There were huge climate change marches all over the world today. High school students took the lead, which is a good thing. We need the generation who will inherit and have to live with our mess to start standing up for the future.

Here in Chicago, we had another pathetic march, with police estimating that somewhere between 1,500 and 3,000 people attended. I would have put the number at 5,000 people. The crowd was comprised largely of students, parents accompanying young children, and retirees.

To put the numbers in perspective, the City of Chicago has 2,700,000 residents. More germane, somewhere between 500,00 and 750,000 people work in the Loop, which includes the march’s terminus, Federal Plaza.

Everyone should be concerned. Just this week, one Chicago Tribune headline proclaimed that North America’s bird population has declined 29% over the last 50 years. And this week, the Trump Administration rolled back clean water regulations to 1986 standards and revoked California’s exemption to set mileage standards, precluding California from imposing more stringent requirements than those established under Federal law. The Trump Administration has an ongoing effort to liquidate federal lands, turning them over to industry for mineral, oil, natural gas, and timber extraction. In recent months, that same administration has rolled back clean air rules.

We also have an idiot for a president. He believes wind turbines cause cancer, decrease property values, and kill birds. He denies climate change. In an effort to support his denial of the facts, his administration is trying to muzzle climate change scientists.

Given all those facts, it is appalling that Chicago’s demonstration was so poorly attended. It was also a rather lackluster event. I didn’t see a single politician or celebrity in attendance. Nor was there any program. No speeches.

Kudos to the kids and others who participated. The rest of the community missed an opportunity to show their dissent from Trump Administration policies. Given the Ukrainian scandal that broke this week, hundreds of thousands of people should be in the streets any time there is a demonstration opposing Trump Administration policies.

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