In September, heads of state are going to New York City for a historic summit on climate change. With our future on the line, we will take a weekend and use it to bend the course of history.

In New York City there will be an unprecedented climate mobilization – in size, beauty, and impact. This moment will not be just about New York or the United States. Heads of state from around the world will be there, as will the attention of global media.

Our demand is for Action, Not Words: take the action necessary to create a world with an economy that works for people and the planet – now. In short, we want a world safe from the ravages of climate change.

We know that no single meeting or summit will “solve climate change” and in many ways this moment will not even really be about the summit. We want this moment to be about us – the people who are standing up in our communities, to organize, to build power, to confront the power of fossil fuels, and to shift power to a just, safe, peaceful world.

To do that, we need to act – together.

Before corporate and governmental leaders arrive in New York City this September for the UN Climate Summit, System Change Not Climate Change together with the Global Climate Convergence will be laying the groundwork for an alternative summit, what we're calling New York City Climate Convergence.

Our objective is to build and strengthen an environmental movement that addresses the root causes of the climate crises; a social-economic system that values profits above people, planet and peace. As the corporate captured UN proposes false solutions like carbon trading and sets meager greenhouse reduction targets, we will show the world what tackling global warming from the bottom up looks like.

Occurring in the runup to the People's Climate March – slated to be the largest climate march in U.S. history – the Climate Convergence from September 19th to the 21st will draw thousands across North America and the world.

The UN and world leaders have been debating what to do about climate change for two decades – and gotten nowhere. Their solutions have only gotten fuzzier as the science and impact of climate change have become clearer. Now they’re coming to New York and it’s time for our voices to be heard. Join us as we discuss real alternatives and develop action plans that transform the system, rather than accept it.

We are told that technology, market mechanisms, or individual lifestyle changes are what will save the planet. They will not. Because they are all solutions that accommodate the system, not challenge it.

The root of the problem is an economic system that exploits people and the planet for profit. It is a system that requires constant growth, exploitation, warfare, racism, poverty and ever-increasing ecological devastation to function.

What will it take to change things? A mass movement for ecological and social justice that combines all our forces against a system that poisons our land, our water and the air we breathe.

Come to a weekend of politics and movement building, full of workshops, panels, music and community. The Convergence will culminate in the People’s Climate March and will put the politics we need into the fight against climate catastrophe.

Originally published by 350.org and NYC Climate Convergence