Guest blog: The Human Countdown in NYC

From Lauren Schuster, the Environmental Campaign Coordinator and 1Sky organizer at the New York Public Interest Research Group (NYPIRG). -- Luis

Thanks to everyone who came out to Central Park this passed Sunday to be part of the Human Countdown, the kick off event for Climate Week NY°C. With close to 2,000 people in attendance, the event was an enormous success and is sure to send a resounding and visually arresting message to President Obama and other world leaders that New Yorkers want a global climate treaty.

For those of you who may not know, President Obama and other world leaders are meeting at the United Nations this week to get a jump on the climate talks that will be taking place in Copenhagen this December. Climate Week NY°C is designed to educate the public about the immediate need for a global deal on climate change and then mobilize them to action.

With that said, NYPIRG, Oxfam, Greenpeace and a number of other organizations kicked off Climate Week NY°C with the Human Countdown: A Climate Wake Up Call. Thousands of New Yorkers came out to the Trump Wollman Ice Rink in Central Park to form a massive human hourglass. Inside the hourglass, hundreds of people, dressed in blue and green t-shirts and caps, formed the Planet Earth and trickled through like sand to demonstrate that the TIME TO ACT ON CLIMATE CHANGE IS RUNNING OUT. At the bottom they spelled the words, TCK TCK TCK.

The Human Countdown was truly inspiring; to witness so many people who are passionate about climate and energy unite together in this visual demonstration of unity was moving in ways that are hard to verbalize. I'm so thrilled to have been a part of it and thank all of you who came out to participate!

To check out a video of the Human Countdown here:

Climate Week NY°C has just started, so if you want to get involved, please visit climateweeknyc.org.