The Earth itself has already been speaking its own language for several decades by warning us about rising global heat levels. Its message has been been in terms of increasing regional droughts, burning forests, stronger and more potent storms, a die-off of species, warming and rising oceans, melting polar ice fields, and increasing global heat.
Scientists have translated the earth’s language into mathematical terms and in the terms of physical impacts. But the environmentalists of Earth Day have translated the Earth’s messages into the collective practical action that must be taken now.
Global leadership has largely put off Earth’s environmental warnings up to this point. The President’s approval of the Willow carbon energy extraction project in Alaska and his subsequent approval of the North Slope Liquid Natural Gas export terminal with a 800 mile methane pipeline, just this month, illustrates this fact. Global leadership inaction spells out a short-term memory mentality on climate but it has long-term consequences for the Earth and all of its inhabitants.
The Earth itself has a perfect natural memory for its own environment. It remembers every pound of carbon dioxide gas released by burning coal, methane and oil. This also means that additional carbon dioxide released into the atmosphere acts for up to 3 decades as a catalyst by refracting infrared light (heat) into the natural moisture of the atmosphere around it. Carbon dioxide compounds the climate emergency by adding more heat to the atmosphere which is transferred by rain into the oceans.
The NOAA tracks the levels of carbon dioxide gas in the atmosphere and publishes quarterly reports on its levels and it is increasing and has increased to levels not seen since in 1000s of years—since before humans began a coal boom energy extraction in Europe during the 1850s
Speakers Warn Of Dystopia By Inaction
One after one speakers told of the worsening climate emergency while hundreds listened and independent media broadcasted their speeches over social media. Some carried messages on sign boards while others wore special outfits. Many discussed the climate emergency among themselves, its impacts on them, and told of what they have come to accept: the Earth as we know it is dying and collectively we have less than a decade to end fossil energy dependence. To delay further is tantamount to a climate outcome worse on humanity than all the wars ever fought.
Speakers’ main points were: (1) There can be no climate solution without acknowledging and solving the human rights issues of those mostly severely impacted in the Black and Brown communities and that the climate emergency transcends political issues; (2) there can be no solution to the climate emergency if leaders continue to greenwash the climate movement by approving more methane, oil, and coal projects that cement more greenhouse gasses from additional fossil energy infrastructure; (3) the funding of climate creating infrastructure by the five major big banks must end; (4) initiatives must begin immediately because in less than 10 years it will most likely be too late.
Inaction on Climate Is Environmental Racism
Nee Nee Taylor, an organizer with Harriet’s Wildest Dreams, a civil rights organization in Southeast Washington DC, connected the dots between the climate movement and institutional racism on Black and Brown people. Taylor said that Black and Brown people in Washington DC and across the country continue to be the most impacted by climate disasters because many Black and Brown communities are converted to sacrifice zones by fossil energy projects and local government policy. Taylor cited the health effects and the climate impacts on low lying rural and urban areas where poor communities are usually housed.
Taylor pointed out in Southeast DC “two trash transfer stations are in Black communities. There are no trash transfer stations in Dupont Circle where Mayor Bowser lives.” This scenario has also been playing out repeatedly in regions across the country, such as in St. James Parish, Louisiana, a Predominantly Black community also known as “Cancer Alley.” St. James Parish is notoriously connected to environmental racism where petrochemical companies are springing up and making Black residents sick with air and water pollution.
“Black people have always been the canary in the mine,” said Taylor. “Environmental racism is not a Democratic or Republican issue. It is an issue of human rights and equality. It is also a global issue.”
Taylor called on the White-led climate justice movement to look closely at itself when calling out the banks, oil, gas, and coal corporations, and its financing of the climate machinery—that they must consider the inherent injustice of not recognizing the impacts of climate disasters on Black and Brown communities. “Until they recognize that Black lives matter, they will never be in a position to combat the climate disaster,” she said.
Extinction Rebellion Washington DC Art Project—Methane Pipeline Cube
Extinction Rebellion Washington DC Chapter Press SpokesPerson Jade Olson, called on DC Mayor Muriel Bowser and the DC Council to nix a plan by Washington Gas to invest $4.5 billion in its “Project Pipes” methane pipeline infrastructure investment and instead invest in expanding the electric energy grid. By replacing methane pipes the DC government is locking the city into many more decades of methane use, they said.
Extinction Rebellion Washington DC has embarked on a campaign to challenge the Washington Gas investment in its methane pipeline replacement project know as “Project Pipes.” On its website, Extinction Rebellion DC wrote, “Gas leaks are also a major environmental justice problem. Black, Indigenous and people of color are more exposed to the dangers of leaking gas pipes than white people. Gas utility companies also fix these leaks faster in white neighborhoods.”
Olsen described the methane pipeline cube art installment as taking months to build. It depicts a complex series of pipes interconnected with some open to the air. It demonstrates the futility of continuing to build onto an old design concept that is destined to fail.
Global Impacts of the Climate Emergency
Basiv Sen, Climate Policy Director at Institute for Policy Studies, spoke of the global climate impacts. He said that the U.S. was propagandizing the world with stories it was trying to fix the climate emergency while it was building more fossil energy projects. The two actions could not be reconciled.
“India and the South Asia subcontinent are going through an horrific unseasonable springtime heatwave for the second year,” he said. “This is part of the international impact of the continuation of the fossil fuel economy” He pointed out that the U.S. produces 25% of the global use of fossils and is addicted to carbon based energy sources.
Elders Join Third Act to Fight The Financiers of Fossil Energy Projects
Lawrence MacDonald and Lisa Finn of Third Act Virginia, an organization of elders fighting for democratic norms and advocates for climate justice joined the youth-led action on Earth Day because they believe they can learn from youth and help them with the climate emergency.
“The generation that was in power when climate went from being a problem to being an emergency has an obligation to support young people in demanding action and end the fossil fuel era,” said Mac Donald.
Finn, said that she would not have come out to Earth Day previously because did not know anyone involved. She joined Third Act Northern Virginia and it has given her a connection to the community and a sense of achievement. She is committed to helping other groups such as the youth in the community now because she can focus and work with others in Third Act on the same objectives.
“Forming a community on environmentalism is a big thing. We learn a lot from our youth because they have a lot to teach us,” she said.
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Washington DC—A march for Queer and Trans Youth Autonomy was joined by nearly 500 on Friday afternoon near the U.S. Capitol without incident despite a coordinated right-wing media blitz condemning it. The march was led by hundreds of Queer and Trans youth demanding the same civil access and equality under the law as is enjoyed by others in society.
The action was coordinated on Trans Day of Visibility, a global initiative to call an end to violence against the Trans and Queer community, and a moratorium to anti-Trans legislation being proposed and passed in States around the country. Marches were also held in cities across the globe.
Many youth activists spoke about their experiences and their growing anxiety of denial of access to healthcare, access to public spaces, oppression at school from legislative actions to deny their identities, and policies being enacted without their say in the policies being decided. They called on allies to join them in their quest for equality and human rights. One speaker drew on the reasoning of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., that rights denied to one segment of society threatens the rights for all.
Ryan Cassata, a Trans youth activist who has been educating the public about Trans youth rights, spoke about the bills being proposed in State legislative sessions over the past year. “This year over 435 anti-LGBTQ bills have been introduced, 21 have passed into law, and more will unfortunately pass into law. Trans youth living in states that are banning [Trans] healthcare will have to wait even longer and waiting for a life-saving surgery is impossible. These bills are violent. These bills are murderous. Healthcare is a human right,” they said.
Cassata vowed the Trans community would not stop fighting for their human rights.
On the Trans Day of Visibility there was some good news despite the spate of mounting opposition to Trans rights in States legislatures. Thomas L. Parker, A U.S. Judge of the U.S. District Court, Western District of Tennessee, granted a temporary restraining order against legislation that would criminalize performance of “adult cabaret entertainment” in places that could be viewed by a person not an adult.
The law was passed by the State Legislature and signed by Tennessee Governor Bill Lee, this month (March 2023) and would in effect prohibit Drag Queen Story Hour events. The legislation was tailored specifically to target Drag Queen participants from enjoying any public event such as family educational venues where children were present.
Judge Parker found that the State had not established any credible reason for denying the First Amendment rights of the persons affected and that it was “unconstitutional” on the basis for which it was passed.
The Tennessee District Court Ruling is here.
Another separate rally and march for Trans rights was planned for Saturday in Washington DC near the Supreme Court but was postponed due to a credible external threat of violence. Organizers determined that the public health and safety of the community was under a credible serious threat and though they had been planning the event for several months, they decided it was in the best interest of the community to postpone it to a future date.
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Washington DC—Elders picketed outside the branches of four major banks for 24 hours on Tuesday to call out their financial support of fossil fuel projects which are contributing to the worsening climate catastrophe. They sat in rocking chairs in front of the bank branches just blocks from the White House—warning them to stop funding fossil fuel energy or the planet will be unlivable within several decades.
A coalition of green groups organized by Third Act urged the banks to transition off of carbon based energy—oil, gas, and methane, and immediately and exclusively finance renewable energy sources—wind, solar, and geothermal, instead. The elders targeted Chase Bank, Wells Fargo, Citi Bank, and Bank of America, because they are the four major financiers of fossil energy, sinking a combined total of $1.2 trillion in the fossil fuel industry over the past 7 years.
Third Act is a relatively new climate organization founded by Bill McKibben in 2021 and a organization for elder citizens in their ‘third act’ of life. The four banks financial loans to fossil projects is one quarter of all fossil fuel financing, according to Third Act, consisting mainly of elders—folks 60 years and older—but many youth also took part in the rocking chair action over the 24 hour period.
As the sun came up on Tuesday morning and warmed the elders they were still lined on the sidewalk in their chairs, drinking coffee and chatting to the passers by about the worsening climate to be faced by generations to come. The planet is already beginning to suffer from the affects of carbon induced heat but in the years to come it will get much worse.
Many sat inside sleeping bags through the night as it was an uncharacteristically cold night. Some had enlarged photos of their grandchildren displayed on posters. They gave flyers to workers passing by educating them about the climate emergency and urging them to move money into green banks. Many workers asked why they had stayed out through the night—the Elders told them of their grand-children and great-grand-children to help them understand what who would be impacted most by the worsening climate conditions.
Later in the morning, those involved in the rocking chair action joined in a mile long walk from Franklin Park to the branches of the banks where the Elders were picketing to call out the banks for ignoring scientific research that demonstrated the climate emergency is rapidly worsening global climate conditions. Clergy from Churches, Synagogs, leaders from climate organizations, and union members spoke of what was to come if banks continued funding fossil energy projects. A scientist also spoke—something scientists rarely do—as they are pressured by their organizations to not speak publicly about the climate emergency. See video below.
Freeman Allen, an Elder from Charlottesville, Va, and member of Veterans Service Corps, joined Third Act because he was alarmed that enough wasn’t being done to transition off fossil fuels despite overwhelming evidence its resulting carbon output is responsible for global heat. He became involved with the climate movement on behalf of his six grandchildren, who were in their 20s. He said that they fully supported his efforts to draw attention to the climate emergency.
“The rocking chairs symbolize the fact that we are a group of older Americans deeply concerned about the climate emergency,” he said. He emphasized the climate was not a state of crisis but it was a state of emergency. “The tides are rising and the next two generations are imminently threatened. Species across the globe are going extinct and humans will be next,” he said.
Freeman Allen held a banner he made outside Chase Bank. He joined the climate action on behalf of his six grandchildren who supported his effort. Photo: J. Zangas/DCMediaGroupAnother elder sitting next to him said climate was an issue beginning to affect everyone. Susan Flashman, a retired electrician from a local union in the region, was worried that the U.S. was not doing enough. “Being a large and powerful country, we should be at the front because the countries suffering the most are the ones least able to help,” she said. “Everything is warming up and its changing the whole world.” She spoke about global regional climate impacts like last year’s floods in Pakistan, unprecedented fire storms and droughts in California, and the fact that there was almost no snow this year in the DC area.
A scientist was one of many who spoke during the rally against the banks. Rose Abramoff, who was fired from Oak Ridge National Laboratory for holding a banner during a protest, reading ’Out of the lab and into the streets,‘ said that most scientists want to speak out about the climate emergency but their organizations have warned them not to.
“What was summarized in the IPCC report yesterday is that in the next 10 years we expect to exceed 1.5 degrees celsius, at which point more tipping points become more likely than not. Widespread death of corals, abrupt melting of permafrost, collapse of Greenland and West Antarctic ice sheets are things already possible and partially underway,” she said.
Abramoff also admonished that “as a society we have chosen to optimize infinite economic growth which is incompatible with sustainable resource use. Two options await us in the immediate future, climate crisis or climate revolution. Lets choose revolution.”
Later during a second march, activists used water colors on a street art project, resulting in one arrest. None of the elders were reported arrested picketing outside the four bank branches.
Third Act is helping to start a grassroots campaign for the public to transfer their money to ‘green banks’ or financial institutions that do not invest in carbon based fossil fuel projects. This will help pressure the banks to stop investing in fossil fuel energy source projects such as methane gas pipelines, methane extraction, and coal fired generation.