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OPINION: 'You can’t not listen to this,' say Madrid climate marchers

by Megan Rowling | @meganrowling | Thomson Reuters Foundation
Friday, 6 December 2019 23:30 GMT

People attend a climate change protest march, as COP25 climate summit is held in Madrid, Spain, December 6, 2019. REUTERS/Rafael Marchante

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* Any views expressed in this opinion piece are those of the author and not of Thomson Reuters Foundation.

And the message was clear: There's no time to lose in tackling global warming

From the blue robes of Extinction Rebellion activists, to a funeral march for the Earth and a globe being bounced on a sheet reading "Blah, Blah, Blah - Accion Ya" (Action Now!), the streets of Madrid saw tens of thousands of people, young and old, march for the climate on Friday. 

They included international activists in the Spanish capital to attend the U.N. climate talks – referred to as COP25 – this week and next, and members of Spanish environmental groups. 

All shared one common message: There's no time to lose in tackling global warming and protecting the planet and its natural resources to ensure a greener, safer world now and in the future. 

It was a message many said they wanted heard inside the walls of the U.N. summit. 

I spoke with some of the demonstrators before the rally ended with an address by young Swedish super-star activist Greta Thunberg:

Carlos Mampay, a corporate-jet pilot from Malaga, in southern Spain, who was dressed in his pilot's uniform – but had taken a six-hour bus journey to the march in Madrid:

"I have a profession… but I am also conscious of the situation (with climate change). I have a bank account, I have a stable job, but I don't know for how long,” he said.

 “Although I am shooting myself in the foot (by speaking out on climate change), I think maybe it will be worth it, because it's good for the next generation.” 

“It's not normal that people can afford to go worldwide (on a plane) twice or three times a year. It’s not sustainable,” he said. “We should increase the taxes (on flying) and that money could go to transport on the ground... They could also forbid flights shorter than one hour." 

Leah Pattem, a British teacher and journalist living in Madrid, who was marching with a local branch of the UK Labour Party: 

"A lot of people from different countries have come together for this weekend... hoping to join together, and exponentially make a bigger impact – to just make a lot of noise really,” she said. 

“You can't not listen to this – the drums, the atmosphere, so many people."

Ines Ayrie, a climate change policy officer from Brussels who works with Oxfam Belgium:

 "We'd like countries to... commit already at this COP (to stepped-up climate action) and not wait one more year,” she said.

 "We want to use this moment to put pressure on the countries while the COP is happening and to show that civil society, citizens, young people, women, people from Southern countries, that every one of us is committed and in the street to call for climate justice and change to happen."

August Wells, a student from the U.S. city of Boston, who is earning a master’s degree in environmental forced migration: 

"This is so inspiring... the size is unbelievable,” she said of the march. 

“This (climate change) is a single issue that everybody should be on the same page for... It's not a partisan issue. We just need to believe the science."

Chittranjan Dubey, co-founder of Extinction Rebellion India, who had travelled from his home in Munich to Madrid to call on India’s government to declare a climate emergency: 

"I am expecting that the world leaders who are here, they must declare first of all a climate emergency or a planetary emergency – and instead of targeting 2050 to get carbon emissions to zero, they should target 2030 or 2035,” he said. 

“They should listen more to climate scientists and NGOs and the research papers, and …. share those, so the world becomes more aware."

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