Worldwide protests urge climate change action: Marches held in more than 50 cities to coincide with U.N. warming summit
Updated 1:58 p.m. PT, Sat., Dec. 8, 2007
LONDON – Skiers, fire-eaters and an ice sculptor joined in worldwide demonstrations Saturday to draw attention to climate change and push their governments to take stronger action to fight global warming.
From costume parades in the Philippines to a cyclist’s protest in London, marches were held in more than 50 cities around the world to coincide with the two-week U.N. Climate Change Conference, which runs through Friday in Bali, Indonesia.
Hundreds of people rallied in the Philippine capital, Manila, wearing miniature windmills atop hats, or framing their faces in cardboard cutouts of the sun.
“We are trying to send a message that we are going to have to use renewable energy sometime, because the environment, we need to really preserve it,” high school student Samantha Gonzales said. “We have to act now.”
In Taipei, Taiwan, about 1,500 people marched through the streets holding banners and placards saying “No to carbon dioxide.” Hundreds marched outside the conference center in Bali. At a Climate Rescue Carnival held in a park in Auckland, New Zealand, more than 350 people lay on the grass to spell out “Climate SOS.”
At the Brandenburg Gate in Berlin, ice sculpture artist Christian Funk carved a polar bear out of 15 tons of ice as a memorial to climate protection.
Christmas markets throughout Germany were switching off the lights for five minutes, and British cyclists pedaled into Parliament Square in London. In Helsinki, Finland, about 50 demonstrators ground their skis across the asphalt along the main shopping street, calling for decision makers to give them their snowy winters back.
Fire-eaters blew billowing clouds of flames at a rally in Athens, Greece.
Former Vice President Al Gore, who is in Oslo, Norway, to attend the Nobel Peace Prize awards ceremony on Monday, did not plan to take part in a protest there, his spokeswoman Kalee Kreider told the Associated Press.
Protesters single out Bush
In London, demonstrators braved the cold, rainy December weather to descend on Parliament Square, wielding signs marked: “There is no Planet B.” Bikers circled the square earlier in the morning to protest the city’s traffic and its effect on global warming, organizers said.
The London protest has singled out one particular target — President Bush — calling his administration the biggest obstacle to progress at the Bali talks. Organizers plan to underline the point by ending the protest in front of the U.S. Embassy.
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