randomz-tephiee

Walk Against Warming.

First day as a: "journalist". Where: Martin Place to Botanical Gardens. When: this morning, 4th November, 2006, at 11am. What: raising awareness of global warming and its grave effects on the earth, and ultimately, human existence. Who: 50, 000 supporters joined the peaceful march. Why: because the ignorance of humans towards global warming will one day, soon, heat us up to death. To provide a platform where people can voice their opinion against global wamring. How: a peace march from Martin Place to Botancial Gardens, where there was live music playing at Botanical Gardens.

Well, my first day as a "journalist" on the streets of Sydney, with my friend, was one of an experience I guess I will not forget. Arriving at Martin Place, it started to rain, the recorder not doing as it is wanted to -humans and technolgy - The interviewing journey began, encountering and meeting all sorts of people with varying answers about global warming. I guess the ones that highlighted my interviewing journey is the answers and people commenting about PM John Howard and not about global warming in particular. As the image above will show, that global warming is not just about the environment but also the politics behind it. This view is not just my own personal view but also views that has been supported by many of the interviewees at today's march. Many views were presented about Howard, politics, and controversies that play behind global warming.

There were many views that were presented, about global warming and how to help decrease the harmful effects but the ones that caught my attention were the ones about the politics and people's perosnal views about the Howard government. When I first got to the march, I didn't really know what to expect. I was thinking everyone is just going to talk about being environmentally friendly, but it came quite a shock to me when people were talking negatively about the government.

The following image is one that I thought was really interesting. The image here is pretty self-explanatory. Howard and Costello are cooking the earth to death. Their dressed pretty unique and funnily - Howard in a woman's dress with an apron and Costello clothed in a tux. I think that this is cleverly drawn and demonstrated.

At the march, there were many chantings that clearly displayed the purpose of the march. Some were proudly bellowing "we dig it, we dig it, we dig it, we dig it and we burn it!" and others were screaming, "export Howard, not uranium, export Howard, not uranium!", another interesting one, the one I think is really great is, "hey, hey, ho, ho, Johnny Howard's gotta go, hey, hey, ho, ho, Johnny Howard's gotta go!" -funny and interesting-

What really caught my attention was when me and my friend were signing the petition against global warming on Macquarie Street, a man walked past and yelled out "you know, your march is contributing more to global warming. You blocked the roads, created huge traffics, which creates more gas" It was interesting as it made me think about this march in a more deeper way. There is two sides to this global warming debate that has two convincing views. However, the petition lady replied, "that's why we are walking" but still I felt like that man had a point.

I guess, that's how life is, you meet and greet people who you like and who you hate because they are different to you. But the thing that RANDOMLY pops to my mind is 'do you hate them because they are different or because they possess similar charatceristics to yourself?' like a mirror, many people hate what they see in the mirror and tend to change themselves into soemthing better, but what is better? 'Better' is only your understanding of 'better'. I'm going off on a tangent now...to finish, I had a great experience at my first protest march, my first "journalistic" adventure, and overall an experience that I see has many different views...

posted by tephiee @ 4:40 PM