Demonstrators Demand 'Clean Energy Revolution' on Eve of Dem Convention

With plenty of overlap between them, both climate justice campaigners and supporters of Bernie Sanders held marches and rallies in downtown Philadelphia on Sunday, making their presence and political demands heard a day before the Democratic National Convention officially kicks off.

Under a banner calling for a “Clean Energy Revolution,” the climate march put a focus on key shortcomings when it comes to the Democratic Party’s commitment to addressing an increasingly hot planet.

Click Here: All Blacks Rugby Jersey

Mark Schlosberg, national campaign director for Food & Water Watch, which spearheaded the protest with the backing of nearly 900 other local and national organizations, said neither party has shown the necessary urgency when it comes to dealing with the crisis.  “Together,” Schlosberg explained in a blog post ahead of the march, “we are sending a clear message to our elected officials: we demand a future powered by clean, renewable energy, not one that depends on dirty, polluting fossil fuels.”

The hashtags #CleanEnergyMarch and #OurClimateRevolution were both being used by organizers, attendees, and supporters of the cause:

Tweets about #CleanEnergyMarch OR #CleanEnergyRevolution

When matched against the climate denialism of the Republican Party, which almost uniformly rejects even the existence of the crisis, the Democrats looks like planetary saviors. However, as climate experts like 350.org co-founder Bill McKibben have repeatedly emphasized, the physics of global warming do not care the slightest about this politics of relativity. As journalist Kate Aronoff wrote Friday for In These Times, “When it comes to climate change, there’s precious little time for lesser evils; the physics—as scientists are quick to tell us—has put humanity on a deadline.”

Those marching did so in the name of a host climate-related demands, including:

• An immediate nationwide ban on fracking and offshore drilling;
• Support of polices to keep all fossil fuels in the ground, with priority on those beneath public lands;
• An end to funding and building of fossil fuel infrastructure project; and
• A rapid and just transition to 100 percent renewable energy by mid-century or earlier

Bill Snape, a senior attorney for the Center for Biological Diversity, who dressed as a polar bear for the march despite the sweltering heat explained why he attended.