Signs for the People’s Climate March: Days 1-6

One of the ironies of my sign brainstorming project for the Women’s March was that in an effort to cover the many different reasons for that protest, I really didn’t have time to get deep into developing signs or postcards for any one issue. Climate Change was a big area of oversight. The topic is enormous, cross-cutting, and urgent. It’s also something I think about a lot, and wanted to take some time to address.

I’ve decided to set about brainstorming a sign-a-day for the People’s Climate March on 4/29. Unlike my Women’s March work, I’m not making printable signs this time around–I honestly think signs are more effective when they are handmade. This is really more articulating the many reasons we need to get out there and march, and to start spelling out what we should be saying both _to ourselves_ and to our elected representatives about climate action.

Below (on the website, if you receive this by email) are the first six sign ideas. You can see these arrive daily by following me on instagram @carlablackmar.

Day 1 of 28 brainstorming signs for the #peoplesclimatemarch on 4/29 in Washington D.C. and in cities across the US. Send in your ideas, I'll make some printable signs. Today's concept: last chance for a U-turn on climate. #peoplesclimate #peoplesclimatemovement #climateaction #climatechange #lastchance #climatemarchsigns #climatemarch #Womensmarch #whyImarch #hearmyvoice #trumpastrophe

A post shared by Carla Blackmar (@carlablackmar) on Apr 1, 2017 at 9:35pm PDT

Day 2 of 28 brainstorming signs for the #peoplesclimatemarch on 4/29 in Washington D.C. and in cities across the US. Send in your ideas, I'll make some printable signs. Today's concept: Washington isn't going to help us save ourselves, #itsuptous #peoplesclimate #peoplesclimatemovement #climateaction #climatechange #lastchance #climatemarchsigns #climatemarch #Womensmarch #whyImarch #hearmyvoice #trumpastrophe #divest #divestdapl #keepitintheground

A post shared by Carla Blackmar (@carlablackmar) on Apr 2, 2017 at 8:11pm PDT

Day 3 of 28 brainstorming signs for the #peoplesclimatemarch on 4/29 in Washington D.C. and in cities across the US. Today's theme: discretionary actions we can all take starting now to step back from the precipice of #climatechange– today's action: flying less. I especially try to reduce work-related travel by using some of the amazing technological surrogates, many of which are more effective than in-person meetings with exhausted people. If you have discretion to reduce plane travel, try using it. If not, buy #offsets #ihateflying #airtravel #divestyourlifestyle #divest #climatechange #lastchance #climatemarchsigns #climatemarch #Womensmarch #whyImarch #hearmyvoice #trumpastrophe

A post shared by Carla Blackmar (@carlablackmar) on Apr 3, 2017 at 6:22pm PDT

Day 4 of 28 brainstorming signs for the #peoplesclimatemarch on 4/29 in Washington D.C. and in cities across the US. Today's concept: the real reason behind climate denial–climate change is profitable in the short term for corporations in power. No more polar ice? It's easier to drill! Flooded coastal communities? Someone (probably a military contractor) gets to profit selling cities the giant pumps and dikes we will need to keep the water out as long as we can–and when saltwater intrusion destroys our wells, they'll sell us water they stole ( @nestle ) in enormous plastic flats that have to be trucked in at great expense. On the contrary, they can't profit off of the low-tech, people-powered solutions that would empower is to prevent #climatechange, so they deny its reality. It's not ignorance, it's willful sabotage for profit. #DontBuyIt #boycott #divest #climateaction #climatechange #lastchance #climatemarchsigns #climatemarch #Womensmarch #whyImarch #hearmyvoice #trumpastrophe #divestoil #divestdapl

A post shared by Carla Blackmar (@carlablackmar) on Apr 4, 2017 at 8:48pm PDT

Day 5 of 28 brainstorming signs for the #peoplesclimatemarch on 4/29 in Washington D.C. and in cities across the US. Today's concept: #peoplepower! Capitalism is laser-focused on making cheap things at tremendous human cost. What if we re-focused our value on quality of life instead of material wealth, on people power rather than fossil-fuel power? The #bicycle is the perfect symbol of people power– yet turn on the TV any night of the week and you will never find an ad selling you a bicycle–it's too simple and cheap. What if we de-escalated the culture of constantly working and spending on that next #newcar, and as a culture, chise to #bikeinstead? #climateaction #climatechange #lastchance #climatemarchsigns #climatemarch #Womensmarch #whyImarch #hearmyvoice #trumpastrophe #zerowastelifestyle #carbonlight #divestmentlifestyle #fossilfuelfree #fossilfreefuture

A post shared by Carla Blackmar (@carlablackmar) on Apr 5, 2017 at 8:55pm PDT

Day 6 of 28 brainstorming signs for the #peoplesclimatemarch on 4/29 in Washington D.C. and in cities across the US. Today's concept: pay for parking! Since the invention of the car, US taxpayers have provided enormous subsidies to vehicle users, the auto industry, and the real estate industry. These subsidies enabled #whiteflight, racial segregation, #suburbanization, #bigboxstores, and on and on. We take these subsidies completely for granted, to the point where even the #leftist liberals get irate when they have to #payforparking. At the same time, charging for parking has been shown to be one of the most powerful deterrents to driving, encouraging people to seek other solutions. Let's look our prioritization of cars over people square in the face. Every time you park for free, or drive on a FREEway, or do pretty much anything in a car, your actions have a high invisible cost. #stopwhining and pay up. Look at it as your daily #climateaction. #climatechange #climatemarchsigns #climatemarch #divest #fossilfreefuture

A post shared by Carla Blackmar (@carlablackmar) on Apr 6, 2017 at 9:57pm PDT