https://youtu.be/OIdJBLeybZk

Together Against Trump march a crucial moment to remind the world - we all share one atmosphere

By Claire James, Campaign against Climate Change When you look at how fast we are heading towards climate breakdown, and how little effective action is being taken, it’s pretty scary. In November 2016, when Donald Trump was elected 45th US president, things became a whole lot scarier. 

The Paris climate agreement, signed one year before, had not produced enough concrete commitments to tackle climate change, but it held out hope that such a thing was possible, that nations might ratchet up their commitments to work towards a common goal ‘to hold warming well below 2C and to aim to keep it to 1.5C’. It was clear to everyone, even before he announced formally that the US would withdraw from the deal, that a nation led by Donald Trump would pull back, undermine, delay, while our climate unravelled at speed. 

Time to give up hope and just hide under the bedclothes? Not quite. Certainly the actions of other world leaders don’t give us huge cause for optimism. When Trump pulled out of the Paris climate deal they spoke strongly about their own nations’ commitments to tackling climate change. But Justin Trudeau just bailed out a tar sands pipeline for $4.5 billion Canadian dollars, and Angela Merkel is in hock to dirty coal. And here in the UK, MPs just voted through a climate disaster - a third runway at Heathrow airport. 

So, what’s the reason to hope? The response of the people of the US who are fighting for human rights and for their climate, some putting their own bodies on the line. Along with other activists around the world, they aren’t giving up and not should we. 

So when Trump, the number one climate criminal, comes to the UK, we mustn’t let those people down. If there’s not a huge, visible demonstration, the message is that we’re just not bothered about the climate crisis or about human rights. Our own government will get that message too. So we are calling on those concerned about our climate to come to London, to build a massive march to say that we too reject Trump’s values and to stand in solidarity with US campaigners.

Join the national Together against Trump march in London on Friday 13 July 2pm

You can find out more about joining the climate bloc on the Campaign against Climate Change website or Facebook There will be coaches from around the country If you can’t make it, there are many local events   A 19-foot “Trump Baby” balloon will fly for two hours during the president’s visit to London in July 2018. Andrew Aitchison/In Pictures via Getty Images