On April 29th, 2017, an estimated 200,000 people joined the People's Climate March in Washington DC, with thousands more in satelite events across the county and the world.
Maryland showed the depth and breadth of its homegrown movement, with thousands of Marylanders in over 25 buses, carpools, bike crew and countless folks coming by metro. Sierra Club Maryland Chapter joined with dozens of organizations, building local and state partnerships that will keep us stronger and united in the important challenges ahead. No question, the size of the crowd was inspiring. But the true measure of a march is whether it helps creates a stronger movement. And by that measure, Maryland has much to be proud of, and lots to look forward to. While there will be follow up actions and lots of organzing in the next few weeks, I wanted to take a moment to recognize the organizing that it took to get us to this place.
First, let's start with the bus captains and local team leaders. These are the folks that brought word of the People's Climate March to their communities, and then helped their communities make it to Washington DC. If you've never organized a bus to a rally like this, you may not appreciate what goes into it. Filling a bus is more than selling tickets. It's about selling the movement. In the lead up, local organizers set up viewings of the film "Before the Flood". They tables at farmers markets and organizer online, reached out to potential partners and spent hours upon hours of time making calls, sending emails, and handling logistics. This is the unsexy part of movement building, but extremely important.
To Grace Soltis and other folks from Talbot Rising for amazing organizing on the Eastern Shore, I hope we can build on the amazing foundation you built. To David Barrow's laser focused organizing in the Catoctin region, you set a high bar for the rest of us in terms of organizing, prompt follow up and attention to detail. To Darlene Varner Galbreath for organizing our Southern Maryland bus, and to Rosa Emily Pinnola Hance for all your work, even though you couldn't make it yourself. To Patricia for managing the Howard County carpools, Ashlea Glickstein Penny in MoCo and Na'ilah Dawkins from Prince George's. To Carmen Skarlupka from Anne Arundel County.
Second, a shout out to the Sierra Club staff and Chapter volunteer leaders who helped keep the whole effort organized. Special thanks to our amazing organizer Seth Bush, rockstar volunteer Cortez Elliot, and the awesome crew from the newly former Baltimore People's Climate Movement that brought 15 buses and a mobile movement from Baltimore. Thanks to our organizing staff Laurel Imlay, Zack Gerdes and Jessica Renee Wise for your work. I also want to recognize Rachel Mandelbaum from Sierra Club who spent ours with our bus captains helped nail down contracts, and who helped facilitate financial support that kept the buses affordable. Thanks to Stan Boyd and Brian Ditzler for your help with central coordination.
Thanks Chesapeake Climate Action Network Waterkeepers ChesapeakeUnited Workers Maryland League of Conservation Voters, HoCo Climate Action.
And special appreciation to some of the amazing state representatives to who joined or helped promote the March: Congressman John Sarbanes, Senator Paul Pinsky, Delegate Delegate Robbyn Lewis, Dana Stein.