Hundreds of thousands of demonstrators gathered in New York City last Sunday for the People’s Climate March. — Photo by Shadia Fayne Wood/Survival Media Agency

By Kate Bond

This past Sunday was a day of historical importance as New York City, and the world, saw a group of over 400,000 people (four times the estimated amount), including several from Somerville, show up to march for Environmental Action in the People’s Climate March.

The event took the place as by far the largest Climate March in history. In attendance at the climate march were high profile environmentalists such as Bill McKibben, Leonardo DeCaprio, Chloë Sevigny, Al Gore, UN Secretary General Ban Ki Moon and many more.

“I’m here because we have a serious problem on our hands and if the coming together of hundreds of thousands of people can’t convey that message then what will?” said Somerville resident and Lesley University student Chelsea Brown.

The Climate March was scheduled as a predecessor to the United Nations Climate Summit where world leaders will come together in New York this week to discuss and debate ways to combat the growing threat of carbon pollution in our atmosphere. This day of climate action was not limited to New York City. Around the world, 2,808 different solidarity events took place in 166 different countries.

— Photo by Shadia Fayne Wood/Survival Media Agency

The event began around 11:30 a.m. at Columbus Circle off Central Park West. Seniors, adults, teenagers, kids, and infants all were present in the march accurately representing the wide scope of responsibility to the cause. Scientific communities, schools, religious organizations, and many more embodied the roughly 1,500 different groups that came together on Sunday. An estimated 10 city blocks of the march were covered by a student section from local schools such as Lesley University, Harvard University, and Tufts University and schools from all over the country.

At around 1:00 p.m. the march briefly stopped as the demonstrators took a moment of silence for all those who have been affected by climate change. Everything was calm as a wave of silence, raised hands and bowed heads spread throughout the 2.2 miles of people. The moment of silence was followed by an equally powerful moment of cheering.

The march met its conduct rules, according to a statement released by the NYPD, as there wasn’t a single arrest. Signs with sayings such as “Love Your Mother,” “There Is No Planet B,” “Jobs, Justice, Clean Energy,” “To Change Everything Takes Everyone” and displays of Noah’s Ark, a giant carbon molecule, and many others like it decorated the crowd.

According to GoFossilFree.org Arabella Advisors and the Divest-Invest coalition released numbers, post Peoples Climate March, “181 institutions and local governments and 656 individuals representing over $50 billion dollars have pledged to divest to-date.” This number including the $860 million Rockefeller Brothers Fund, which was originally built on the Standard Oil fortune of Mr. John D. Rockefeller, a strong statement of the times.

Somerville residents, and all others who attended the People’s Climate March, indisputably made history on September 21, 2014 by helping to support Environmental Action.