GREENFIELD — More than 50 people congregated on the Greenfield Common Saturday morning to raise awareness about the threat of climate change and the impending danger if governments at all levels do not take more extensive action on the issue.
The protest, organized by a group of activists named Extinction Rebellion Western Mass, included a “Read Out/Die In” event, in which participants took turns reading from the latest climate change report by the Intergovernmental Panel for Climate Change (IPCC) before lying down on the grass to “die.” The IPCC is the body of the United Nations responsible for assessing the science related to climate change.
Many attendees at the event focused on the seemingly hollow promises made by world leaders at conferences where they commit to an environmental policy that will not take effect for more than a decade.
“We’ve known about climate change for 20 years and we’ve done nothing,” said Greenfield resident Glen Ayers. “We don’t have the luxury of waiting until 2030.”
More specifically, several speakers highlighted the United Nations Climate Change Conference, also known as COP26, which is being held in Glasgow, Scotland until Nov. 12. Ayers criticized world leaders for always pledging to take action against climate change but “essentially nothing significant has happened recently.”
“We want to draw additional awareness to COP26,” Ayers said. “Over there in Scotland they’re doing pledges, which we do for public radio.”
Other people, like Shelburne Falls resident Claire Miraglia, joined the protest to raise awareness about the effects of climate change in general.
“The planet’s in trouble and I want to do what I can to raise awareness,” Miraglia said. “The first thing toward action is education.”
She added the United States could have made much more progress on the issue over the past 20 years.
“All this science is known,” Miraglia said. “If politics wasn’t involved, we’d be further along in finding a solution.”
Attendees were encouraged to dress in black or costumes of mourning to mark the current state of climate health. Some people had more elaborate ideas such as Leverett resident Ann Ferguson, who wore a homemade skeleton mask while reading her portion of the IPCC report, or Whately resident Montserat Archbald, who fashioned a costume out of plastic bottles and named it “ocean trash.” Other folks held signs with the words “flood,” “plague” or “fire” to signify the mortal threats that will become increasingly common as the climate shifts.
“I’m really upset about the lack of action with government and fossil-fuel companies … and the worsening of the human condition,” Ferguson said. “This document they’re reading, it’s not really being taken seriously by those in political power.”
Ferguson said many governments, including those in the United States, often put policies in place that reverse progress made on healing the climate. She said “ordinary citizens” need to get the attention of their governing officials to help jumpstart positive change.
“They’re trying to eviscerate climate amelioration, they’re not really committed to making change,” Ferguson said. “This is happening all over the country.”
Emmalie Dropkin, who helped lead the event Saturday, said it had been “great” working with Greenfield-based activist groups, like Franklin County Continuing the Political Revolution (FCCPR), to organize the protest. She said Extinction Rebellion does not have any other events scheduled in the near future — other than another Read Out/Die In event that was held Sunday in Amherst.
Dropkin echoed the frustrations of other protest attendees over commitments made by leaders at COP26 and said their words don’t mean anything if there’s no action behind them.
“Promising in Glasgow that you’re going to do it,” Dropkin said, “doesn’t mean you’re going to do it.”
Chris Larabee can be reached at clarabee@recorder.com or 413-930-4081.