Gold-standard environmentalism sought

Approximately 1000 environmental activists took to the streets of downtown San Diego on Sunday afternoon, September 21. They — among people at over 2700 sites in 140 countries — demanded a heightened effort from government officials in addressing the impacts of climate change.

At a rally outside city hall before the march, city-council president Todd Gloria promised that San Diego would set a "cutting edge, gold standard" example through the implementation of his climate action plan introduced earlier this year during his stint as interim mayor.

Gloria promised action on the ambitious plan before the city council today. Gloria’s plan seeks to implement a "near-zero waste policy" and source 100 percent of the city's energy from renewable sources.

Marchers streamed out of Civic Center Plaza and headed toward Broadway, where they took over westbound lanes on the way to the American Plaza trolley station adjacent to Santa Fe Depot.

The crowd listened to a speech from Environmental Health Coalition advocate Monique Lopez on the importance of transit in efforts to slow climate change. An 11-year-old named Sienna also addressed the protesters, noting that Hawaii is on track to source 70 percent of its energy from renewable energy by 2030, and the country of Denmark is expected to be fully powered by renewables by 2025.

From there, the group continued down Broadway and up Harbor Drive toward the County Administration Building, the line of protesters exceeding a quarter-mile in length, where they were greeted by musicians and more speeches.

The march was organized locally by SanDiego350 in conjunction with over 60 other environmental and social justice groups.