Hundreds march in Tokyo to protest climate change ahead of Paris summit

Hundreds gathered in a park in downtown Tokyo on Saturday (November 28) to protest climate change ahead of the COP21 summit to be held in Paris next week.

The event, called “Earth Parade,” began in an outdoor concert hall where protestors watched local performers before beginning their march.

“I believe the efforts of youths will be needed as climate change and other environmental issues become more serious, ” said 21-year old Kanako Kimura, a member of a student protest group.

Protestors held up identical blue signs reading “CLIMATE ACTION NOW!” as musicians led a 40-minute march which stretched from a street near Parliament, to one of Tokyo’s most expensive shopping districts, Ginza.

“As I was kind of talking with my friends earlier, I think it’s not only up to leaders to make this change. It is also people making daily choices about what products they buy or what ways they live their lives,” Roarke Jennings, 26, a student, said.

I’m sure there will be some progress one way or another, but we shouldn’t keep relying on COP21, but start taking action as individuals in order to create bigger change,” Ian Shimizu, a student and a member of 350.org., a global climate movement organization, said.

The United Nations sponsored talks beginning on Monday (November 30) are aimed at getting 195 countries to agree on a path for cutting greenhouse gas emissions which scientists say have raised global temperatures and begun upending the earth’s climate.

Japan aims to contribute 1.3 trillion yen (100 billion dollars) to climate change by the year 2020.