Sign In or Create an Account.

By continuing, you agree to the Terms of Service and acknowledge our Privacy Policy

Politics

New York’s Climate Protest Was a Good-Natured Assault on Biden

Scenes from the March to End Fossil Fuels

The New York climate march.
Heatmap Illustration/Getty Images

Tens of thousands of people flooded the streets of Midtown Manhattan on Sunday in one of the biggest climate demonstrations of the Biden presidency.

For such a large and diverse protest, the message was remarkably unified: End fossil fuels. It was also not just directed at oil companies, banks, and big corporations. Protestors overwhelmingly directed their fury and frustration at President Biden.

“Thousands of people today are marching in New York City with a clear-eyed demand for President Biden and all of our world leaders,” said Jean Su, energy justice director for the Center for Biological Diversity, in a speech before the march.

“I am here today to demand that President Biden end the era of fossil fuels once and for all,” said Sharon Lavigne, an environmental justice advocate from Cancer Alley in Louisiana.

“We are so clearly in a fucking climate emergency — why won’t President Biden declare it?” asked NASA climate scientist Peter Kalmus. “I feel so gaslit that it's insane.”

The protest comes at the end of a brutal summer, which featured Canadian wildfire smoke choking the East Coast, devastating flooding in Vermont, the deadliest wildfire in modern American history in Maui, more than 10,000 dead in Libya from flooding that razed an entire city, not to mention record-breaking heat.

But the protest also comes just a month after President Biden celebrated the one-year anniversary of his historic climate law, the Inflation Reduction Act, which is undoubtedly the biggest package of clean energy programs the U.S. has ever passed. It was scarcely mentioned in speeches, and I didn’t see a single sign or banner acknowledging the accomplishment.

Instead, protestors highlighted the major fossil fuel projects that the Biden administration has green-lit in the last year. There were signs condemning the president for approving the Mountain Valley Pipeline, which will carry natural gas from the Marcellus Shale in West Virginia to southern Virginia. Others demanded Biden cancel the Willow Project, a massive oil project on federal land in Alaska that the administration approved in March. Two banners depicted Biden literally greenwashing pipelines and oil derricks.

Anti-Biden sign.Heatmap

Anti-Biden sign Heatmap

With the 2024 election season kicking off and Biden likely to face a climate-denying opponent, Emma Buretta, a 17-year old activist with Fridays for Future, warned the president that he would need to earn the youth vote. “I’m speaking today on behalf of youth who are voting for the first time in the 2024 election,” she told the crowd. “You cannot win this election without the youth vote. It is not possible. And there’s only one way to earn our votes: End fossil fuels.”

Anti-Biden sign.Heatmap

In the crowd were environmental justice groups from New Mexico, Louisiana, California, and Michigan. There were indigenous leaders from Iowa to the Brazilian Amazon. Bill McKibben marched with Third Act, his climate action group galvanizing retirees. Celebs including Susan Sarandon, Kevin Bacon, and Ethan Hawke were among the masses.

Anti-Biden signHeatmap

Anti-Biden signHeatmap

Journalists often lump the climate movement into a single word for brevity’s sake, like “climate activists,” “youth activists,” or “environmental justice advocates.” But at the protest, the full diversity of people angry about the climate crisis was on display. There were doctors, scientists, and teachers marching alongside students, children, faith leaders, and grandmothers. There was a karate club, a choir, and the “Bread and Puppet Theater” from Vermont — the most Vermont activist group imaginable. (Some maneuvered towering marionettes, while others passed out samples of sourdough rye from silver platters.)

Below are a few more snapshots from the day that illustrate the spirit, humor, and ingenuity of the marchers. (I deeply regret not capturing my favorite sign from the event, which said, “Decarbonize your mind.”)

Protest signHeatmap

Protest signHeatmap

Protest signHeatmap

This pediatrician prescribes 100% clean energy.

Protesters as stoves and heat pumpsHeatmap

Rewiring America, a nonprofit advocating for the electrification of buildings and vehicles, showed up to talk to people about heat pumps and induction stoves.

They were in good company with this woman protesting gas-powered leaf blowers.

Anti-Leafblower protesterHeatmap

Anti-Exxon signHeatmap

I asked why free ice cream. He said why not?

Dozens of protesters held a banner of the famous “ warming stripes,” spanning the intersection of 6th Avenue.

Warming stripes protestHeatmap

Protest signHeatmap

Child protesterHeatmap

Greenpeace built a smoking skull to highlight how Bitcoin’s immense energy needs are propping up fossil fuel power plants.

Anti-Bitcoin floatHeatmap

Protest signHeatmap

“That’s just, like, your opinion, man.”

Protest signHeatmap

Protest signHeatmap

Simple, straightforward, no artistry necessary.

You’re out of free articles.

Subscribe today to experience Heatmap’s expert analysis 
of climate change, clean energy, and sustainability.
To continue reading
Create a free account or sign in to unlock more free articles.
or
Please enter an email address
By continuing, you agree to the Terms of Service and acknowledge our Privacy Policy
Sparks

Major Renewables Nonprofit Cuts a Third of Staff After Trump Slashes Funding

The lost federal grants represent about half the organization’s budget.

The DOE wrecking ball.
Heatmap Illustration/Getty Images

The Interstate Renewable Energy Council, a decades-old nonprofit that provides technical expertise to cities across the country building out renewable clean energy projects, issued a dramatic plea for private donations in order to stay afloat after it says federal funding was suddenly slashed by the Trump administration.

IREC’s executive director Chris Nichols said in an email to all of the organization’s supporters that it has “already been forced to lay off many of our high-performing staff members” after millions of federal dollars to three of its programs were eliminated in the Trump administration’s shutdown-related funding cuts last week. Nichols said the administration nixed the funding simply because the nonprofit’s corporation was registered in New York, and without regard for IREC’s work with countless cities and towns in Republican-led states. (Look no further than this map of local governments who receive the program’s zero-cost solar siting policy assistance to see just how politically diverse the recipients are.)

Keep reading...Show less
Yellow
Climate Tech

Trump Just Torpedoed Investors’ Big Bets on Decarbonizing Shipping

The delayed vote on a net-zero standard for the International Maritime Organization throws some of the industry’s grandest plans into chaos.

An hourglass and a boat.
Heatmap Illustration/Getty Images

Today, members of the International Maritime Organization decided to postpone a major vote on the world’s first truly global carbon pricing scheme. The yearlong delay came in response to a pressure campaign led by the U.S.

The Net-Zero Framework — initially approved in April by an overwhelming margin and long expected to be formally adopted today — would establish a legally binding requirement for the shipping industry to cut its emissions intensity, with interim steps leading to net zero by 2050.

Keep reading...Show less
Blue
Spotlight

How a Giant Solar Farm Flopped in Rural Texas

Amarillo-area residents successfully beat back a $600 million project from Xcel Energy that would have provided useful tax revenue.

Texas and solar panels.
Heatmap Illustration/Getty Images

Power giant Xcel Energy just suffered a major public relations flap in the Texas Panhandle, scrubbing plans for a solar project amidst harsh backlash from local residents.

On Friday, Xcel Energy withdrew plans to build a $600 million solar project right outside of Rolling Hills, a small, relatively isolated residential neighborhood just north of the city of Amarillo, Texas. The project was part of several solar farms it had proposed to the Texas Public Utilities Commission to meet the load growth created by the state’s AI data center boom. As we’ve covered in The Fight, Texas should’ve been an easier place to do this, and there were few if any legal obstacles standing in the way of the project, dubbed Oneida 2. It was sited on private lands, and Texas counties lack the sort of authority to veto projects you’re used to seeing in, say, Ohio or California.

Keep reading...Show less
Yellow