Thousands join climate march

Thousands of climate change protesters took their campaign to cut carbon emissions to the streets as they issued a stark warning of impending catastrophe to global leaders. From costume parades in the Philippines to a cyclist's protest in London, marches were held in more than 50 cities around the world to coincide with a two-week UN Climate Change Conference in Bali, Indonesia. In London, organizers said more than 10,000 people marched through the capital then held a rally outside the US Embassy. Jonathan Essex, a steering committee member of the Campaign Against Climate Change, which organized the march, said: "For the sake of our children and the next generation we need to live in such a way that those of the next generation can also live. "If the next generation says to us 'daddy, what did you do about climate change' the answer we should give is that we stopped it, any other answer is unacceptable." Hundreds of people rallied in the Philippine capital, Manila, wearing miniature windmills atop hats, or framing their faces in cardboard cutouts of the sun. "We are trying to send a message that we are going to have to use renewable energy sometime, because the environment, we need to really preserve it," high school student Samantha Gonzales said. "We have to act now." In Taipei, Taiwan, about 1,500 people marched through the streets holding banners and placards saying "No to carbon dioxide." Hundreds marched outside the conference center in Bali. At a Climate Rescue Carnival held in a park in Auckland, New Zealand, more than 350 people lay on the grass to spell out "Climate SOS." At the Brandenburg Gate in Berlin, ice sculpture artist Christian Funk carved a polar bear out of 15 tons of ice as a memorial to climate protection. Fire-eaters blew billowing clouds of flames at a rally in Athens, Greece. The London protest singled out one particular target–President Bush–calling his administration the biggest obstacle to progress at the Bali talks. "Bush has been forced to change his language on climate, but continues to be the major obstacle to progress," said Britain's Campaign against Climate Change. "We will not just stand by and allow Bush–or anyone else–to wreck the global effort to save billions of lives from climate catastrophe."