Pau, Besançon, Lille, Lyon, Caen… There were several tens of thousands pounding the pavement this Saturday all over France, gathered during “climate marches” one month before the presidential election, to putting ecology back at the heart of the electoral campaign.
“We can’t wait five more years” laments Pierre, an activist who marched in Limoges. “Politicians don’t want to take up this subject,” denounces Aurélie, also in the procession. “We have the impression that the climate issue has once again been relegated to the background” completes Simon, present in Bayonne. According to a “climate barometer” established by several environmental NGOs, only 1.5% of the speaking time of the candidates was devoted to the climate during the last week of February, “It is insufficient“, adds Jany from the Orleans demonstration. “These questions must be taken on a massive, urgent and priority basis, they must resume their place in the programs“says Florent Compain, a member of Friends of the Earth in Nancy.
Ukraine in everyone’s mind
“It’s important to talk about Ukraine, but the climate and ecology are also urgent”, insists Christine, who participated in the march in Amiens. Here and there, ecological claims have indeed been tinged with questions related to the war in Ukraine. Two related subjects according to Olivier, present on Place Kléber in Strasbourg this Saturday: “What also makes Putin strong today is our European dependence on fossil fuels.” Unfortunately, the context also makes ecological issues invisible, deplores Justine Saunier, spokesperson for the demonstration in Grenoble, where more than 1,800 people mobilized: “_We support the Ukrainians, but that makes the message for the climate more invisible. has hardly heard of the IPCC report (Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, editor’s note). We must not forget this subject”._
Changing our consumption
This alarmist report from the Giec, precisely, was submitted by the demonstrators of Nîmes, to the prefecture of Gard, this Saturday. “It’s 36 pages, we translated it, even the graphics, they can read it and understand the urgency“, explains Jacques Sarda of the association “Nîmes in transition”. “1,2,3 degrees is a crime against humanity”, chanted the Lille demonstrators.
To avoid the disasters promised by this report, we must change our mode of consumption, pleads Guillaume, who came to demonstrate in Tours with his 17-year-old daughter: “If we don’t change our mode of access to happiness, that is to say happiness through consumption and therefore purchasing power… this purchasing power is synonymous with the destruction of the planet.”
In Mayenne, the demonstrators tried to make proposals. Under the city bypass viaduct, “symbol of 40 hectares of destroyed forests”, Rachel Ballayer from the collective “Citizens for the climate Laval” came by bike to show that“there is plenty of distance they can cover by bike (…) Stop these projects that give all the space to the car”, she asks. “It is urgent to mesh again a North-South axis of TER”, claims on his side Christine.
For Aline, who is demonstrating in Caen, “communities should do more things, for example provide additional bus lines: I live in the countryside and without public transport, I have to take my car, it’s a shame. ” Everyone goes there with their little gesture: “For my part, I avoid new clothes, I go to thrift stores a lot”, submits, for example, Manon, 19, from Dijon. For Leïla, who is 20 years old and who is a student at the fine arts of Le Mans, it is necessary to reduce her waste and reduce waste.