Thousands March Against Global Warming

From The Australian
4th November, 2006

TENS of thousands of people have taken part in protest marches across Australia calling for action against climate change, but one of the rallies had to be called off after heavy rain.

More than 30,000 people were reported to have marched through the streets of central Sydney, including Greens leader Senator Bob Brown and Labor Environment spokesman Anthony Albanese.

They were joined by actress Cate Blanchett and director husband Andrew Upton, as well as celebrity chef Kylie Kwong and most of the presenters of Channel Seven morning show Sunrise.
In Melbourne, more than 30,000 were said to have turned out for the march from Melbourne Town Hall to Birrarung Marr.

Similar events took place in 48 countries and more than 20 locations across Australia, including all capital cities, as part of an international day of action on climate change.

Campaigners at all of the rallies called for the government to adopt more solar and renewable energy sources to reduce green-house gas emissions....

At the Brisbane event, heavy rain forced the cancellation (Blog editor's note: Huh?) of the march. Thousands of people were expected to attend, but torrential rain kept the crowd to an estimated 1500.

Queensland Democrats senator Andrew Bartlett and Archbishop John Bathesby addressed the crowd, but the speeches were inaudible in the downpour.

The rain was so heavy that it also made it difficult to see who was actually delivering the talks. It also caused the cancellation of an after-party, which was to have included performances from four bands.

Climate Action Brisbane spokeswoman Emma Brindle said the wash-out was disappointing.

"We need the rain so I can't complain but after months of planning, you don't want an event like this to be washed out," Ms Bridle said.

"But we still think the event has been a great success nationally and we're pleased that about 1500 in Brisbane ignored the rain and came along."

See the full story here...