User:John Abbe/Climate March

Update: A page had already been started for the Great March for Climate Action, so I simply merged this content into it.

The Great March for Climate Change is a march of 1,000 people across the United States planned for 2014. Its purpose is to "change the heart and mind of our fellow Americans and our elected leaders" and to inspire and motivate them to "act now to address the climate crisis." It is currently planned to leave Santa Monica, California on March 1, 2014 and arrive in Washington, D.C. in November, after traveling about 3,700 miles. [Is this accurate?] An average day's walk will be about 15 miles.

The march is being initiated by Iowa politician Ed Fallon, who has founded a non-profit to organize the march. As of early June 2013 they had about five staff, had raised $60,000, and earned endorsements from 350.org, James Hansen, and U.S. Senator Tom Harkin and Representative Bruce Braley among others. Fallon said, "Since probably 2007, I’ve identified the climate crisis as the most serious challenge facing our planet, and I’ve been pondering ways in which I could most effectively help address it." His selection of a cross-country march as a strategy to do so was inspired by his participation in the 1986 Great Peace March for Global Nuclear Disarmament.

Other participants
Reverend Bob Cook plans to take part in the march. "The Des Moines pastor’s life work has been for the poor, but he doesn’t view the Great March for Climate Action as a departure. The poor are affected most by climate change, as they are from most troubling world events, Cook said."