Judith Dare, of Beeston, heads to Copenhagen tomorrow to take part in protests at the United Nations Climate Change summit. Here, she speaks about her involvement in a protest in London last Saturday

WHAT do we want? Climate justice. When do we it? Now. That was the message that more than 40,000 people sent out to the UK Government on Saturday during The Wave climate protest.

The event, organised by the Stop Climate Chaos Coalition, brought together charities including Oxfam, Tearfund and Friends of the Earth, for an eco-march across London.

We wanted to create a wave of public opinion to get the Government to take climate change seriously.

In doing so, we all dressed in blue clothing and brought along blue fabric and banners to create a human tidal wave flowing along the Thames Embankment towards Westminster.

There was such a wide range of ages at The Wave, from babies in buggies to others looking old enough to be great-grandparents.

During that afternoon I met many like-minded people who wanted to stress that action needs to be taken now to address global warming.

One person I met was "Jack", who works for Tearfund and was dressed as a badger.

He was representing "Superbadger" – a character on Facebook that encourages Tearfund supporters to campaign via the internet.

He was calling on people to remember to "badger" the Government by repeatedly asking it to act.

All of the people I'd chatted to while marching were glad to be there.

Many of us went to a service beforehand at the Central Hall in Westminster, where we listened to leaders who represented a wide spectrum of churches.

They all reminded us that we are part of creation, and misuse by some people of the Earth's resources are affecting all of creation in some way or another. Others have said that up to half of the world's species could be at risk of extinction if global temperatures rise unchecked.

At that service we heard first hand from visitors from Bangladesh and Burkina Faso, where climate change is already devastating.

The Wave was also taking place simultaneously in Glasgow, Belfast and Dublin – all just before the start of the United Nations Copenhagen climate summit, which got underway on Monday.

Marchers at all of the events called on our Government representatives at Copenhagen to settle for nothing less than a fair and just climate deal that avoids excessive climate change and protects the world's poorest people.

I am one of a number of people from Notts who will also be heading to Copenhagen to take part in another march on Saturday.

It means I will have attended two protests within the space of a week, both of which aiming to highlight public demand for a worldwide strategy to combat global warming.

In Copenhagen, we will call on Gordon Brown to make the conference count by:

Committing rich countries to reduce their emissions of carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases by at least 40% in the next ten years.

Putting the right sort of money on the table to help poor countries

"Decarbonising" our energy supply – looking more for renewable energy as well as using energy more efficiently.

Around 15,000 delegates from governments, businesses and organisations in more than 190 countries will attend the conference to draw up a long-term international commitment to tackling climate change.

It's the developed countries that have been causing the problems but it's the developing countries that are suffering first of all.

Some places are getting too much rain, and other aren't getting enough.

I have a granddaughter who is a couple of months old and I want her to inherit a good Earth – not one that has been trashed by this generation.

For more information about the UN Climate Change Conference, visit http://en.cop15.dk/