Scientists from research institutions, non-profits, and the private sector made themselves seen and heard on Sunday, September 21, when 310,000 people marched through New York City to demand action on climate change. This “People’s Climate March” was timed to coincide with a special climate summit for world leaders at the United Nations on Tuesday, September 23.
Most of the scientists Popular Science talked with said they were marching to call for much stronger action on climate change. “There is no point in doing the research if no one is going to listen to the results,” said Allison Jacobel, a paleoclimatologist at Columbia University’s Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory. Humanity “has to survive the next thousand years,” said her colleague Etienne Dunn-Sigouin.
Among the non-scientists who joined the science section of the march, a man named Mark told us he was primarily there for the birds, such as the plush blue-footed booby sitting on top of his baseball cap. “The world is in danger and the powers who make decisions about the state of the environment are not responsive enough yet,” said Mark. “Hopefully this march will change some minds.”
