labor has come out in force. That is a really new thing. You have immigrants' rights groups, social justice groups, teachers, parents. It is really a wide cross section of society. And that's a kind of movement we need to win."

SOUNDBITE (English), Ban Ki-moon, Secretary-General of the United Nations:
"I am overwhelmed by such a strong power, energy and voice of people - I hope this voice will be truly reflected to the leaders when they meet on September 23rd. Climate change is [a] defining issue of our time and there is no time to lose. If we do not take action now, we will have to pay much more. They have raised their voice, they have shown their power to change the mind set of people and I hope that this power will help -- and the heat will help -- cool the global temperature rise within 2 degree Centigrade."

SOUNDBITE (English), Ban Ki-moon, Secretary-General of the United Nations:
"While marching with the people, I felt that I had become a Secretary-General of the people. I am the Secretary-General of the United Nations; I am now working for the people. Let's work together to make this planet earth environmentally sustainable so that our succeeding generations – children after children – will live peacefully. There is no Plan B because we do not have planet B. We have to work and galvanise our action. Thank you for your action and your power to change."

UPSOUND (English) female marcher:
"I am here with my union workers to support global change for healthier economy and healthy environment. They work together and we feel they can both work hand in hand."

UPSOUND (English) woman with baby:
"I don't know why everyone is not here. Climate change affects us all."

UPSOUND (English) young girl student:
"We are here because we are students and we care about the environment.'

UPSOUND (English) young man:
"There are solutions for fixing a lot of our problems and one of those solutions is to tax Wall Street. Small tax from speculative trading that Wall Street does recklessly can raise up to 350 billion dollars which is enough to fix climate issues, its enough to end the AIDS epidemics and it is enough to add a lot of jobs."

UPSOUND (English) old man in weelchair:
"It is not much longer that we have for my children and grandchildren to save this thing. And capitalists and all the rich people, they don't seem to give a darn so we got to say something, to say "look, listen, please, we got to do this, there's not going to be brighter for rich people neither, you know?"

DURATION: 05:35