Nov. 30--More than 100 people carrying signs such as "Sun, not oil" and "Solar and wind power now!" held a rally and march Sunday in the Loop on the eve of the international climate change conference in Paris.
"I want people to know that climate change is not a myth, it's fact," said Alia Ammar, a doctor from Gurnee who helped host the event and rallied the crowd in the Federal Plaza at Adams and Dearborn streets.
In a series of short speeches, demonstrators called for an end to coal and nuclear power plants, encouraged increased use of alternative power sources and asked residents to reduce their carbon footprint by resisting the lure of consumerism.
"Live simply. Consume less, share more is the way to go for all lifestyles," said event organizer Malik Mujahid. "It is our wasteful commerce that drives our ruthless consumption. And that fuels the demand for high amounts of fossil fuels."
World leaders began arriving in France Sunday for talks on the climate and global warming. The conference, which officially begins Monday and runs until Dec. 11, is under high security after the terror attacks in Paris earlier this month. On Sunday, more than 200 people were detained in Paris after a climate change protest turned violent. A state of emergency declaration in France banned all protests.
U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon met with French President Francois Hollande Sunday morning to discuss the talks, and President Barack Obama is among scores of other leaders arriving for the talks.
In Chicago, demonstrators old and young, a few wearing 'Bernie Sanders for President' buttons, rallied for decreased dependence on coal and nuclear energy. Others simply asked people to think more about the Earth when making decisions in their everyday lives.
"I haven't had a car in 30 years, I walk everywhere," said demonstrator Carol LaChapelle, 72, of West Rogers Park. "Gasoline and fossil fuels, they don't smell so good. All you have to do is walk in the city on a regular basis to realize the stuff that's coming out of tailpipes isn't good for you."
Mujahid asked participants to call Obama's office, the U.S. ambassador to France and the U.S. ambassador to the United Nations every day of the international climate change conference. Mujahid, of the group Justice for All, decided to arrange the Chicago event in connection with worldwide protests organized by avaaz.org, a group that advocates for global issues, including climate change. Similar rallies were held worldwide Sunday.
"We need to be responsible for God's creation," Mujahid said.
The international conference is expected to produce a historic agreement among nations to reduce greenhouse gas emissions that scientists say cause global warming.
Laurent Fabius, the French foreign minister, said Saturday that 183 countries accounting for nearly 95 percent of global greenhouse gas emissions have submitted plans for how they would reduce emissions.
"This is radically new," Fabius said.
Yet for all the potential to deliver a transformative and unifying moment, experts say that on a practical level, it might prove just another steppingstone in the long stop-start international effort to address climate change.
The Los Angeles Times and the Associated Press contributed to this report.
poconnell@tribpub.com
