David Reich (left), Martha Plotkin, and Peter Fifield hold up the QCAN banner before the Boston Women’s March. QCAN members marched alongside their parent organization, the Massachusetts Climate Action Network.

January 26, 2017

West Quincy resident Tom McGuinness, who attended the Boston Women’s March on Saturday January 21 with a delegation from Quincy Climate Action Network, said he “was awestruck by the sheer number of people” at the event—175,000, according to official estimates. The QCAN delegation marched alongside members of their parent organization, the Massachusetts Climate Action Network. “Going forward,” said McGuinness, “we will see more of these actions, and I hope they’ll convince the Trump Administration to acknowledge the threat of climate change and reassess their stance on clean energy.”

Sarah Belfort, a QCAN board member, brought her two sons, ages 8 and 10, to the event. “I want them to know they can be politically active even though they can’t vote yet.” Belfort said she was impressed with the tone of the march. “People were so kind, to one another and to the police officers protecting the march,” she said. Belfort’s mother, from Weymouth, and her brother, a Scituate resident, attended the march along with her and her sons.

QCAN board member Martha Plotkin said she was pleased by the unprecedented crowd size and by the number of signs she saw calling for action on Climate Change. “I am heartsick and angry about Pres. Trump’s promise to roll back eight years of progress, including the Paris Climate Accord and Pres. Obama’s Clean Power Plan. But I was heartened to see how many people are putting climate action at the top of their agenda.” Plotkin said she took the Red Line to attend the march, and the cars were so crowded that people on the platform at North Quincy had to wait for a later train. “It was like the peak of a weekday morning rush hour, only more packed, and many of the people on the train were holding signs or wearing knitted pink hats” she said. “Obviously turnout from Quincy was massive.”

David Reich, QCAN’s board chair, who also attended, said the march was a morale boost for the group, but it will need to be followed by grassroots action on the local level. “QCAN is energized and ready to go for 2017,” he said. “We’re planning more films and public lectures about energy and climate change, and more meetings with local and state officials. This march was just a kickoff as far as we’re concerned.”