June, 07 2023, 04:07pm EDT
Climate Activists Across the US Call on Biden to End Fossil Fuel Era
Week of action begins on the White House steps and calls for Biden to use executive powers
Amidst health advisories from hazardous wildfire smoke blanketing the northeastern U.S., climate activists, frontline leaders, and environmental justice organizations are joining together for a national week of action to send a strong message to President Biden: no more fossil fuels. With the approval of Willow Project, fast-tracking of the Mountain Valley Pipeline, and rollbacks for environmental protections, the US is doubling down on it’s role as the world’s top oil and gas producer at a time when scientists could not be clearer that stopping fossil fuels is the only way to avert global climate catastrophe.
The demonstrations will take place in over 65 locations across the US from June 8–11th, and are endorsed by 64 Indigenous, climate, labor, and environmental justice organizations, including Sunrise, 350.org, and Indigenous Environmental Network. Lead sponsors include the Center for Popular Democracy, Zero Hour, the 350 Network Council, Fridays for Future, the Climate Organizing Hub, and the People vs. Fossil Fuels coalition, which includes over 1,200 organizations across the country.
The week of action begins tomorrow, June 8th, with a mass rally and sit-in on the doorstep of the White House to demand that Biden stop the Mountain Valley Pipeline. The call could not be more urgent: the outdoor D.C. air is unsafe to breathe due to wildfires that are directly exacerbated by fossil fuels; organizers of the protest will be providing N95 masks. Other actions range from Paddle out Zenith, a land and water rally in Portland, Oregon, to a series of demonstrations across the Great Lake states to shut down Enbridge’s Line 5 oil pipeline. Across the country, communities are lifting up how each and every new fossil fuel project exacerbates the climate emergency and sacrifices Black, Brown, Indigenous, and poor white communities.
This national outcry signals the need for change in the Biden administration’s continued approval of new fossil fuel projects ahead of the UN Climate Ambition Summit in New York this September. Since President Biden’s disastrous approval of the Alaska Liquified Natural Gas (LNG) and Willow oil project and his debt ceiling deal that fast-tracks the Mountain Valley Pipeline, millions of people across the country have taken action to oppose new fossil fuel projects and hold Biden accountable for the promises he made when these climate activists helped elect him.
The national week of action to end the era of fossil fuels reignites that fight and kicks off months of coordinated action to hold Biden accountable to his climate promises leading up to the UN Climate Ambition Summit. UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres chided leaders like Biden at the White House climate summit, saying, “The science is clear: New fossil fuel projects are entirely incompatible” with the goals set in the 2015 Paris climate accord, “yet many countries are expanding capacity. I urge you to change course.”
Biden has the power right now, without Congress, to direct agencies to reject new fossil fuel projects and phase out federal fossil fuel production on public lands and waters. By declaring a national climate emergency, Biden could also unlock additional powers to limit fossil fuel exports, increase the availability of clean energy technologies, and ensure communities hit hardest by climate disasters receive the resources they need to rebuild.
350 is building a future that's just, prosperous, equitable and safe from the effects of the climate crisis. We're an international movement of ordinary people working to end the age of fossil fuels and build a world of community-led renewable energy for all.
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In a New York on Tuesday afternoon, Justice Arthur Engoron issued a gag order against former President Donald Trump and said he would face further "serious sanctions" if he issues any more threats or public comments against the judge, his staff, or the court where Trump is on trial for civil fraud.
Engoron, who sits on the New York City Civil and State Supreme Court, issued the order shortly after the Republican 2024 presidential candidate's claimed on social media that Engoron's clerk is "running this case against" him.
"Consider this statement a gag order forbidding all parties from posting, emailing, or speaking publicly about any of my staff," he said. "Personal attacks on members of my court staff are unacceptable, inappropriate, and I will not tolerate them in any circumstances."
During a lunch break on Tuesday, Trump posted a photo of the clerk, attorney Allison Greenfield, with U.S. Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) and called her "Schumer's girlfriend."
"How disgraceful! This case should be dismissed immediately," he wrote on Truth Social in a post that Engoron ordered him to delete.
On Monday as the trial opened, Trump called the proceedings a "scam," "a continuation of the single greatest witch hunt of all time," and "an attempt to hurt me in an election."
The judge noted on Tuesday that he had "warned counsel off the record about the former president's comments yesterday, but the warning went unheeded," according toThe Hill.
The case is one of four pending civil and criminal cases against the former president and centers on allegations that Trump inflated the value of his assets in New York.
As Common Dreamsreported on Monday, advocates are expressing concern for the safety of jurors in the four trials due to Trump's repeated claims that he will not "get a fair trial" and comments he's made regarding his legal troubles including, "If you go after me, I will come after you."
He has also targeted U.S. District Judge Tanya Chutkan, who is presiding over a case in Washington regarding Trump's alleged 2020 election interference, on social media.
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The 216-210 vote to remove McCarthy (R-Calif.) came after his allies failed to come up with enough votes to table the motion to vacate.
In addition to Gaetz, the Republicans who voted for the motion to vacate were: Reps. Andy Biggs (Az.), Ken Buck (Col.), Tim Burchett (Tenn.), Eli Crane (Az.), Bob Good (La.), Nancy Mace (S.C.), and Matt Rosendale (Mt.).
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Those lawmakers have accused McCarthy of being insufficiently conservative. They were incensed by his deal with the White House to raise the debt limit earlier this year and have demanded the House make even deeper cuts to social safety net programs than the deal contained.
The pro-democracy group Stand Up America said in a statement that "today’s vote to remove Kevin McCarthy as speaker shows how intent ultra-MAGA Republicans are on sowing chaos and dysfunction, rather than actually governing on behalf of the American people."
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On Monday, Gaetz accused McCarthy of making a "secret side deal" with President Joe Biden to provide more funding for Ukraine.
"It is going to be difficult for my Republican friends to keep calling President Biden 'feeble' while he continues to take Speaker McCarthy's lunch money in every negotiation," Gaetz said.
McCarthy's chances of remaining in the speaker's chair took a big hit earlier Tuesday when House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-N.Y.) signaled that Democrats woulddo nothing to help salvage the speaker's chair, vowing instead to vote in favor of his ouster.
"Given their unwillingness to break from MAGA extremism in an authentic and comprehensive manner, House Democratic leadership will vote yes on the pending Republican motion to vacate the chair," Jeffries wrote in a Dear Colleague letter.
Congressional Progressive Caucus Chair Pramila Jayapal (D-Wash.) told reporters Tuesday that "we are not voting in any way that will help Republicans."
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A new acting speaker pro tempore, Rep. Patrick McHenry (R-N.C.), will now take the gavel until someone is elected to take McCarthy's place.
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A data set out of Japan found that September 2023 was 0.5°C warmer than the previous warmest September on record and around 1.8°C warmer than temperatures in the preindustrial era, climate scientist Zeke Hausfather wrote on Tuesday on the social media site formerly known as Twitter.
"This month was, in my professional opinion as a climate scientist—absolutely gobsmackingly bananas," he said.
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"We've never seen a record smashed by anything close to this margin," Hausfather told the Post.
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Another data set, the European Centre for Medium-Range Weather Forecasts' ERA5, also shows September shattering the previous record by around the same margin, according to Hausfather.
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On a local and regional level, many countries experienced their hottest Septembers on record, among them Austria, Belgium, France, Germany, Poland, and Switzerland, according to The Guardian. France's September beat the previous record by more than 1°C, and Belgium's September was even hotter than its July and August for the first time since 1961.
"Belgium has never experienced a month of September this warm," David Dehenauw of the Belgian Royal Meteorological Institute told The Guardian.
On the other side of the world, Japan also had its hottest September at 2.66℃ higher than normal.
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