Sunday September 21, 2014, people in many municipalities around the world gathered to protest climate change and push for clean, renewable energy sources.
When I arrived things were already in full swing in downtown Seattle’s Westlake Plaza. I was quite surprised to see so many gathered in the one acre park. People stood or sat shoulder to shoulder, filling up the entire park, demanding their access to clean energy solutions. Speaker after speaker got up and said things like, “Our current form of capitalism is not good for the survival of our species, but the corporations will not bow down gracefully.”
Someone mentioned that in 1928 the United States had four times the amount of trains and railways that we have now. The speaker stressed that trains are great, just not coal or oil trains. The world is facing its biggest crisis ever. What was news to me was that Warren Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway Inc. is owner of Burlington Northern Santa Fe RR — the railroad company that ships the coal and oil from Washington and Oregon to overseas destinations. But it was also brought up that some progress has been made. Companies are divesting themselves from coal and four out of six proposals to ship coal out of Oregon and Washington have been stopped. Several chants ensued of, “four down. Two to go!”
Also brought up was the fact that solar is now far less expensive than oil or coal, but what’s preventing clean energy sources from being installed is politics getting in the way. The big energy corporations are buying off our elected officials and getting a huge tax break to poison our water and air. When politicians take money from the corporations they don’t represent the people and we should vote them out (recently a bill was proposed in DC to get money out of politics and overturn Citizens United. The bill was voted down along partisan lines with every single Republican voting NOT to overturn Citizens United).
Another speaker brought up the fact that Centralia, Washington has one of the biggest coal plants in the nation. The fact that it’s scheduled to be closed in 2020 is little consolation for those living within a 30-mile radius of the plant who simply cannot afford to move.
The speeches ended with the singing of some very clever protest songs by the Raging Grannies, who not only sang but kicked up their heels as well. Then it was off to the march down busy Pine Street, then to First Avenue and ending at the entrance to Myrtle Edwards Park about two miles away. Myrtle Edwards Park overlooks glistening Elliott Bay, an inlet of Puget Sound. The railroad tracks that ships coal and oil run right along pristine Puget Sound coastline. One derailment resulting in a spill into the fragile ecosystem of Puget Sound would wreak irreparable damage.
Everyone stopped on the railroad tracks and chanted things like, “This is what democracy looks like,” while some people pulled a mock oil car with a giant likeness of Warren Buffet sitting on top alongside the tracks.
Although relatively speaking, there was a huge turnout, I knew the Seahawks game a couple miles down the road had probably sold out all their 67,000 seats. That’s the real travesty. Our politicians have been bribed and have sold off our democracy to the highest bidder. Meanwhile most people are still far more interested in their football games than they are at saving our world and saving what little democracy we have left.
