About 400,000 people made their way to New York City this past Sunday to have their voices heard in the People’s Climate March. Pace students from both Pleasantville and the New York City campuses were among the historic crowd.

Many groups from around the world and over 300 schools and universities were represented at the march. All had a common goal: to voice their concern about climate change in the hopes that political leaders will take notice. The date of the People’s March was scheduled to be the same week as the UN Climate summit, which took place on September 23. UN secretary Ban Ki Moon took part in the march.

The march in New York was a part of the global People’s Climate campaign, which was established to bring awareness to the issue of climate change.

Pace students walked alongside schools including Yale, Penn State, the Mountain School, and over 300 others. In solidarity, the students and some faculty from the schools marched while many chanted, “What do we want? Climate Justice! When do we want it? Now!”

Caroline Craig, Research Associate at the Pace Academy of Environment, was inspired by the energy of the march. Pace’s presence at the march was important to “honor the University’s environmental legacy and set the tone for campus culture,” according to Craig, who attended the march with students. The climate march coincides with a new campaign of the Pace Academy—the Generation Energy Campaign—that will devote time to studying energy for a greener future.

“We dared leaders, polluters, deniers, and indifferent spectators to think of their most dreaded F-word. ‘Future,’” Craig said. She hopes that the march resonated with students and that they will bring some of the energy to Pace’s campus to continue to work for a greener world.

Students agreed that the cause of combatting climate change is worth marching for.

“There was nothing but good vibes and amazing people from all over the country who wanted to share their views,” sophomore Haylei Peart, who attended the march, said. “It was definitely empowering knowing that there are so many people out there willing to march to bring awareness to the environment.”

People from many organizations and many parts of the world came out to march for climate justice. From nuns and monks to high school and college students, everyone sought to have a voice.

“We don’t all come from the same political parties, or even agree on the same solutions or strategies for climate change…At the march, you could be a hunter-conservationist, vegan-philanthropist, or student-ventriloquist; there’s a sense of solidarity that transcends all of that,” Craig, said. “Among many other things, I hope that the students learned that it’s possible, sometimes necessary, to cross the lines and join hands.”

The Community Center for Action and Research and the Pace Academy for Environmental Studies helped to organize Pace’s participation in the march. About 20 students attended from both campuses with Pace shirts and posters to voice their concerns for the environment and their passions for creating a greener world with cleaner energy.

“There was not one piece of trash on the floor,” Peart said about the march. “I think that says a lot.”