Torrential downpours didn’t stop a few hundred climate activists from engaging in a mass civil disobedience action to eliminate fossil fuels.
The action led to the arrest of over 100 protestors on Sept. 18, 2023, which came at the heel of the historic March to End Fossil Fuels on Sunday and drew thousands of climate activists demanding an end to fossil fuel financing.
Climate activists assembled in Zuccotti Park in Lower Manhattan before marching through the Financial District to their final destination, the Federal Reserve Bank of New York at 33 Liberty Street.
Plans to protest outside Wall Street were swayed by the NYPD, who pre-emptively blocked the access roads to the world’s financial center. The Charging Bull, a tourist destination, was also blocked with barricades and safeguarded by NYPD officers.
When protestors reached the Federal Reserve, they blocked the entrances to the financial institution on Liberty Street and Vesey Street, holding up signs and banners, chanting, “Fossil fuels have got to go,” before the NYPD stepped in, arresting a slew of climate activists for blocking the sidewalk on Vesey Street.
The largest act of civil disobedience since ‘Occupy Wall Street’ over ten years ago was led by climate activists from Climate Defenders, New York Communities for Change, Oil and Gas Action Network, and Planet Over Profits. They were joined by activists from communities and tribal leaders directly impacted and harmed by fossil fuel companies.
Protestors doubt the Federal Reserve understands the severity climate change poses as it continues to play a vital part in supporting fossil fuel development and expansion, despite a conclusion by the International Energy Agency (IEA) in 2021 that fossil fuel development and growth should be stopped to avoid a climate catastrophe.
Activists demanded that Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell and Kevin Stiroh, executive president of the NY Federal Reserve Bank, stop financing fossil fuel companies and step in line with the Fossil Free Finance Act, which requires the Federal Reserve to mandate that major banks reduce and stop the financing of fossil fuel producing projects.
One protestor explained that the American government subsidized the oil and gas industry to an “extraordinary degree,” while the four major global banks, JP Morgan Chase, Bank of America, CitiBank, and Wells Fargo, invest billions of dollars annually into the fossil fuel industry.
“We have to stop the flow of oil before the entire planet is on fire or underwater,” he said. “We’re doing it for our children and grandchildren and everybody else on the planet, not just for New York. [Climate emergency] is not even a crisis anymore. It’s an apocalypse right now. It’s not coming. We’re in it.”
Prince McDonald came in from Arlington, Virginia, to participate in climate action events in New York City.
McDonald said that those in power only provided lip service regarding climate action but needed to do more to stop the climate emergency.
“Scientists are saying we absolutely need to end the fossil fuel era,” McDonald said. “If we don’t, we’re going to see more extreme events like we’ve seen this summer. We had extreme floods in half a dozen locations around the world.”
Mahayana Landowne with Extinction Rebellion participated in the action to raise awareness about fossil fuels. She hoped people would feel more connected to the climate cause and stand up for what they believe in and care about.
Landowne urged President Biden to “listen to his people.”
“Help support us to have a better world,” Landon said.
Vivian Lesnik Wiseman came from Los Angeles to attend the action. The activist with Code Pink for Peace said the Pentagon is the largest polluter in the world.
“War is not green,” Lesnik Wiseman said. “So, we are against the war machine. If you’re against global warming and want to declare a climate crisis, it goes with being anti-war.”
