Over five thousand campaigners marched through Edinburgh on Saturday afternoon to urge world leaders, gathering the Paris, to take concerted action against climate change. It was one of a series of rallies being staged in cities across the world.
Despite strong winds and occasional rain, the marchers made their way from the Meadows to Princes Street gardens, carrying banners, beating drums, blowing bugles and ringing bells. They’d come from all over Scotland and from all of the 60 organisations involved in the Stop Climate Change Chaos coalition. Many were in fancy dress – a polar bear, a panda, two turtles.
The rally in Princes Street gardens included live music and speeches from politicians, compared by the comedian Hardeep Singh Kohli. The environment minister Aileen McLeod said Scotland was leading the way with a target of reducing carbon emissions by 42 per cent by 2020 and 80 per cent by 2050.
The UN Conference on climate change begins in Paris on Monday. Environmental campaigns want to see an agreement to cut carbon emissions enough to hold global warming below the crucial figure of 2 degrees Celsius and they want the rich countries to subsidise the poor countries to make the necessary changes.
