Author: Sabrina Khan

“Say hey, say ho, fossil fuels have got to go!” That was one of the many chants heard across Central London on Sunday with more than fifty thousand marching in the name of climate change ahead of COP21— the 21^st session of the Conference of the Parties (COP) — in Paris next week.

Starting at Hyde Park, marchers drummed, sang and picketed all the way to Millbank where speakers, including Labour Party leader Jeremy Corbyn and fashion designer Vivienne Westwood, passionately rallied the cause. But the emotional climax of the event was undoubtedly a moving performance by Charlotte Church.

Similar rallies were held around the world with the same hope of persuading world leaders to actually reach a global treaty at COP21 that effectively reduces greenhouse gas emissions and deters further global warming by human activity, a pipe dream that went up in smoke in Copenhagen six years ago.

This time feels different to many.

Calling it a “day of action,” Thomas Wilkinson, 21, deemed it important to come out Sunday to prove it. “Next week is the most important week in the last ten years for climate change,” Wilkinson said.

“Copenhagen was a disaster but there is real momentum and hope that the world leaders can get together and actually bang their heads together and come up with some sort of agreement in Paris next week.”

People from all walks of life, young and old, descended just south of Parliament with this shared hope. Artists from the Brainchild Festival, wearing bright costumes reminiscent of sea creatures, nearly stole the show. Twenty-three-year-old Marina Blake explained it, saying: “We’re dressed as coral and the waves to talk about protecting the oceans and about harnessing their power in a sustainable way.”

Meanwhile musicians from the Fallout Marching Band were performing along the whole march. Originally formed in 1981 as an anti-nuclear street band, Marcus Grant, 58, said his group came out to make the demonstrations “more interesting,” entertaining protesters and making the walk warmer and livelier as the wind continued to howl at their backs.

World Wildlife Fund members were also present. Holding panda shaped placards on bamboo sticks, Liz Callegari, 42, felt it was important for the WWF to represent itself because its mission is all about “a future for people in nature,” one that is threatened by global warming. “It’s very important in the run up to the COP21 in Paris that the politicians who are in those rooms negotiating see that people around the world really care and really want action,” she said.

Yonnie Pickles, 60, was similarly motivated. “Everything under the sun is going to be affected, you and me and every single other creature in this whole world,” Pickles said. She believes politicians need to consider people before profits in the scheme of things that will end up harming the planet, saying: “The system needs to change. Our way of living needs to change. Our way of thinking needs to change, in order for the future to be different.”

Callegari likewise thinks that it isn’t only up to the government to implement change.“We’ve all got to take part, and whatever happens in Paris, that’s a step on the road,” she said. “It’s really important afterwards that we all take action.”

More than 190 nations will be deciding the fate of the climate from Monday 30 November through 11 December at the summit in Paris. In the end, these marchers are optimistic that their voices will be heard and Copenhagen will not be repeated. “I’m 60 and even in our lifetime we are seeing changes, we can’t ignore this,” Pickles said. “We can’t be selfish anymore.”

Below is a photo report of the recent protest outside the Houses of Parliament: