Tens of thousands of demonstrators assembled in Washington on Saturday for the latest installment of the regular protests that punctuate the Trump era. This large-scale climate march marked President Donald Trump’s first 100 days in office, which have already seen multiple rollbacks of environmental protections and Obama climate policies.
The Peoples Climate March, which originated with a massive demonstration in New York in September 2014, picked a symbolically striking day for its 2017 event. The temperature reached 91 degrees at District of Columbia’s National Airport at 2:59 p.m., tying a heat record for April 29 in the district set in 1974 – which only amplified the movement’s message.
Hillary Clinton tweeted praise of the marchers Saturday afternoon, writing, “Great to see ppl take to the streets & combat climate change, protect the next generation & fight for jobs & economic justice.”
Many of the signs at Saturday’s climate march were dark and ominous, warning of climate catastrophe, dying oceans, crop destruction and planet degradation. But the mood of the marchers was anything but somber. It was a racially diverse crowd with marchers of all ages. There were women with flowers in their hair. A man dressed in Uncle Sam overalls. There were little girls in strawberry sundresses and boys in baseball caps astride their fathers’ shoulders.
There were babies in strollers, like the boy who’d traveled with his family from Nashville and was now rolling down Pennsylvania Avenue carrying a sign that read, “Less pollution, more solutions.” There were elderly folks, too, such as 91-year-old Dorothy Peterson, who had traveled from Pittsburgh. She had a sun hat that resembled the earth and carried a sign in her wheelchair that read, “Mother Earth is older than me. Respect your elders.”
The protest itself smelled of sweat, sunscreen and the occasional whiff of incense. It sounded like a drum circle – a never-ending drum circle. The cacophony included banjos and boomboxes and at least one kazoo, tambourines and ukuleles and, yes, cowbell. Lots of cowbell.
There were chants, of course:
“Hey hey, ho ho, Scott Pruitt has got to go!”
“Resistance is here to stay, welcome to your 100th day.”
But none more ubiquitous than, “The oceans are rising and so are we!”
The climate event differs from last week’s March for Science in its focus and also its participants – only 1 out of 8 contingents of Saturday’s protest featured scientific researchers. The rest included labor activists, indigenous people already facing severe effects from climate change, and children and young people who will live with the effects of climate change longest as the Earth continues to warm.
The motivation for the current climate march is clear: The Trump administration already has moved to roll back former president Barack Obama’s signature climate initiative, the Clean Power Plan.
The administration is grappling with a major climate policy decision: whether to remain in the Paris climate agreement. Several of Trump’s Cabinet picks are advising against following through on his campaign pledge to “cancel” the accord.
It all adds up to a big contrast with the original People’s Climate March in 2014. That event was aimed at rallying support for climate change action and preceded by about a year the Paris climate agreement. This year’s event was more focused on resisting rollbacks of climate efforts. Celebrity attendees included Leonardo DiCaprio, Al Gore and Richard Branson.
Some of the more creative signs observed on Saturday included the following: “Good planets are hard to find,” “Make Earth Great Again!” “May the forest be with you,” and “Reduce, Reuse, Recycle, Resist.”
Marchers gathered at the Capitol and marched along Pennsylvania Avenue. They covered the entire width of the avenue and its length from the Capitol to 14th Street. The crowd filled Pennsylvania Avenue and the sidewalks carrying signs decrying the president and his actions on the environment.
As the march streamed toward the White House, Freedom Plaza, an open area along Pennsylvania Avenue, provided an off-ramp for sweltering protesters. At the far end of the plaza a series of six large water tanks awaited. Activists lined up to refill their bottles and, in a few cases, douse their heads.
Just before 3 p.m., temperatures at National Airport hit 91 degrees, but the heat index was even higher at 95.
Shortly before 4 p.m., the D.C. Homeland Security and Emergency Management Agency issued a hyperthermia alert, citing a heat index of 96 degrees. Residents without air-conditioning were told they could go to city recreation facilities, senior centers or other air-conditioned city buildings.
D.C. Fire and EMS received more than 50 calls for medical assistance at the march, with the “great majority” being heat-related, said Vito Maggiolo, a spokesman for the D.C. Fire and EMS department.
Organizers told the National Park Service that they expected 50,000 to 100,000 attendees. By late afternoon, they were claiming to have greatly exceeded that and reached 200,000. More than 375 satellite marches were held around the United States and even more around the world, from Manila to Amsterdam.