A hopeful new sound: 10,000 people dance for climate action

Can you feel it? There is an entirely new energy in the air around climate change. Check out this new video [2], just released by our partners in Belgium. Make sure you watch it full screen with your speakers turned right up.

This is so inspirational and it took me a second to figure out what really struck me about it. It's hope.

Even as the political leaders of countries are dancing around the real commitments to tackle global warming, a passionate, creative, and ultimately hopeful citizen movement has emerged around climate change.

We are seeing explosions of passionate activism, featuring art, dance, and music, that show that global warming is not an issue to despair over, but one to inspire your community and your leaders to act upon. This movement spans borders and as we saw last month with the 350.org [3] day of action, is building a hopeful movement for the future in over 181 countries [4]. This is not an issue just for policy wonks and bureaucrats, it is one that inspires and moves people around the world.

Watch the camera pan over the dancers, who are smiling and celebrating as they call for action. A U2 song inspired them, but they should inspire the world leaders in Copenhagen.

The number of dancers in the video (over 10,000! [2]) are around the same number as government delegates to the UN climate negotiations in Copenhagen. Yet, these citizen activists all danced together as one! The example of actions like these is that we can harness the best parts of humanity to rise to the spirit of building a healthy, sustainable world with a global response to climate change.

If everyday citizens can come together on every continent, in almost every country on earth, and embrace a fierce but joyful embrace of climate action, we can solve global warming.

This year is the one where civil society, everyday citizens, and leaders of vulnerable nations [5] have come together in solidarity, uniting in one voice on climate change. In 2007, the media buzzed around “An inconvenient truth” which told of the threat of climate change. 2009 is the year that a hopeful and global citizen movement, in every part of the world came together to show that the people united are the true response to climate change. Millions of people around the world have signed a pledge that they are ready for leadership on climate change, have you [6]?

Let’s hope that our leaders stop dancing around their commitments, learn a move or two from their citizens and move together, as one, this fall. I am hopeful and if we see more energy and inspiration like what you see in this video, you should be too. If you haven’t watched it yet, what are you waiting for [2]?