["Its time for Biden to declare a climate emergency and phase out
the fossil fuels killing people and wildlife around the world."]
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DEMANDING AN END TO ‘DEADLY FOSSIL FUELS,’ TENS OF THOUSANDS TAKE
THE STREETS IN NYC  
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End Fossil Fuels, Tens of Thousands Demand
September 17, 2023
Common Dreams
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_ "It's time for Biden to declare a climate emergency and phase out
the fossil fuels killing people and wildlife around the world." _

Thousands of activists, indigenous groups, students, and others take
to the streets of New York City for the March to End Fossil Fuels on
September 17, 2023., Spencer Platt/Getty Images

 

Sunday's march, which organizers say more than 75,000 people attended,
comes at the tail-end of a scorching summer characterized by fossil
fuel-driven
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extreme weather catastrophes across the globe.

Despite such disasters, the Biden administration has continued to
approve major fossil fuel initiatives such as the Mountain Valley
Pipeline in Virginia and West Virginia and the Willow drilling project
in Alaska. Scientists have made clear that fossil fuel expansion is
incompatible with critical emissions targets.

"We are so clearly in a fucking climate emergency. Why won't Biden
declare it?" asked
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climate scientist Peter Kalmus.

A climate emergency declaration would unlock a number of key
presidential authorities
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enabling Biden to halt U.S. crude oil exports, cut off oil and gas
drilling in federal waters, and block investments in overseas fossil
fuel projects, among other actions.

Progressive U.S. lawmakers joined marchers in the New York City
streets on Sunday. Rep. Jamaal Bowman
[[link removed]] (D-N.Y.) delivered
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a fiery speech demanding a climate "revolution" and denouncing oil and
gas subsidies, which surged to a record $7 trillion
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worldwide last year.

Bowman also noted that Congress continues to "give almost a trillion
dollars a year to our military-industrial complex, which is the number
one contributor to carbon emissions in the world."

Bowman was one of 31 U.S. lawmakers who signed a recent letter
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Biden to "phase out oil and gas production on federal lands and waters
by 2030."

The mass demonstration in New York City followed hundreds of protests
across the globe over the past several days in the run-up to the
Climate Ambition Summit, which is aimed at pushing world leaders to
develop sufficiently bold plans to phase out fossil fuels as
greenhouse gas concentrations continue to hit new records
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year after year.

Protests are set to continue throughout the coming week ahead of the
U.N. General Assembly and the Climate Ambition Summit.

"For decades scientists have warned us about the urgency of phasing
out fossil fuels—and the extreme weather events of this year show us
how deadly serious the climate crisis is, here and now," said Matt
Leonard, director of the Oil and Gas Action Network. "This week,
thousands of people are taking action in New York to pressure
President Biden and Wall Street to end the era of fossil fuels—not
one more pipeline approval, not one more drilling permit, not one more
dollar to Exxon or Chevron."

Romain Ioualalen, global diplomacy manager at Oil Change International
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that "the global call to put an end to the fossil fuel era must be
heard by world leaders meeting in New York for the Climate Ambition
Summit next week."

"We've had enough false promises, greenwashing, and half-measures,"
said Ioualalen. "Countries must deliver by coming to the Summit with
clear plans to immediately end oil and gas expansion and policies for
a fast and fair phase out of all fossil fuels."

Youth advocates who have been vocal in urging Biden to take sweeping
climate action showed up in large numbers on Sunday, holding signs
that read "I Didn't Vote for Fires & Floods" and "End Fossil Fuels."

"Thousands of youth marched today to send a clear message to President
Biden: we are watching," said Noa Greene-Houvras of Fridays for Future
NYC. "We are watching you approve pipelines, and we are watching as
you delay declaring a climate emergency. We are watching as the
_Weather Channel_ repeats the same terrifying message, that this year,
this week, this day, is the hottest ever recorded."

"We are watching our futures disappear, because how can we be the next
president or author or scientist on a dying planet?" Greene-Houvras
added. "We are watching communities suffer, poisoned by fossil fuel
companies that know exactly what they are doing. We are waiting for
your leadership, and the leadership of the U.S. on the global stage,
to change this, to start acting like this is the emergency you say it
is. We, the youth, are watching and waiting and we will not back down
on our future, our health, or our communities."

Our work is licensed under Creative Commons (CC BY-NC-ND 3.0). Feel
free to republish and share widely.

 

Jake Johnson is a senior editor and staff writer for Common Dreams.

* March to End Era of Fossil Fuels
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