Justice Outside joins organizations around the world in endorsing this week’s global actions calling to end fossil fuels fast, fair, and forever. From September 15th to 17th, millions of people around the world will take to the streets to demand a rapid, just, and equitable end to fossil fuels. This wave of global mobilizations will include the Global Climate Strike on September 15th and the March to End Fossil Fuels in New York City on September 17, as world leaders attend the United Nations Secretary General’s Climate Ambition Summit. Here is how you can take action:
- Click here to find an event near you to show up and make your voice heard.
- Amplify the movement by sharing on social media. Click here for content.
The biggest contributors to climate change are fossil fuels: coal, oil and gas. The fossil fuel industry is responsible for the climate crisis and drives a destructive economic system that harms peoples and the planet. The fossil fuel industry has known about the harm they cause and are pushing technologies such as carbon offsetting and removals to keep itself in business longer by ‘counteracting’ the emissions they continue to pump into the atmosphere, instead of meaningfully reducing emissions altogether. These same technologies are used to justify new petrochemical facilities in Cancer Alley in the state with some of the worst pollution and the second-highest rate of new cancers in the United States. We can not afford to take any shortcuts or superficial initiatives to solve the climate crisis. Fossil fuels must end now.
As the movement organizers have articulated, the March to End Fossil Fuels is a call to solidarity with Indigenous Peoples and First Nations across the world who have been fighting the deadly fossil fuel industry and its enablers for decades. We need a rapid and just transition to an efficient, fair, and universal energy system based on clean energy sources, and produced with respect for nature and the sovereign rights of Indigenous peoples and local communities.
As an organization based in the United States, we recognize that leaders of the biggest polluting countries, such as ours, must deliver a fast and fair fossil fuel phase out and fund it globally. It is the shameful truth that the United States has the highest cumulative CO2 emissions on our planet than any other country to date, and is responsible for a quarter of all historical emissions. The Biden administration must declare a national state of emergency due to climate change and speed up the country’s divestment from fossil fuels. A declaration of emergency would allow the Biden administration the authority to slash greenhouse gas emissions, ban the import of harmful material, halt new oil and gas drilling, and build new green energy technologies. Each day without serious divestment from fossil fuels inflicts more harm on our communities and our planet. The climate crisis disproportionately affects low-income, Black, Indigenous, and Communities of Color and these same communities have been at the frontlines of resistance and healing. We must uplift their leadership to effectively minimize and mitigate the consequences of climate change.
Each of us can do something to end fossil fuels. You can learn more about marches happening near you and in-person and digital actions you can take here. One of the most important actions we can take is to talk about climate change with our communities and learn from successful efforts to preserve and heal our planet. While the climate crisis is escalating, so is the response of the global movement for climate and environmental justice. We invite you to join us however you can this week and beyond; together we will #EndFossilFuels – fast, fair and forever.