Man Climbs NYC Skyscraper to Protest Climate Change

by Allie Comeau on June 7, 2008 Leave the first comment

In a bold protest against climate change, a man known as “French Spiderman” free-climbed a New York City skyscraper Friday. Once he reached the halfway point of his climb, Alain Robert, 45, unleashed a large banner that read “Global warming kills more people than 9/11 every week.”

Robert is apparently known for illegal climbs like this one. In fact, on his website he claims to have scaled 70 buildings and monuments all over the world. Well, he can add the Renzo Piano building in New York to his list.. and also to his list of arrests. Police took Robert into custody once he reached the roof of the 52-story building. He’s also been arrested in Hong Kong and deported from China and Brazil for staging similar stunts.

According to the AP article, this is what Robert had to say about the climb…

“I am climbing with my bare hands as a peaceful way to create support for far greater and urgent action from world leaders on global warming,” Robert said in a statement sent out before he began the climb.

His message has definitely gotten the attention he desired – he’s been all over the news and blogosphere today. He also succeeded in freaking a bunch of people out on the ground.

Scores of slack-jawed New Yorkers who crammed the sidewalks below however were more interested in following his gravity-defying feat — or judging his sanity.

“This man is crazy,” said Chelsea, a young woman standing on the corner of 8th Avenue and 41st Street who could not keep her eyes off Robert.

Not surprisingly, officials were very upset. This quote from Councilman Peter Vallone, Jr., sums up those emotions… “Regardless of the cause, in this day and age the police department has more important things to worry about then ridiculous stunts like this that endanger the police and public. If he wants to climb something, he can climb the walls inside his jail cell at Rikers.”

Update: Another man climbed the same building on Friday (and was subsequently arrested), just hours after Robert. Renaldo Clarke wore a shirt that read “Malaria No More”.

Did I miss something? Is climbing tall buildings the new way to protest?