Walk against warming was huge!

Last Saturday's Walk against Warming in Melbourne was huge! Some estimates put the numbers of people marching at over 30,000. It struck me as a lot more, as you can see from the photographs. The shot above was taken from the Flinders and Swanston Sts junction, and show that the march extended quite a way back down Swanston St.

When I was at the starting point at the Town Hall in Collins St – still waiting to start marching – it looked like the front of the march had extended up to Flinders St Station, with the bulk of the protesters still congregating along Swanston St.

There were some very interesting home-made placcards, including this one (left) calling for a Carbon Tax, and another calling for the Victorian government to fund/provide solar hot water heaters for all households in the state! I could live with both ideas, myself!

The rally finished up at Birrarung Marr, the park along the Yarra's banks. The photo below only shows a small portion of the crowd, gathering in front of the stage set up for the musicians and speakers.


The crowd extended along the bank, and ranged up the grassy slope that forms an ampitheatre to this space you see in the shot above, which is where I was. Some of the crown also sood on the pedestrian bridge that crossed the Yarra River near the park, with their banners stretched along the railings (see below). Unfortunately, I was too far away to really see or hear what was happening on stage, bar one of the speakers.


Yet, it was clear as day that so many thousands of people are concerned with global warming, and want some concerted, strong action on the part of our governments to introduce effective measures to cut greenhouse gas emissions, and reverse the effects of global warming! And they were truly a cross-section of our community.

I heard that the walks in other Australian cities were also quite successful, though I haven't heard specifics of the Sydney or Brisbane rallies. Paul at Two Peas, No Pod, has posted on the walk in Canberra, and links to a number of round-ups of the day.