Junior Thomas Miller, sophomore Katelyn Utz and juniors
Ashley Junger and Gabby Duong at the
Climate March in New York.
PHOTO COURTESY OF MELISSA GUERRERO
“Beautiful,” “positive” and “surreal” were just a few of the words junior Mitch Metzger used to describe what people are calling the largest mobilization against climate change in the history of the planet.
Metzger was one of 24 DePauw students who attended the 400,000-person, 2.2 mile-long People’s Climate March in New York City on Sunday.
“It was a really individual march, but it was together. It was 400,000 individuals marching as one,” Metzger said.
The march centered around making the United Nations aware of the United States citizens’ concern regarding climate change, as the UN Climate Summit took place in New York this past Wednesday. The goal at the summit that marchers came to show are issues of climate change that need to be addressed immediately.
“We wanted, in the presence of world leaders, to show that the representation of the United States on this issue does not match the public opinion,” Metzger said. “The environmental crisis will be the defining issue of our generation.”
The students boarded the charter bus at 6 p.m. on Saturday, arrived in New York at 9 a.m. for the 11:30 start of the march. The march ended around 5 p.m. and the students departed the city at 8:30 p.m., arriving back at DePauw around noon on Monday.
Director of Sustainability Anthony Barrata, who was one of two staff members who accompanied the group to the march, said the march was so backed up that the people in the back did not start marching for several hours after the march began.
“We were one of the first groups that started and we probably ended around three, and then I went back and watched another solid three hours of marching,” Metzger said.
Most of the marchers made signs and were chanting or cheering throughout the demonstration, though Metzger assured the entirety of the march was peaceful.
Metzger, an intern for the Office of Sustainability, said he was surprised by the diversity of marchers at the event.
Sophomores Genna Chiaro, Katelyn Utz,
junior Thomas Miller, first-year Kelise Roberton,
junior Gabby Duong, senior Connor Tomasko,
junior Ashley Junger and first-year Mackenzie Jones
at the Climate March in New York.
PHOTO COURTESY OF MELISSA GUERRERO
“It was honestly surreal to see so many people from different age groups, economic classes and different issue concerns all joined in one cohesive effort to tell our politicians that its time to act,” he said. “There were thousands of old people and they were everything from hippies to militants and socialists. There were five-year-old kids. I had a 10 minutes conversation with a nine-year-old…about ocean pollution.”
Barrata believes the march will hopefully evoke change on a national level.
“Climate change is the most complicated problem we’ve ever faced as a human race,” he said. “Marches are usually really meaningful and there’s something about getting people in the streets rather than just hitting like on Facebook…. We want to push for having more and more students faculty and staff engaged on this issue and looking or solutions.”
Metzger agrees, although he believes follow-up is necessary in order to truly make a difference and keep the issue on people’s minds.
“Marches and disruption of our day-to-day life is important in changing the systems that cause these issues, but the only way they’ll change is if that disruption gives way to understanding,” he said. “This march is only effective, or only as effective, as its ability to further our concern of these issues and bring it into our day-to-day lives.”
Barrata hopes that this march will stir up conversation in the DePauw community and encourage more students to get involved in this issue.
“We have a growing movement at DePauw and we want to have more people involved,” he said. “Marches like these are ways for us to get more DePauw students involved and also to be a representative for change in the world.”