Marching for a World Free From Fossil Fuels

The following is part of a series of opinion pieces Common Dreams is publishing in the lead-up to the March to End Fossil Fuels on Sunday, September 17 in New York City. Read the rest of the series and our complete coverage here.

This Sunday, I will join thousands of people in New York City for the biggest climate mobilization since before the pandemic, urging President Biden and other world leaders to act boldly to stop fossil fuel expansion and extraction.

Among those thousands demanding a just transition away from fossil fuels will be Sierra Club staff, members, and volunteers and allies from Michigan and Wisconsin, representing the years-long fight to shut down Line 5, an aging and deteriorating oil pipeline operating illegally in the Great Lakes and threatening the drinking water of 40 million people.

We will also be joined by representatives from Gulf Coast communities in Texas and Louisiana who already experience disproportionate harms from the fossil fuel and petrochemical industries and are now being put at even greater risk by the industry’s planned expansion of methane gas exports, with almost 30 new or expanded facilities proposed or under construction in the Gulf Coast region alone.

Watching these extreme weather events claim lives and destroy livelihoods is scary, and it is even scarier to think this summer could be just a preview of what’s to come if we don’t change course.

For far too long, these communities and many more have lived with the daily threat of toxic pollution, explosions, leaks, and spills from fossil fuel operations. And they’re not the only ones who suffer the consequences of the fossil fuel industry’s unchecked expansion. The unprecedented heatwaves and devastating wildfires, hurricanes, and floods that have faced communities across the country this summer have made it clearer than ever that we have no time to waste in ending our reliance on the dirty fossil fuels that are polluting our communities and driving the climate crisis.

Watching these extreme weather events claim lives and destroy livelihoods is scary, and it is even scarier to think this summer could be just a preview of what’s to come if we don’t change course. But here’s the good news: We already have the tools to avert the worst of the climate crisis and rapidly transition to a cleaner, more just, more prosperous future by going all-in on clean energy and winding down our use of dirty fuels like coal, oil, and gas.

In fact, the International Energy Agency, the world’s leading energy analysis and policy organization, is now projecting that we are “witnessing the beginning of the end of the fossil fuel era” and that the world will hit peak demand for fossil fuels before 2030. According to the IEA, demand will decline earlier than many anticipated, in large part due to the rapid increase in clean energy.

That explosion in clean energy deployment has been accelerated by ambitious policy driven by the Biden administration through the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act and the Inflation Reduction Act, the largest investments in our climate and clean energy in U.S. history. Collectively, these unprecedented investments will put us on a path to cutting climate pollution by 40% by 2030 while creating over 9 million family-sustaining jobs over the next decade. True to his commitment to do more to advance climate justice than any president before him, President Joe Biden has also taken action to block oil and gas drilling in landscapes sacred to Indigenous communities like the Greater Chaco region and the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge.

But at the same time, the United States remains the biggest producer of oil and gas in the world, and major new fossil fuel projects like the fracked gas Mountain Valley Pipeline, the Willow oil project in Alaska, and gas export terminals on the Gulf Coast are still receiving federal approvals to move forward.

Not one new pipeline or drilling rig should needlessly threaten communities and our planet when we know that the end of the fossil fuel era is on the horizon. As communities across the country are ravaged by extreme weather and countless more are threatened by the daily threat of toxic fossil fuel pollution, we simply cannot afford to compromise or sacrifice any more to the fossil fuel industry.

President Biden has the power to break free from fossil fuels, and he should use it. We are coming together to urge him to stop federal approvals for new fossil fuel projects, phase out fossil fuel extraction in our public lands and waters, and do everything in his power to block dangerous, polluting projects like Line 5, Dakota Access Pipeline, and gas export facilities in the Gulf Coast and Alaska. By doing so, he will build on the important progress his administration has already made toward cutting climate pollution and advancing environmental justice.

We all deserve a world free from fossil fuels. This is a critical moment for our planet and for President Biden to lead the world toward a clean energy future. This weekend we will be in the streets urging him to seize it.