Boston and Pittsburgh Branch Climate Strike Reports
Published on October, 00 2019
Boston youth lead the large climate strike rally on September 20, 2019. Photo by Eileen Kurkoski.
Boston and Pittsburgh WILPF Branch members participated in their local climate strike events on September 20, 2019.
According to estimates, this global climate strike rally was likely the largest ever, with millions around the world taking part.
(We know other branches joined local rallies, too! Send your photos and captions to newsletter@wilpfus.org and they will be run in the second October eNews).
Boston Youth Lead the Way
Eileen Kurkoski reported from Boston: “Over 10,000 people gathered at Boston City Hall on September 20, 2019, for the Climate Strike rallies. Then the students led a walk to the Massachusetts State House.”
Eileen made a 35-minute video of the walkers ascending Park Street. Joan Ecklein and Marie Louise Jackson Miller also participated in the event.
“The spirit was contagious and the signs were clever,” Eileen wrote.
Pittsburgh Raging Grannies Serenade Rally Participants
According to Edith Bell, “The rally at noon was in downtown Pittsburgh at the City County Building, and was organized by students and 350.org. The local newspaper estimated 600 in attendance.”
Edith explained that “the local Raging Grannies offered to be on the program, but the official roster was full, so we decided to busk on the street where all the participants were walking by on their way to the rally. We sang environmental songs such as ‘Fracking Song’ (to the tune of ‘Cheek to Cheek’) and ‘The Planet’s Getting Hot’ (to the tune of ‘A Bushel and a Peck’), plus the Woody Guthrie version of ‘This is Land is your Land,’ and of course our Grannies introductory song.”
Photo: WILPF Pittsburgh members with the Pittsburgh Raging Grannies at the Climate Rally in downtown Pittsburgh on September 20, 2019.
“We repeated the repertoire as more people walked by and stopped to listen. It was actually better than on stage, because people could actually hear the words.” She added, “Our Raging Grannies and WILPF members are of course overlapping.”
