Great March for Climate Action
 |
|
| Motto | Stepping forward for our Planet, our Future |
|---|---|
| Formation | 2013 |
| Type | NGO |
| Legal status | 501(c)(3) |
| Purpose | Inspire the general public and elected officials to take climate action |
| Headquarters | Des Moines, Iowa, United States |
|
Founder
|
Ed Fallon |
|
Staff
|
6 |
|
Volunteers
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over 200 |
| Website | www.climatemarch.org |
The Great March for Climate Action (also known as the Climate March) was launched on March 1, 2013 by former Iowa lawmaker Ed Fallon, inspired after meeting with Bill McKibben. “Since probably 2007, I’ve identified the climate crisis as the most serious challenge facing our planet, and I’ve been pondering ways in which I could most effectively help address it.”
The non-profit organization planned to mobilize one thousand people to march across the continental United States in order to raise awareness and action on anthropogenic climate change. The march began March 1, 2014 in Wilmington neighborhood in South Los Angeles, California, and ended on November 1, 2014 when marchers arrived in Washington, D.C. Along the route, participants engaged with the general public and elected officials in order to inspire society to address climate change. In the end, a core group of 34 people traveled the entire route from Los Angeles, California, to Washington D.C., and five people walked every step from LA to DC.
In a Des Moines Register interview Fallon said, “We think it’s very important. We think this is a tool that will help mobilize people to understand the problem and to do more about it…this needs to become the defining issue of this century.” Fallon was inspired in part by another cross-country march, the 1986 Great Peace March for Global Nuclear Disarmament, for which he coordinated the Iowa logistics. Although this was a national campaign, it was intended to have an international audience and was desired to include participants from multiple nations, as climate change is a global phenomenon.
The headquarters of the non-profit are located in Des Moines, Iowa. As of October 2013 they had six staff, had raised $120,000, and earned endorsements from 350.org, James Hansen, and U.S. Senator Tom Harkin and Congressman Bruce Braley among others.
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