ACTION ALERT: Anti-War Protesters
Join the September 17 March to End Fossil Fuels
Joseph Gerson / The Campaign for Peace, Disarmament & Common Security
WATERTOWN, MA (September 13, 2023) — Sunday’s March to End Fossil Fuels will be an important opportunity to stanch the climate emergency and to help ensure our children’s and grandchildren’s futures.
This post is drawn heavily from one prepared by Massachusetts Peace Action and focuses on the anti-militarist contingent in the march. Among the many elephants in the climate catastrophe are the vast amounts of climate change gasses discharged into the atmosphere by the Pentagon’s daily worldwide military operations and its production of its vast and deadly array of munitions and delivery systems.
Join the march if you can, and work for peace, justice and the climate,
The Anti-Militarism Hub
Join the Anti-Militarism Hub in New York City on September 17 in the March to End Fossil Fuels! On this day, thousands will take to the streets to demand President Biden take bold action to eliminate fossil fuels.
The march is taking place just days before UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres’ “Climate Ambition Summit.” We know that for real climate ambition, we must address the largest institutional polluter in the world, the US Pentagon. The time to take action for a livable and peaceful planet is now.
The hub is also planning an event to celebrate the International Day of Peace on September 21. You can find out more at March to End Fossil Fuels.
The march demands that President Biden:
- Stop all federal approvals for new fossil fuel projects and repeal permits for climate bombs like the Willow Project and the Mountain Valley Pipeline.
- Phase out fossil fuel drilling on our public lands and waters.
- Declare a climate emergency to halt fossil fuel exports and investments abroad, and turbo-change the build-out of more just, resilient distributed energy (like rooftop and community solar).
- Provide a just transition to a renewable energy future that generates millions of jobs while supporting workers’ and community rights, job security, and employment equity.
The anti-militarism hub has four more demands:
- Cut the Pentagon budget by at least $100 billion and shift the savings to the Green New Deal and other environmental justice and human needs programs each year going forward.
- Report military emissions: The US and all nations must acknowledge and report greenhouse gas emissions from military operations and weapons production.
- Reduce US military emissions by 50% by 2030, the Biden Administration’s stated goal for all US emissions.
Prevent nuclear war, prevent climate meltdown: The US must sign the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons.
Important Logistics: The anti-militarism hub will meet in Manhattan on 54th St and Broadway, between Broadway and 7th Ave at 11:30am to conduct outreach and community engagement in preparation for the march. The march will start at 1pm in Manhattan on Broadway, between 54th and 57th St, continuing on 52nd St and ending with a rally at 1st Ave and 49th St, near the United Nations headquarters, around 4:30pm.
Please check the Travel & Logistics page on the march website for more details.
Actors, Activists, Climate Leaders
Join More Than 700 Organization
To Send Pres. Biden a Message Ahead of March
Jeremy Strong, Edward Norton, Jane Fonda, Mark Ruffalo, Rosario Dawson, Alyssa Milano, Marisa Tomei, Alicia Silverstone join climate leaders in sending letter
NEW YORK — Ahead of Sunday’s March to End Fossil Fuels in New York City, actors, activists, and climate leaders today joined more than 700 organizations in sending a letter to President Biden urging him to take action to end fossil fuels.
The letter is signed by actors and outspoken climate activists Jeremy Strong, Edward Norton, Jane Fonda, Mark Ruffalo, Rosario Dawson, Alyssa Milano, Marisa Tomei, Alicia Silverstone, Alysia Reiner, Dallas Goldtooth, V (formerly known as Eve Ensler), and Susan Sarandon in addition to UNICEF Goodwill Ambassador Vanessa Nakate, Youth Advisor to UN Secretary-General Ayisha Siddiqa, author Naomi Klein, and hundreds of additional climate leaders and organizations.
“The world is burning before our eyes in a record-breaking summer of extreme heat and climate disasters. Scientists around the world are gravely alarmed about how rapidly climate change is accelerating. The oceans are boiling, workers and poor communities, disproportionately Indigenous communities and people of color, are dying from extreme heat and dehydration, and floods and wildfires are raging across the planet,” the letter begins.
The letter and the March to End Fossil Fuels come days ahead of the UN Climate Ambition Summit in New York City on September 20th, the first-ever summit dedicated to ending the fossil fuel era. The letter calls on President Biden to make the commitments necessary to participate in the summit, “We ask that you step through those Summit doors and commit to stop approving fossil fuel extraction and infrastructure, phase out existing production, and declare a climate emergency to accelerate a just transition off fossil fuels.”
The March to End Fossil Fuels will begin at 1:00 PM ET in New York City on Sunday, September 17. The largest climate mobilization since the start of the pandemic, the March will bring together thousands of people from across the globe to urge President Biden to phase out fossil fuels and declare a climate emergency ahead of the UN Climate Ambition Summit.
The Full Text of the Letter
Dear President Biden,
The world is burning before our eyes in a record-breaking summer of extreme heat and climate disasters. Scientists around the world are gravely alarmed about how rapidly climate change is accelerating. The oceans are boiling, workers and poor communities, disproportionately Indigenous communities and people of color, are dying from extreme heat and dehydration, and floods and wildfires are raging across the planet.
These tragedies go hand in hand with irreversible biodiversity loss and public health harms including rising rates of cancer and other illnesses. These interconnected crises will only continue to grow in frequency and ferocity until we confront the culprit: fossil fuels.
United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres has warned that fossil fuels are a dead end that are “choking humanity.” On September 20, 2023, he is hosting the first-ever global Climate Ambition Summit, where he will welcome only those countries ready to commit to “no new coal, oil and gas; fossil fuel phase-out plans; [and] more ambitious renewable-energy targets.”
This will be the first-ever summit dedicated to ending the fossil fuel era. We ask that you step through those Summit doors and commit to stop approving fossil fuel extraction and infrastructure, phase out existing production, and declare a climate emergency to accelerate a just transition off fossil fuels.
The US is the top global oil and gas producer and the largest historic greenhouse gas emitter. It is imperative that the US change course and become a true global climate leader by ending the extraction and use of fossil fuels. You have the executive authority to stop approving fossil fuel projects, phase out fossil fuel production on federal lands, and halt oil and gas exports.
Your Inflation Reduction Act is leading to tremendous progress in renewable energy deployment, manufacturing, and union jobs. At the same time, the Act bakes in harmful subsidies for false solutions, mandated oil and gas leasing, and was deeply compromised with greenlighting the Mountain Valley Pipeline. Additionally, the Administration has approved the Willow Project and other climate bombs, and is increasing fossil fuel exports.
Your failure to stop fossil fuels is wholly insufficient to meet the climate crisis, and the related extinction and public health crises. Every new drilling permit, pipeline, export facility, and other fossil fuel project heats the climate and undermines the progress we desperately need. Additionally, those projects lead to air pollution, water contamination, and public health harms, which are borne disproportionately by Indigenous communities, communities of color, and lower income communities.
After July broke every record for being the hottest month in human history, you rightly said “I don’t think anybody can deny the impact of climate change anymore.” We can not deny that the burning of fossil fuels is causing the climate crisis, but it’s not too late to change course. We urge you to commit to phase out fossil fuels at United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres’s Climate Ambition Summit on September 20, 2023 in New York City. The world is watching.
Sincerely,
Aasif Mandvi, Actor
Alex Haraus, Environmental Activist and Digital Creator
Alexandra Richards, DJ and Ocean Activist, Project Zero
Alicia Silverstone, Actor
Alysia Reiner, Actress, Activist, Producer
Alyssa Milano, Actor
Andrea Crooms, Candidate for Maryland District 5
Andrea Martin, Actor
Anne Therese Gennari, Speaker and Author of The Climate Optimist
Antonique Smith, Grammy Nominated singer and film, TV, and Broadway Actress
Arielle V. King, Writer and Educator with Black Girl Environmentalist
Ashley Zukerman, Actor
Ayisha Siddiqa, Youth Advisor to UN Secretary General
Bill McKibben. Founder of Third Act, Founder of 350.org, Author
Bonnie Wright, Actor, Writer and Environmental Activist People Power United
Cameron Russell, Model and Climate Activist
Carice van Houten, Actor
Dallas Goldtooth, Writer, Actor, Organizer
Damon Lindelof, Screenwriter and Producer
Daphne Frias, Climate Justice Organizer and Storyteller
Dominique Palmer, Climate Justice Activist and named Forbes’ 2020 Top UK Environmentalists
Don Cheadle, Actor
Edward Norton, Actor and UN Ambassador for Biodiversity
Elise Joshi, Executive Director, Gen-Z for Change
Fisher Stevens, Actor
Genevieve Guenther, Writer, Founding Director End Climate Silence
Griffin Dunne, Actor and Director
Hunter Lovins, Environmentalist and Writer
Isais Hernandez, Environmental Educator & Media Creator
Jameela Jamil, Actor and Advocate
Jamie Margolin, Plaintiff in youth climate case Aji P. V. State of Washington, Zero Hour cofounder
Jane Fonda, Actor and Activist, Founder of the Jane Fonda Climate PAC
Jeremy Strong, Actor
Juli Schulz, Academy of Motion Pictures Arts & Sciences, senior manager of sustainability and climate action
Katja Herbers, Actor
Kurt Fuller, Actor
La’Meshia Whittington, Grist50 Fixer, President of the Board of The Green Majority/Democracy Green
Leigh Janiak, Director and Screenwriter
Lizz Winstead, Comedian, The Daily Show Co-creator
Lila Byock, Emmy-winning TV Writer and Producer
Marinel Ubaldo, Activist who led the first youth climate strike in the Philippines.
Marisa Tomei, Actor
Mark Ruffalo, Actor and Activist
Meg Haywood Sullivan. Sustainability Strategist, Artist, & Co-founder of Plastic Free Fridays
Mike Colter, Actor
Mitzi Jonelle Tan, youth climate justice activist, convenor and international spokesperson of Youth Advocates for Climate Action Philippines (YACAP)
Nalleli Cobo, 2022 Goldman Environmental Prize Winner, Activist, Storyteller
Naomi Klein, award-winning author and journalist, professor
Nicole Kelner, Artist and Writer
Piero Falci, Author, educator, and UN NGO Representative on Sustainable Development
Rashida Tlaib, Congresswoman MI-12
Rebecca Solnit, Award-winning writer, Climate Activist
Rev. Yearwood, President and CEO of the Hip Hop Caucus
Rey Parla, Artist
- Mukaro Agueibana Borrero, Chief of the Guainia Taino Tribe
Robert D. Bullard, Ph.D., Professor, Author, Co-Founder HBCU Climate Change Consortium
Rosario Dawson, Actor
Sage Lenier, Climate Activist for a Sustainable & Just Future
Sarah Snook, Actor
Sierra Quitiquit, Athlete, Activist and Founder
Sophia Li, award-winning journalist, climate advocate and public speaker
Sophie Hawley-Weld, SOFI TUKKER, half of the duo
Steven Donziger, Attorney and represented thousands of farmers and Indigenous people in Aguinda v. Texaco, Inc.
Susan Sarandon, Actor
Terry Tempest Williams, Writer, Conservationist, and Activist
Tori Tsui, Climate Justice Organizer with #StopRosebank and Unite For Climate Action
V (formerly known as Eve Ensler), Writer, founder V-Day, One Billion Rising
Vanessa Nakate, UNICEF Goodwill Ambassador, Climate Justice Activist, Author of A Bigger Picture
Wendy Zukerman, Science Journalist and Podcaster
Xiye Bastida, Co-Founder of Re-Earth Initiative and “Spirit of the UN” awardee in 2018
Yuh-Line Niou, Former New York State Assemblymember
Zahra Biabani, Climate Activist, Author of “Climate Optimism” & Founder of In the Loop
