Progressive lawmakers and climate activists rallied at the Capitol on Thursday to demand an end to fossil fuel usage, previewing a planned march in New York on Sunday ahead of the United Nations’ climate ambition summit on 20 September.
“Clearly, saving the planet is the most important issue facing humanity,” the Democratic senator Jeff Merkley of Oregon, said. “But here’s the ugly and brutal truth: right now, humanity is failing. The planet is crying out for help.”
The rally was one of more than 650 global climate actions taking place this week in countries including Bolivia, Pakistan, Ethiopia and Austria.
In New York, dozens of activists protested outside of the headquarters for asset manager BlackRock and Citibank on Wednesday and Thursday respectively, to call attention to both firms’ investments in fossil fuels.
The mobilizations are set to culminate with the March to End Fossil Fuels in New York City on Sunday, 17 September, which has been endorsed by 400 scientists and 500 organizations, including the NAACP, the Sierra Club and the Sunrise Movement. Organizers have predicted the event, which aims to convene tens of thousands of activists from across the country and around the world, will be the largest climate march in the US in five years.
“The March to End Fossil Fuels will be a historic, intergenerational and cross-societal march, making it clear that President Biden needs to restore his [campaign] promise and end the era of fossil fuels now,” Keanu Arpels-Josiah, an 18-year-old climate activist, said on Thursday at the Capitol. “We voted for a climate president, not for fossil fuel expansion.”
The New York City protest will focus on pushing the Biden administration to take bold steps to phase out fossil fuels, including by declaring a climate emergency, halting the approval of new oil and gas projects, and phasing out fossil fuel drilling on public lands. Biden has faced criticism from climate activists for continuing to approve oil and gas schemes such as the Willow Project in Alaska, even after he promised as a candidate to phase out fossil fuels.
Biden’s allies are quick to note that he also signed the Inflation Reduction Act, touted as the most significant climate legislation in US history, but the president will almost certainly face pointed questions about his record on fossil fuels during the summit next week. The UN secretary general, António Guterres, who has urged countries to take more aggressive action against climate change, has described the upcoming summit as a “no nonsense” conference.
“The price of entry is non-negotiable – serious new climate action that will move the needle forward,” he announced in December.
Speaking at the Capitol on Thursday, the California Democratic congresswoman Barbara Lee called on Biden to set an example for other world leaders.
“I am telling you, the rest of the world is looking to us because we have been, unfortunately, the polluters throughout the world,” Lee said. “If we don’t fulfill our moral obligation to address climate change, we can’t expect other nations to do so either.”
The high stakes of the summit were on display at the Capitol on Thursday. Some organizers brought their young children to the event. One organizer held a sign reading: “Joe, for the love of your grandchildren.”
Kamea Ozane, an 11-year-old from Sulphur, Louisiana, said she plans to attend the march with her mother to bring attention to how the climate crisis has affected her community. Sulphur lies in a notoriously heavily polluted region of Louisiana known as “Cancer Alley”.
“Every time I struggle to catch my breath, I am reminded of the urgent need to march against fossil fuels,” Ozane told the Guardian in an email.
Ozane’s message was echoed by progressive lawmakers on Thursday. “We’re at a critical moment in our history,” said the Democratic congresswoman Rashida Tlaib. “It’s fossil fuels versus our planet. It’s fossil fuels versus our future. And I know damn sure what side I’m going to be on.”
Multiple rally speakers cited recent environmental disasters – including wildfires in Hawaii, flooding in Libya and typhoons in the Philippines – as devastating examples of the cost of climate inaction.
“These are not isolated events. They are links in a chain, forged by our own decisions and by our own emissions,” said Senator Ed Markey. “Our country, our planet doesn’t need more fossil fuel facilities or oil exports. What our country needs is an oil change once and for all.”
Progressives are not simply waiting on Biden to take more action. Next week, Congresswoman Jan Schakowsky plans to reintroduce the Future Generation Protection Act. The bill would ban crude oil and natural gas exports as well as greenhouse gas emissions from all new power plants, while also bringing a halt to hydraulic fracking. Speaking at the rally, Schakowsky acknowledged the bill is unlikely to pass the current divided Congress, but she said progressives are planning for the long term to combat the climate crisis.
“We are preparing for the next election, where we [will] win and we [will] do everything that we need to do to save the planet and to save our people,” Schakowsky said at the rally. “We can do this.”
This article was amended on 15 September 2023 to reflect the updated number of climate actions taking place.
