How will you travel to the Climate March?

So, Bill McKibben of 350.org has extended an open invitation for everyone to come to New York and march. The People's Climate March is intended to push world leaders convening at the climate summit two days later on 23 September, to get into gear and start doing something meaningful about our collective carbon emissions.

Here's a vexing question that comes up around the Climate March: aren't marchers expending large amounts of carbon emissions to get to New York?

In a word: yes. (I'm not into denial).

I consider those emissions a good investment. The impact of this march on future emissions reductions could be huge.

However, we can still work to minimise the emissions on our travel to the climate march, and there are a few suggestions to do that. Although it is a little late to start walking across the continent like the heroes of the Climate March for Action are doing.

1. Find a Climate March near you.
You don't necessarily have to come to New York. Marches are being organised on all continents: find the one nearest you on 350.org's global maps of events. They make it very easy to organise one.

2. Get on the wagon.
The organisers of the People's Climate March have made it really easy for you to find (or organise!) a bus or train specifically chartered to get marchers to New York.

3. Rideshare.
If you are within driving distance, you can invite some friends who will share the drive, the cost and the good times with you. There is also a bulletin board where you can offer or find rideshares, the electronic equivalent of the travel bureaus that put Jack Kerouac on the road.

If you're wondering which is the option with the lowest carbon emissions, here is a chart I put together comparing the carbon emissions per passenger-kilometer for various travel modes. The details (e.g. how I got the numbers) are in this post on Thanksgiving travel.

I'm inviting friends to go march with me. How we go depends on who is going, and where they all live. For this one, I think it's more important that we go, than that we argue over the last pound of carbon. We'll hash out a way to get there, together.

Still not sure whether or not you should go? Try watching this:

 

 

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