Nearly 100 Lawrencians walk in solidarity with NYC climate march

Lawrence resident Tai Spann-Wilson, center, carries two signs, reading love

Nearly 100 people wound around the sidewalks of South Park on Sunday afternoon, listening to Native American songs and carrying handmade signs reading “our mother needs our help” and “protect our earth.”

The Citizens’ Climate Lobby, a coalition of 11 local religious, ecological and humanitarian organizations and businesses, put on the event to raise awareness about climate change, group member George Smith said.

“This is a consciousness operation to bring attention to the environment,” Smith said. “We are a part of the problem.”

From noon to 3 p.m., attendees said prayers, made signs and listened to speakers before the afternoon march.

South Dakota environmental activist Gary Dorr of the Rosebud Sioux tribe’s Shield the People project spoke at the event, encouraging Kansans to protect the water and protest the Keystone XL Pipeline.

“If you’re not standing up against this pipeline now, when will you?” Dorr said. “What will happen to our children’s water?”

Dorr, a 2004 Haskell Indian Nations University graduate, said all people should take part in environmental activism.

“It’s not an Indian thing,” Dorr said. “We all drink this water. We all live on this land.”

The gathering was one of thousands across the nation held in solidarity with “The People’s Climate March” in New York City on Sunday, which worked to bring attention to the matter before a Tuesday United Nations summit on the climate crisis, Smith said.

“We’re encouraging world leaders to do something meaningful,” Smith said. “They tend to do wishy-washy things that do not address the problem.”