In the Climate Fight, We are Not Alone

What Marching Alongside 75,000 Activists Reminds Us

My alarm went off bright and early on the morning of September 17. It was still dark as I pulled myself out of bed just before 5 am. I checked my phone and saw that Mason, CCANs Central Virginia Organizer, had already met up with a group of volunteer activists he had rallied together, boarded them all onto a charter bus, and was headed to the March to End Fossil Fuels in New York City. I splashed some water on my face, slipped on my comfiest tennis shoes, and made my way to College Park, MD where Masons’ bus was stopping to pick up myself, my colleague Mustafa, and a group of additional volunteers from the surrounding area. By 7:30 am, 47 CCANers were on the bus ready to make history.

As we drove I took a moment to look around at the people who had so graciously given up their Sunday to be with there with us. They came from all sorts of backgrounds, from teen activists and college students to retired community members. All there to protest for a liveable future. We all got to know each other on the way there, sharing why we chose to come, singing march chants to get excited, and of course, sharing what felt like a lifetime of coffees to make sure we were all properly caffeinated. 

“I felt compelled with every fiber of my being that I needed to be there,” said Gerri Carrillo of Amelia County, Virginia. 

As for me, I was there because, for the first time in a long time, climate anxiety was overriding the hope I felt about the progress we were collectively making. I turned 26 a few months ago and have been thinking about the future. I was inundated with thoughts about how climate change would affect the world I grew up in and how different it would be for my future children. I could already see it, the effects of climate change were no longer just things I read about in the news. It was happening right in front of me. Smoke from wildfires covering half the country, continuous flooding in my hometown, our fading winters. It all felt completely out of my control. It was easy to feel like I was solely responsible for a global solution. By getting on that bus that humid Sunday morning, I felt like I was taking back power over what I wanted my future to look like. When we arrived, standing there on the streets of New York City, surrounded for miles by other activists, a surge of hope rushed to my cheeks. I could see that there were thousands and thousands and thousands of people who would continue to fight with me. I was not alone. 

 As we marched with herds of other activists down 52nd Street, demands for a paradigm shift echoed in the air: End the era of fossil fuels.

The plan was this: thousands of us would flood the streets the weekend before the UN Climate Ambition Summit, demanding that President Biden lead the world away from fossil fuel reliance. It was time to call on Biden to take decisive executive action to halt new oil and gas leases in the United States. This 2023 March to End Fossil Fuels had the momentum to be not just a massive demonstration, but a crucial moment in Biden’s presidency. It marked the largest climate mobilization he had witnessed since taking office in 2021. 

And it felt like it. More than 75,000 people protested with me, demanding big changes. The number of young people there lit a fire under my butt. The barely threes on their fathers’ shoulders, or the grade schoolers playing tag through the masses (much to their guardians’ chagrin), or the college students who joined me on the CCAN bus. If they could find the courage to keep marching, so could I. Our presence in those streets was a testament to the collective power of individuals who refuse to be bystanders in the face of an escalating climate crisis. A hopeful possibility of a universal understanding that the transition away from fossil fuels was not only necessary, but imperative for the health and well-being of our planet and its inhabitants. And we were there to make it happen. 

“When the air we breathe is under attack, what do we do??” I screamed into the bullhorn Mason had so kindly given me the honor of monitoring (it was my first time using one at an event this size and I was psyched). A few hundred people shouted back, “Stand up!! Fight back!!” I continued, “When the water we drink is under attack, what do we do??” “Stand up, fight back!!”

Our message was clear, we need leaders worldwide to take meaningful climate action, now. It was a declaration that we, as citizens, were united in our determination to protect the Earth and its inhabitants. We marched for our children, our friends, the guy who cut us in line last week, our parents and siblings, the kid who used to push us on the playground, for those who could not march. That day we marched for humanity as a whole, reminded that Earth will survive climate change, but we might not. Stand up. Fight back.

Ending new drilling for gas and oil

Would be our hearts’ desire.

Deadly fossil fuels will kill us all,

Setting Mother Earth on fire!

– Frances Broaddus-Crutchfield, Midlothian, VA

We came to the end of our march path and settled in to listen to speakers such as Alexandria Ocasio Cortez, a sixteen-year-old climate leader, and even an eight-year-old activist with his mother. Hearing their speeches made me hyperaware of one thing: we were all scared – but we were all here. I was situated next to a loudspeaker, but even with my ears ringing at the end of each speech, I could hear that all of these voices echoed in part of a global chorus demanding a massive shift. We have the home team advantage in this fight, and boy do we have something to fight for. The thought of the loss we’re faced with if we do nothing is enough to make anyone shut down completely. But scared as we were, we all showed up to do something about it. 

Growing up, my dad often repeated a popular Nelson Mandela quote to us, “Courage is not the absence of fear, but the triumph over it.” Continuing to push on and advocate for justice in the face of overwhelming fear. That was us, courageously pushing forward, pushing for change. The energy and determination that coursed through the crowd was a forceful reminder that the fight against climate change was a battle we could not afford to lose. This march was not an isolated event, but a catalyst for ongoing action. It was a rallying cry that reverberated through the halls of power, calling for a transformative shift in our energy policies. The momentum generated on that day will serve as a foundation for the continued battle to end our reliance on fossil fuels.

In the aftermath of the march, as we climbed back on our bus and returned to our homes and communities in the DMV area, we carried a renewed sense of purpose. We were armed with the knowledge that we were on the front lines of the largest-ever march with the primary demand of abolishing the fossil fuel industry. Our voices could have the power to effect real change. “Being there among 75,000 other ‘drops in the bucket’ felt amazing!” said Carillo. “I am not young and I am not able-bodied, but I came home thinking, ‘I’ve got work to do and for the rest of my life!’” 

Even now, as I sit in my apartment in Rosslyn, VA, writing this piece, I am reminded that the battle has only just begun. A group of 30 climate protesters from Extinction Rebellion gather in the street below me, blocking traffic and chanting. “What do we want?” “Climate Justice!” “When do we want it?” “Now!” Revolution is in the air, can’t you smell it? I think I’ll wrap this up and head down to join them.

The March to End Fossil Fuels was inspiring and meaningful, but they remind me that the battle is yet to be won. Until it is – I’m standing up, and I’m fighting back. But I am not alone, and neither are you. 

Are you ready to take the next step to end the era of fossil fuels? Sign the petition calling on Biden to end fossil fuels now.

Then become a CCAN Action Member and find your local team.

Tell Biden: End Fossil Fuels!
Join the Movement: Become an Action Member!

Independence Day — A fossil-free future is an American future

Every year on Independence Day, Americans all over the country celebrate the values that this country was founded on. While the usual 4th of July festivities, like barbecuing, watching fireworks, and being with family, are all timeless traditions they aren’t the only way to celebrate American values. One important way is to get involved and take action to bring our communities to a fossil-free future.
Equal rights for all American citizens is a key tenet of our country’s values. This includes the right to own land, as well as the right to clean water and a healthy environment.
Unfortunately, oil and gas companies are threatening these rights of citizens all over the country with unwanted and unneeded fossil fuel infrastructure. In Virginia and West Virginia, two massive fracked-gas pipelines — the Atlantic Coast and Mountain Valley pipeline — are threatening the water, safety, and property rights of communities in their path. In Maryland, TransCanada wants to build a fracked-gas pipeline right underneath the Potomac River and C&O canal, threatening the drinking water source for millions.
Every day, American lives and values are threatened by large gas and oil companies who propose the building of these new pipelines. They are threatening the safety, freedom and security of the American people.
What does independence from fossil fuels really look like? It looks like a world run on renewable sources of energy like wind, solar, and geothermal. It looks like strong, progressive climate action. It looks like a country with healthy communities and thriving economies in a clean energy future.
Working for climate action is an inherently patriotic act. It shows a dedication to protecting your fellow citizens. It is for these reasons that hundreds of veterans descended on Standing Rock in North Dakota to protect indigenous tribes from the Dakota Access pipeline. And it is why 13 Virginia veterans recently released a letter opposing the Atlantic Coast and Mountain Valley fracked-gas pipelines. All across the country, Americans are coming together to protect our citizens from the greed of fossil fuel corporations.
So this year, I’ll be building on the courage of those Virginia veterans to stand for Americans and their independence from dangerous fossil fuels.
Here’s how you can help:

It’s time to celebrate our independence and freedom by saying NO to pipelines and YES to a fossil-free future.
Happy Fourth!
——
Photo at the top from Flickr user m01229 with a Creative Commons license. 
 
 
 

Community and Conservation Groups Blast FERC Findings on Fracked-Gas Atlantic Coast Pipeline

Over 100 concerned Virginians weathered the cold and rallied in Waynesboro on November 1st to stop the Atlantic Coast Pipeline.

Community and Conservation Groups Blast FERC Findings on Fracked-Gas Atlantic Coast Pipeline  

WASHINGTON, D.C. – Dozens of local groups and public advocacy organizations today condemned federal regulators for ignoring evidence that the proposed 600-mile Atlantic Coast Pipeline is not needed and puts lives, communities, drinking water supplies, private property, publicly owned natural resources and the climate at unacceptable risk.
The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission has released its draft environmental review of the $5 billion pipeline spearheaded by Dominion Resources. For two years, the proposal has sparked fierce opposition from hundreds of landowners in the three states — including farmers, business leaders, Native American tribes and rural African-American communities — who reject the company’s plan to take their land without their consent. Their fight has drawn comparisons to the ongoing citizen-led resistance at Standing Rock against the Dakota Access Pipeline, and to the fight in Nebraska to stop the Keystone XL Pipeline.
The Atlantic Coast project would pump fracked gas across West Virginia, Virginia and North Carolina, harming communities, water resources, private property, historic sites, and iconic public treasures including the Blue Ridge Parkway and Appalachian Trail. The groups say FERC failed to honestly assess these impacts and disregarded evidence that the project would lock consumer into decades more reliance on dirty fossil fuels.
An independent study shows there is enough existing gas supply in Virginia and the Carolinas to meet consumer demand through 2030 — negating the need for the massive pipeline and the harm it would trigger. The Atlantic Coast Pipeline is one of six major pipelines proposed for the same region of West Virginia and Virginia, where experts warn the gas industry is overbuilding pipeline infrastructure. However, FERC ignored this evidence in its draft Environmental Impact Statement while also failing to assess the cumulative effects of the pipelines. The groups also fault the agency for dismissing clean energy alternatives.
In response to requests from numerous elected officials and organizations, FERC has extended the usual 45-day period for public comments; the deadline is April 6, 2017.
While legal and environmental experts are continuing to review the document, they have initially identified major gaps in FERC’s analysis, including:

  • The core issue of whether the massive project is needed to meet electricity demand, and whether alternatives including energy efficiency, solar and wind would be more environmentally responsible sources;
  • A complete analysis of the cumulative, life-cycle climate pollution that would result from the pipeline;
  • A full accounting of the negative economic consequences to communities, including decreased property values, loss of tourism revenue and other factors;
  • Any accounting of other environmental and human health damage from the increased gas fracking in West Virginia that would supply the pipeline; and
  • Thorough, site-specific analysis of damage to water quality and natural resources throughout the pipeline route.

Citizens along the route of the Atlantic Coast Pipeline — along with landowners in the path of the Mountain Valley Pipeline, a 301-mile fracked-gas project proposed in the same region — vow they will continue to build resistance to stop them.

Statements from community, environmental and legal experts:

Nancy Sorrells, Augusta County Alliance, 540-292-4170, info@augustacountyalliance.org “Every foot of this route has a victim: a family that would be displaced, a farmer who would impacted, schoolchildren whose safety is compromised, and residents whose drinking water is a risk. And for what? Not for energy independence or to turn on the lights, but rather for the profit of a private corporation.”
Chad Oba, Friends of Buckingham, Cofounder and Chair, 434-969-3229, chado108@me.com “Buckingham County is being targeted for a massive, noisy, polluting compressor station — the project’s only one in Virginia — in an area of former slave plantations that is densely populated by mostly African-American Freedmen. FERC’s review omits virtually all of the cultural resource reports we submitted, effectively erasing us from the record even as we bear the greatest burden. The leaders of Standing Rock have pledged strong kinship with us as another example of environmental racism.”
Ericka Faircloth, a Lumbee Indian member of the grassroots group EcoRobeson. (For interview requests, contact Hope Taylor with Clean Water for NC at hope@cwfnc.org ) “Folks who live in Robeson County, one of the poorest and most diverse counties in North Carolina, are especially vulnerable to the empty promise of jobs. Residents of low wealth will be most severely impacted by higher utility rates to pay for the pipeline, and by lowered value for their land. Potential drinking water contamination, loss of forests and disruption of  cultural sites are among the risks many that poor communities are expected to ‘deal with’ to make way for a project that’s only about  profit.”
Joe Lovett, Appalachian Mountain Advocates, Executive Director, 304-520-2324, jlovett@appalmad.org   “We’re appalled FERC has once more refused to conduct a combined review of the massive slate of pipelines proposed to move fracked gas out of our region. FERC has the extraordinary power to grant ACP the right to take private property for private profit. Yet FERC decided that it didn’t have to do the hard work necessary to determine whether the ACP is necessary. Such a lack of diligence is truly remarkable.”
April Pierson-Keating, Mountain Lakes Preservation Alliance (W.Va.), 304-642-9436, apkeating@hotmail.com: “This pipeline would add insult to injury in West Virginia, where we are already dealing with water and health impacts due to fracking. It would lock us into decades more fossil fuel pollution when we should be moving to renewable energy. This pipeline would continue the harm done by extractive industry to the most vulnerable of us — low-income people, the elderly, the disenfranchised.”
Peter Anderson, Virginia Campaign Coordinator, Appalachian Voices, 434-293-6373, peter@appvoices.org  “This pipeline would carry highly pressurized gas across miles of steep mountain terrain that is prone to rock slides and contains many headwater streams. Routing this pipeline across the Appalachian Trail and vulnerable water resources poses an unacceptable risk, especially given that it’s not needed to meet our energy needs.”
Anne Havemann, General Counsel, Chesapeake Climate Action Network, 240-396-1984, anne@chesapeakeclimate.org: “The Atlantic Coast pipeline will trigger a massive new wave of greenhouse gas pollution and climate damage. Yet, FERC’s review once again fails to add up the full impact, ignoring cumulative climate pollution from fracking wells and the ultimate burning of the gas.”
Greg Buppert, Senior Attorney, Southern Environmental Law Center, 434-977-4090, gbuppert@selcva.org “Dominion’s Atlantic Coast pipeline will not only irreparably alter our natural terrain but it is also unnecessary. The current route carves through the mountains in an area the U.S. Forest Service calls, ‘the wildland core of the central Appalachians’, for a pipeline that will lock generations of Virginians into dependence on natural gas. We already have the gas needed to bridge us from dirty to clean energy-existing infrastructure can meet our demands for natural gas for at least the next fifteen years. This is a Dominion self-enrichment project, not a public necessity.”
Kirk Bowers, Pipelines Campaign Manager, Virginia Chapter, Sierra Club, 434-296-8673, kirk.bowers@sierraclub.org “The DEIS is deficient in many respects and needs to be re-issued. It imposes absurd pre-conditions for serious consideration and fails to affirmatively seek out alternatives that would meet the presumed need while greatly mitigating harms to the public and environment, land-takings and even costs. Likewise, the Commission needs to stop approving all projects that have contract support and take seriously its duties to consider all factors affecting the public convenience and necessity, including protecting environmental interests and private property rights not to have land seized for privately owned pipelines just because another private party contracts for service.The ACP is not needed to keep the lights on, homes and businesses heated, or industries in production.”  

Over 100 concerned Virginians weathered the cold and rallied in Waynesboro on November 1st to stop the Atlantic Coast Pipeline.
Over 100 concerned Virginians weathered the cold and rallied in Waynesboro on November 1st to stop the Atlantic Coast Pipeline.

Standing up to Dominion's Rip-Off, in October and beyond

8054563295 375cbc96ac

What could have prepared Dominion executives for the tremendous showing of customer outrage and dissatisfaction unleashed the week of October 1st! Without our dedicated climate warriors who participated and supported the Week of Action, Dominion would continue to quietly, and legally, get away with setting up a $76 million bonus for themselves while playing keep-away with Virginia’s clean energy future. Since the Week of Action, the clean air advocates and climate protectors of Virginia got control of the ball, and for a change Dominion representatives have had to respond to some hard questions from reporters.

The Stand Up to Dominion Week of Action was so successful because of the participation of clean energy supporters from all around Virginia, and it was especially uplifting to have everyone sharing their reasons for taking action.

Continue reading

A little laugh for your Wednesday afternoon

As 60,000 barrels of oil or more spilled into the Gulf of Mexico a day, the U.S. Senate voted to preserve subsidies to the oil industry. As the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Agency announced the planet has just come through the warmest decade, the warmest year, and the warmest April, May, and June on record, the Senate utterly failed to pass any energy, climate change, or even oil spill response legislation. As devastating floods sweep Pakistan and Russia wakes up to deep yellow skies, uncontrollable wildfires, and a chocking heat wave, the U.S. Senators continue to bury their heads in the sand and ignore the problem: we are addicted to fossil fuels and its killing us AND the earth.

Needless to say, all of us in the climate movement are a bit exasperated right now. I think we need a good laugh, especially if it comes at the expense of the group at the root of many of our current woes.

Enter Oil Change International’s newest campaign website: CleanUpTheSenate.com. Continue reading