Climate rally at lake

Sunday’s People’s Climate Rally at the Lake Merritt Amphitheater, organized alongside a march at UN headquarters in New York City, brought together a few thousand people and featured speakers and performers.

The grass and granite benches filled quickly with blankets, banners, dogs, strollers, bicycles and people after the 2 P.M. start time, as the event’s emcee Andres Soto expressed outrage at the attempts to bring crude oil through Richmond, Benicia, Pittsburg and Martinez by rail, citing the explosive tragedies over the last few years caused by the same.

Attendees pedaling stationary bicycles on either side of the stage were the generators for the sound system, provided by a group called Rock The Bike. The speakers and performers over the course of the afternoon included a speech delivered in Chinese and translated into English, short presentations by Oakland High School students, Anthony Sul of the Ohlone Nation and Idle No More, a choreographed dance to Britney Spears’ “Toxic”, the Nurses’ Union, a Buddhist nun with an Australian accent, and several spoken word poets. The issue of climate change was tied into the prevalence of war, critiques of capitalism, and struggles against racism.

Susan Schacher, a former Laney Professor of math, was on the planning committee in charge of the speakers and performers. In an e-mail, she expressed the same concern as Andres Soto with regard to so-called “crude by rail” projects, and urged Laney students to get involved with the climate issue: “Everyone needs to understand what is happening and become involved.”