Demonstrators marched through Brussels on Sunday dressed as endangered fish or tigers, or wearing miniature polar bears on their heads, to press world leaders to take tougher action to combat climate change at the United Nations climate summit in Glasgow, which begins this month.
Thousands of individuals and 80 groups took part in the demonstration, which aimed to be the largest of its kind in the European Union’s capital since the coronavirus pandemic halted the climate movement’s monthly marches.
Cyclists, families with children, and white-haired activists crowded city streets, singing slogans and carrying banners in English, French, and Dutch. Others were costumed as creatures threatened by human-caused climate change, including one who wore a plush polar bear on her head.
“After all of the horrors we’ve witnessed this summer, it’s critical that we act now.” “Everyone knows what the problem is,” claimed Xavier De Wannemaeker, an Extinction Rebellion demonstrator.
Fuel emissions, according to scientists, are likely contributing to extreme weather events such as droughts, fires, and floods that have ravaged parts of the world this summer.
“What do we do when we ruin the planet?” wondered demonstrator Lucien Dewanaga. We’re out of options. Humans are obligated to exist in this universe. “There is only one world,” says the narrator.
Environmentalists are concerned that the United Nations’ 26th Climate Change Conference of the Parties, or COP26, which begins Oct. 31 in Glasgow, may generate policies that do not go far enough to reduce carbon emissions and decrease global warming.
The 12-day summit hopes to secure more aggressive promises to keep global warming far below 2 degrees Celsius, with a goal of 1.5 degrees Celsius over pre-industrial levels. The conference will also focus on raising funds to combat climate change and to safeguard vulnerable people and natural areas.
The demonstration on Sunday drew a mix of people wearing and not wearing masks. Belgium, which has one of the best immunization rates in the world, is beginning to relax virus restrictions and reintroduce such gatherings.
