On a cramped sidewalk in downtown Washington D.C., hundreds of people imitated their own deaths to send a message to the oil industry group in the black office building in front of them.
It was one of about 200 actions nationwide on People Climate Movement’s National Day of Action, a followup to last year’s march in New York City. The activists are looking to call attention to climate change, which most scientists blame on the greenhouse gases created by the burning of fossil fuels.
The protest in the nation’s capital was an example of many locally focused actions around the country, which included kayaking down a river in Missouri and marches on Chase Manhattan Bank and Rep. Keith Rothfus’ office in Pittsburgh.
Organizer Paul Getsos said it was important to have a local flair to each of the protests.
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“It was really important for us to be driven by what local organizations wanted to do and bring people into one space under one banner into the streets,” he said.
The day of action was held between Pope Francis’ visit to the United States and the U.N. Conference on Climate Change in Paris in early December. Organizers said the timing is meant to keep the momentum going from the pope’s visit, when he made climate change a top priority in front of Congress and President Obama.
Lucy Buckman, a student at George Washington University and a member of the Fossil Free GW club, said she attended the Washington march as part of her ongoing work to get her university to divest from stocks of fossil-fuel companies.
Having the die-in in front of the American Petroleum Institute’s offices was a symbolic gesture the energy industry needed to see, she said.
“It’s important to bring everyone there and actually have them see what’s going on,” Buckman said.
Gestos said it was important for the march to target the large energy trade group because companies and industry lobbyists need to get on board with the clean energy movement.
He said environmentalists want the industry to work with them, not against them.
“The reason why there are corporate targets, and we’re trying to education corporations and the fossil fuel industry, is because we want to move toward a transition to renewable and clean energy,” he said. “We want to make sure corporations are supporting that.”
Environmentalists hope that days like Wednesday will show their movement will increase public pressure on elected officials to act on climate change.
Michael Brune, executive director of the Sierra Club, said environmentalists are no longer the only ones fighting against climate change. On Wednesday, union members and people from all walks of life marched to the institute’s headquarters.
“This emerging alliance, this broad alliance that has been knit together over the past couple years, gives me great hope,” he said.
