Tens of hundreds of individuals lined the streets of New York Metropolis to demand that President Joe Biden finish the usage of fossil fuels in the USA, warning that there isn’t a future on a “lifeless planet.”
Sunday’s Finish Fossil Gas March was headlined by Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, who joined protesters’ calls to halt federal approval of recent oil and fuel tasks, section out fossil gas drilling on public lands, and declare a federal local weather emergency.
Ocasio-Cortez, a Democratic consultant from New York, obtained loud applause from the big crowd when she referred to local weather motion as “an electoral and grassroots power that can not be ignored. That is the most important challenge of our time.”
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The protesters’ calls for have been endorsed by greater than 500 organizations, 400 scientists, and quite a few celebrities together with Mark Ruffalo, Kevin Bacon, and Jameela Jamil. It was not clear as of Sunday precisely how many individuals participated within the occasion, however a number of media studies say “tens of hundreds” of individuals joined the march and rally.
The New York protest is one in all greater than 600 occasions which are a part of The global fight to end fossil fuelsIn line with the Finish Fossil Gas web site. The web site acknowledged that greater than 500,000 folks participated in demonstrations calling on world leaders to cease utilizing fossil fuels, together with demonstrations in Europe, Asia, Africa, South America, and Antarctica.
In focus
Actor Kevin Bacon joins hundreds of activists, indigenous teams, college students and others who take to the streets of New York for the “March to Finish Fossil Fuels” protest on September 17, 2023 in New York Metropolis.
Sunday’s march comes earlier than UN Secretary-Common António Guterres hosts the Local weather Ambition Summit in New York Metropolis. Throughout Wednesday’s assembly, Guterres will challenge a brand new resolution standard For international locations to steadily section out fossil fuels and commit to not utilizing new oil, fuel and coal. The White Home stated earlier that Biden Don’t plan to attend.
Newsweek I reached out through e mail Sunday to Biden’s representatives for remark.
The march comes amid a summer season marred by a number of excessive climate occasions that consultants say have been exacerbated by local weather change, together with document warmth waves around the globe, lethal wildfires on Maui, and catastrophic floods in Libya.
Chatting with marchers, Peter Kalmus, a local weather scientist at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory, painted a bleak image of humanity’s future and warned of mass extinction.
“I’ve two children in highschool,” he stated. “I am terrified for his or her future. I am terrified for my future. Issues are burning and flooding, the smoke is getting worse, the warmth waves are getting worse.”
Kalmus obtained loud cheers from the group when he took purpose at President Joe Biden.
“Each little little bit of fossil gas we burn makes the planet somewhat hotter and makes issues worse,” he instructed protesters. “It is clear we’re in a local weather emergency. Why hasn’t President Biden declared it? I am so overwhelmed that that is loopy.”
The NASA scientist stated there was “no manner out of this” and urged US lawmakers to “flip the tide” away from fossil fuels.
“That is the one planet within the universe that we all know has life and we’re on the point of the sixth mass extinction,” Kalmos warned. “We’re on the verge of shedding completely all the things. There is no such thing as a politics on a lifeless planet. There is no such thing as a financial system on a lifeless planet. There is no such thing as a democracy on a lifeless planet.”
Lots of the protesters they spoke to Newsweek In addition they feared for the way forward for the planet and humanity, they stated on Sunday.
Lisa Marshall, director of advocacy and organizing at New Yorkers for Clear Energy (NYCP), stated she desires to do her half to make sure the Earth stays “inhabitable” for her youngsters.
“I’m a mom of three youngsters,” she stated. “I am right here on a stupendous day, not as a result of I wish to be, however as a result of my youngsters are relying on me to do all the things I can to save lots of the local weather for them.”
Marshall joined hundreds of requires Biden to section out fossil fuels, saying Individuals want “management to do our half.”
“I feel the primary aim of at this time is to precise the urgency for President Biden to cease approving new fossil gas extraction, and it has to cease on the prime,” she stated. Newsweek. “Particular person actions are good, however we can’t escape the local weather disaster. We have to fulfill our commitments to the Paris Settlement. We should not approve any extra fossil gas extraction tasks.”
stated Thomas Hirasson, a local weather activist from Ithaca Newsweek Lawmakers have to act earlier than it’s too late.
“The aim of the march is that it’s mandatory,” he stated. “Now we have to do one thing now.”