SUBSCRIBE TO OUR FREE NEWSLETTER
Daily news & progressive opinion—funded by the people, not the corporations—delivered straight to your inbox.
5
#000000
#FFFFFF
5
#000000
#FFFFFF
Environmental activists gather to protest during global climate action week on September 23, 2019 in Washington, D.C. (Photo: Brendan Smialowski/AFP/Getty Images)
'The Planet We Love Is Under Attack': #ShutDownDC Protesters Blockade Capital Streets to Demand Climate Action
"The decisions that are made in this town don't just affect the people in the U.S., they affect the globe every day."
Sep 23, 2019
This is a breaking news story... Check back for possible developments and updates...
With the goal of disrupting business as usual in the "center of decision-making in the U.S.," hundreds of activists blocked key intersections across downtown Washington, D.C. Monday morning to demand that lawmakers take bold and urgent action to confront the existential climate crisis.
Chanting "We want climate justice now!" and "The planet we love is under attack," demonstrators positioned vans, cars, their bodies--even a sailboat--in the middle of major D.C. streets to shut down rush hour traffic.
With groups of demonstrators targeting multiple intersections and areas throughout the city, law enforcement was busy making arrests and trying to remove both people and vehicles from the streets.
"It's Washington, D.C. The decisions that are made in this town don't just affect the people in the U.S., they affect the globe every day," said Liz Butler, an organizer of the #ShutDownDC action and vice president of organizing and strategic allegiances for Friends of the Earth Action. "I think people around the world are counting on us to be able to stand up in D.C."
The diverse coalition behind the protest is demanding a Green New Deal, a just and rapid transition to 100 percent renewable energy, a complete halt to deforestation by 2030, and more.
The protests come days after millions of people around the world took to the streets Friday for what was described as the largest mass climate demonstration in history.
"Today I am peacefully breaking the law by blockading a downtown D.C. street in solidarity with students worldwide," Mike Tidwell, executive director of the Chesapeake Climate Action Network Action Fund, said in a statement.
"In the United States, through the radically pro-pollution policies of the Trump administration, we are pushing our planet Earth further and further outside of its comfort zone," said Tidwell. "Which means concerned Americans like me must push ourselves further and further outside our own comfort zones in an effort to pressure our leaders to finally solve this crisis."
The #ShutDownDC action was timed to coincide with the United Nations Climate Action Summit on Monday in New York, where leaders from around 60 nations are expected to speak.
"The U.N. Secretary General called this summit today to strengthen the political will of the world's leaders. But the only thing that's stronger in the four years since the Paris Agreement was passed is the yearly rate of global carbon emissions and the volume of public outcry," Kaela Bamberger, an organizer with Extinction Rebellion, said in a statement. "What will it take to reach the ears of those with our future in their hands?"
An Urgent Message From Our Co-Founder
Dear Common Dreams reader, It’s been nearly 30 years since I co-founded Common Dreams with my late wife, Lina Newhouser. We had the radical notion that journalism should serve the public good, not corporate profits. It was clear to us from the outset what it would take to build such a project. No paid advertisements. No corporate sponsors. No millionaire publisher telling us what to think or do. Many people said we wouldn't last a year, but we proved those doubters wrong. Together with a tremendous team of journalists and dedicated staff, we built an independent media outlet free from the constraints of profits and corporate control. Our mission has always been simple: To inform. To inspire. To ignite change for the common good. Building Common Dreams was not easy. Our survival was never guaranteed. When you take on the most powerful forces—Wall Street greed, fossil fuel industry destruction, Big Tech lobbyists, and uber-rich oligarchs who have spent billions upon billions rigging the economy and democracy in their favor—the only bulwark you have is supporters who believe in your work. But here’s the urgent message from me today. It's never been this bad out there. And it's never been this hard to keep us going. At the very moment Common Dreams is most needed, the threats we face are intensifying. We need your support now more than ever. We don't accept corporate advertising and never will. We don't have a paywall because we don't think people should be blocked from critical news based on their ability to pay. Everything we do is funded by the donations of readers like you. When everyone does the little they can afford, we are strong. But if that support retreats or dries up, so do we. Will you donate now to make sure Common Dreams not only survives but thrives? —Craig Brown, Co-founder |
Our work is licensed under Creative Commons (CC BY-NC-ND 3.0). Feel free to republish and share widely.
This is a breaking news story... Check back for possible developments and updates...
With the goal of disrupting business as usual in the "center of decision-making in the U.S.," hundreds of activists blocked key intersections across downtown Washington, D.C. Monday morning to demand that lawmakers take bold and urgent action to confront the existential climate crisis.
Chanting "We want climate justice now!" and "The planet we love is under attack," demonstrators positioned vans, cars, their bodies--even a sailboat--in the middle of major D.C. streets to shut down rush hour traffic.
With groups of demonstrators targeting multiple intersections and areas throughout the city, law enforcement was busy making arrests and trying to remove both people and vehicles from the streets.
"It's Washington, D.C. The decisions that are made in this town don't just affect the people in the U.S., they affect the globe every day," said Liz Butler, an organizer of the #ShutDownDC action and vice president of organizing and strategic allegiances for Friends of the Earth Action. "I think people around the world are counting on us to be able to stand up in D.C."
The diverse coalition behind the protest is demanding a Green New Deal, a just and rapid transition to 100 percent renewable energy, a complete halt to deforestation by 2030, and more.
The protests come days after millions of people around the world took to the streets Friday for what was described as the largest mass climate demonstration in history.
"Today I am peacefully breaking the law by blockading a downtown D.C. street in solidarity with students worldwide," Mike Tidwell, executive director of the Chesapeake Climate Action Network Action Fund, said in a statement.
"In the United States, through the radically pro-pollution policies of the Trump administration, we are pushing our planet Earth further and further outside of its comfort zone," said Tidwell. "Which means concerned Americans like me must push ourselves further and further outside our own comfort zones in an effort to pressure our leaders to finally solve this crisis."
The #ShutDownDC action was timed to coincide with the United Nations Climate Action Summit on Monday in New York, where leaders from around 60 nations are expected to speak.
"The U.N. Secretary General called this summit today to strengthen the political will of the world's leaders. But the only thing that's stronger in the four years since the Paris Agreement was passed is the yearly rate of global carbon emissions and the volume of public outcry," Kaela Bamberger, an organizer with Extinction Rebellion, said in a statement. "What will it take to reach the ears of those with our future in their hands?"
This is a breaking news story... Check back for possible developments and updates...
With the goal of disrupting business as usual in the "center of decision-making in the U.S.," hundreds of activists blocked key intersections across downtown Washington, D.C. Monday morning to demand that lawmakers take bold and urgent action to confront the existential climate crisis.
Chanting "We want climate justice now!" and "The planet we love is under attack," demonstrators positioned vans, cars, their bodies--even a sailboat--in the middle of major D.C. streets to shut down rush hour traffic.
With groups of demonstrators targeting multiple intersections and areas throughout the city, law enforcement was busy making arrests and trying to remove both people and vehicles from the streets.
"It's Washington, D.C. The decisions that are made in this town don't just affect the people in the U.S., they affect the globe every day," said Liz Butler, an organizer of the #ShutDownDC action and vice president of organizing and strategic allegiances for Friends of the Earth Action. "I think people around the world are counting on us to be able to stand up in D.C."
The diverse coalition behind the protest is demanding a Green New Deal, a just and rapid transition to 100 percent renewable energy, a complete halt to deforestation by 2030, and more.
The protests come days after millions of people around the world took to the streets Friday for what was described as the largest mass climate demonstration in history.
"Today I am peacefully breaking the law by blockading a downtown D.C. street in solidarity with students worldwide," Mike Tidwell, executive director of the Chesapeake Climate Action Network Action Fund, said in a statement.
"In the United States, through the radically pro-pollution policies of the Trump administration, we are pushing our planet Earth further and further outside of its comfort zone," said Tidwell. "Which means concerned Americans like me must push ourselves further and further outside our own comfort zones in an effort to pressure our leaders to finally solve this crisis."
The #ShutDownDC action was timed to coincide with the United Nations Climate Action Summit on Monday in New York, where leaders from around 60 nations are expected to speak.
"The U.N. Secretary General called this summit today to strengthen the political will of the world's leaders. But the only thing that's stronger in the four years since the Paris Agreement was passed is the yearly rate of global carbon emissions and the volume of public outcry," Kaela Bamberger, an organizer with Extinction Rebellion, said in a statement. "What will it take to reach the ears of those with our future in their hands?"
We've had enough. The 1% own and operate the corporate media. They are doing everything they can to defend the status quo, squash dissent and protect the wealthy and the powerful. The Common Dreams media model is different. We cover the news that matters to the 99%. Our mission? To inform. To inspire. To ignite change for the common good. How? Nonprofit. Independent. Reader-supported. Free to read. Free to republish. Free to share. With no advertising. No paywalls. No selling of your data. Thousands of small donations fund our newsroom and allow us to continue publishing. Can you chip in? We can't do it without you. Thank you.