New York City Climate March (Sept. 21, 2014) tops expectations -- Coalition of groups

http://insideclimatenews.org/ (Reporter is John H. Cushman, Jr.):

Organizers were determined to bridge a historical gap between mainline environmental groups and people of color. One of their slogans was that to change everything, you have to include everybody. At the front of the march were labor organizations, environmental justice advocates, first nations, immigrants and envoys from the developing and poor nations, who are likely to be hit hardest by the effects of climate change.
But plenty of people from posher communities were there, too, and overall it seemed to be a predominantly white crowd.
At about 10:30 a.m., interest groups coalesced along Central Park West, a broad avenue that was closed for 30 blocks north of Columbus Circle.
Scientists, for example, gathered at the Museum of Natural History. Three hours later they were still right there, waiting to move forward.
Between 81st and 82nd on Central Park West, the Greenpeace group rallied around "Saving the Arctic." Greenpeace grassroots director Njambi Good said they had 3,000 RSVPs for the event, with buses coming from North Carolina, Washington, D.C., Maine, Chicago and elsewhere in the United States.
The head of the march was at Columbus Circle, where Broadway slices across 59th Street.
There, on the southernmost knoll of Central Park, a group of demonstrators meditated silently as the marchers walked rather briskly by that particular spot. One of the contemplatives, her eyes closed, held a sign that said “Wake up.”
Mostly the march was a cacophony without a cadence. It slowed, it stalled, and then its energy bubbled to the surface in a call-and-response or a bit of familiar tune. We Shall Overcome. You Better Change Your Evil Ways. It’s Getting Hot in Here (So Turn Off All Your Cars).
At 1:00 p.m., however, they marchers observed a brief moment of silence. Marchers stood still with their hands in the air, quiet, waiting for something they knew was on its way.
Up the avenues the silence crept. And then from the back of the parade, a noise like a rising surf came back, growing rapidly louder, and finally breaking over their stilled heads like the perfect wave on a summer day. It made you want to yell, and they did.
A group of people from Philadelphia showed up at the end of the line, at 47^th Street and 6^th Ave. They had finished the march two hours earlier, they said, but wanted to see the last marchers pass by. This is the “defining moment” of our time, they said, and they didn’t want to miss anything.
http://insideclimatenews.org/news/20140921/nyc-climate-march-tops-expectations