100,000 march to stop climate change in New York

Tens of thousands gathered in the streets of New York on September 22, as part of an international day of protest on climate change, and event organizers predicted it was the largest protest about the issue in five years.

LOS ANGELES, CA (Catholic Online) - Around the world, some 100,000 people-including United Nations secretary-General Ban Ki-moon and New York Mayor Bill de Blasio-marched ahead of the next day's U.N. hosted summit in New York to discuss reducing carbon emissions that threaten the environment.

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Actors Leonardo DiCaprio and Mark Ruffalo, the musician Sting and former vice-president Al Gore were some other famous faces which came out during the march.

Organizers of the march said that roughly 550 busloads had arrived for the rally, which took place alongside similar events in 166 countries, including Britain, France, the Netherlands, Belgium Bulgaria, Turkey, Afghanistan and Australia.

"Today I am marching for my children. I am marching so they can live in a world without worrying about the next big storm destroying their community," said Bill Aristovolus, the superintendent of an apartment building in New York City's working-class Bronx borough.

U.S. senators Bernard Sanders of Vermont and Sheldon Whitehouse of Rhode Island were also present, lined up with a large crowd along a mile long stretch along New York's Central Park, bearing signs reading "stop tar sands" and "keep the oil in the ground."

Mayor De Blasio also unveiled a new plan for New York to reduce its greenhouse gas emissions by 80% by 2050, a plan which calls for all 3,000 major city-owned buildigns to be retrofitted with energy saving heating, cooling and light systems.

"Climate change is an existential threat to New Yorkers and our planet," de Blasio said. "Acting now is nothing short of a moral imperative."

Actress Emma Thompson and musician Peter Gabriel joined the 40,000 people who marched in London, and Thompson said that "Every single person on this earth has the power to change the world.

"And when we all come together, our power becomes irresistible. Together we have built countries and cultures and technologies."

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