More than 60,000 Swiss took to the streets of Bern to demand action against climate change as soon as possible. The demonstration comes less than a month before the national elections.
Activists in the Swiss capital are campaigning bigger than ever for “environmental justice”. According to the organizers, it is mainly the northern countries that are causing the climate crisis, while residents of the southern countries suffer the worst consequences.
During the protest march in central Bern, where government buildings are located, banners read: “If the climate were a bank, we would have survived a long time ago.” And: “The forest is burning, the Arctic is melting, and politics is on fire.”
Switzerland itself is also suffering severely from the consequences of global warming, which is on average twice as fast there than elsewhere in the world. The country’s glaciers have shrunk by 10% in two years. September was the warmest month in the history of weather measurements.
Greenpeace representative George Klingler explained, “Many Swiss have lost hope because the government approves new roads and delays the climate law. But today we were very strong.”
