Manchester’s March for Climate Justice: 6th November

CPRE members across the country took part in marches for the Global Day of Action for Climate Justice on November 6th. Here’s an account from Manchester from CPRE volunteer Mike Cushing, at his first ever protest march.

I set off with a little trepidation to my first-ever protest gathering and march! After all, it’s not something that a 66-year-old might do every day – let’s leave it to the youngsters eh?

But climate change and climate justice is something that affects us all – my generation is not the one that is going to see the worst effects of what we all know will happen unless things change.

It was a very peaceful protest – certainly, there was no anger or hint of trouble.

Taking photos wearing my CPRE hi-vis tabard meant that I was asked a few times who I was representing – when I said ‘CPRE’, there was a bit of a blank look, but a bit of further conversation about what CPRE stands for and the fragility of the countryside in the face of climate change helped to clear things up.

There was a real mix of age groups – plenty of families were involved, which was good to see.

I tried to get some photos that captured the emotions of people – some of whom, like me, may have attended for the first time because they had strong views on the subject.

The text above is taken from a longer piece which will soon be published on the website