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An estimated 400,000 people marched in Manhattan, NYC, on September 21^st 2014 marking the start of the 31^st United Nations General Assembly – over a hundred of the world’s leaders coming together to discuss development issues, including climate change.

Climate March protesters New York 2014

Seeing the streets around Times Square completely devoid of cars and people as we waited for the march to pass by was an eerie sight. Watching hundreds of thousands of people giving up their Sunday brunch to protest against pollution, greedy corporations, and to support maple syrup among other things, made you wonder what would ever change as a result.

The Climate March organisers say they need ‘everyone in order to change everything’. I think they’re right in that they need to change everything in order to make any significant improvements across the world.

The problem is the system. Fortune reports that “From 2009 to 2012, the top 1% incomes grew by 31.4% while the bottom 99% incomes grew a mere 0.4%” and the growing inequality will not disappear until we change the system that enables those at the top to exploit everyone else.

Governments in developed countries don’t make policy decisions, those decisions are made for them by faceless corporations lobbying politicians using vast sums of money as effective persuasion. And many of these companies end up benefitting to the tune of billions with corporate tax relief and subsidies – earlier this month Aditya Chakrabortty at the Guardian estimated a total of £85bn in corporate welfare.

In 2012 Amazon was paid more by the Government in subsidies than it paid in tax – meaning you and I actually paid Amazon to run their business in the UK. And the most successful rail franchise happens to be the only publicly owned one, with East Coast paying more to the treasury in one year than Virgin paid in 15.

There’s a whole other article about this very issue but the point remains that while the government continues reducing the size and power of the state through continued privatisation (the NHS is next) it makes it less relevant to protest to politicians and more appropriate to protest to the corporations that actually make the rules.

Jon McClure, lead singer from Reverend and the Makers said in an interview with Artmuso that people are making their own protests through the choices they make and what they decide to consume. If we believe this to be true there could be a very powerful movement based on encouraging people to make particular choices for maximum effect.

For example, asking everyone to stop using petrol is not practical, but if we all stopped using one particular supplier, such as BP, we would force that company to consider its approach. Same goes with avoiding say Primark, but buying from charity shops or saving up for quality products from ethical producers as Anna Rohwer discusses in Artmuso.

What has this got to do with climate change and the September marches? Unless we change everything, and that means the fundamental basis of our current capitalist system that rewards corporations at the expense of the everyman; we won’t change anything.

Regardless of how many marches take place and how many hundreds of thousands of people participate, we will never see the reduction of inequality, the improvement of our climate, and significant change, until we oust the greed and corruption that poisons every corner of the globe.

The multinational corporations that cause wide-scale pollution will continue unabated, and unconcerned, and the politicians beholden to those faceless entities will only ever make small policy changes to keep us quiet and the money-makers happy.

You want to change the climate? Then you’ll need to change everything.

Get involved:

38 Degrees

People’s Climate