Organizers of the People's Climate March in New York City were anticipating 100,000 people on Sunday. The actual turnout was quadruple that, with over 400,000 people attending.

People came by bus from Kansas and Minnesota, by rail from Connecticut, on bikes, in strollers and others in wheelchairs, but the message was unanimous, slogans painted on signs and banners: "Wake Up and Smell the CO2," "There is no Planet B" and "Nature is not a Luxury."

There were 2,700 affiliated events in 158 countries around the world from Berlin to Istanbul to Rio de Janeiro.

In New York, people walked three miles along a route through midtown Manhattan, down 6th Avenue and along 42nd Street through Times Square to 11th Avenue.

Indigenous peoples headed the march, burning sage and banging drums. Spotted in the crowd was former Ohio Congressman Dennis Kucinich and Faithkeeper Oren Lyons of the Turtle Clan, Onondaga Nation.

Climate activists joined nurses and health care unions, and scientists joined with artists.

"The power of this movement is it's deeply personal for everyone. My journey goes back right to childhood. I grew up in Redhook, Brooklyn when, literally, low-income communities throughout New York City were in some cases burning down. A range of urban blight, neglect, outright racism, call it what you will. But a lot of people in my generation grew up in certain neighborhoods where it was a life and death struggle," said Eddie Bautista, the executive director of the New York City Environmental Justice Alliance and one of the march organizers.

"As I grew up, and I didn't realize when I was a kid, this was all about environmental justice, and the right of people to live, work and play with dignity, without discrimination and racism. And so for us climate change is that on that steroids."

Walking along the march route was a man in snorkeling gear, wearing a tie and shirt and blue swimming trunks.

"I work in the Stock Exchange building, and during Hurricane Sandy our street was underwater and our office was closed for a week, so this affects businesses, too. We didn't know when it would open, we didn't know if there would be a job to come back to," Rob Martin told Latin Post.

"With 24 U.S. states having a seawater coastline it is a lot of people if ocean levels rise and a lot jobs would be doubtful and have to move inland. It's really a jobs issue. It effects all of us, but I think big business needs to pay for the carbon it puts into the atmosphere so we really need to embrace the carbon credit system," he added.

March organizers brought people together through social media to protest on a single issue. They had anti-fracking activists and anti-tar sands people rubbing shoulders with people in underprivileged communities fighting skyrocketing asthma rates and moldy apartment buildings. They brought together Quakers, Muslims, Jews, Sikhs and Buddhists. And they included peace activists like Madelyn Hoffman from New Jersey Peace Action

"For every war, and every tank and every soldier, the U.S. military uses so much fossil fuel it has added to the climate change problem. We use more in the process of waging war than we get in return, so it is a net energy loss. We want to see the nation get off oil, and the world, and go into renewables. And if we stop the wars, we can save those resources too -- human, financial, environmental, all those resources," Hoffman said.

Watching the march on the corner of 42nd and Eighth Avenue was George from China, who busy taking pictures with the parade as a backdrop.

"It is very interesting that people come out, and I like it. It's about the climate and everything. Personally I don't believe in the climate change thing, I think the data is too short. Everyone who is talking about it is citing 30, 40, 50 years of data, saying there is climate change, but the earth is out here for 5 billion, 6 billion years. We need longer data to conclude. It's interesting, but I don't fully buy the story, that's it," George said.

On Tuesday at the United Nations, 120 world leaders will join business and financial leaders for the Secretary-General's specially requested Climate Summit. It will be a non-negotiating session, but organizers anticipate bold and aggressive ideas shared at the summit will lay a framework for the Paris Climate talks in December 2015.