The second day of Climate Week began with a coalition of local and national groups that blockaded key financial institutions in lower Manhattan on Monday – demanding President Joe Biden put an end to fossil fuel investments.
Following Sunday’s March to End Fossil Fuels, protesters first gathered in Zuccotti Park, a privately owned public space controlled by Brookfield Properties and fossil fuel investor Goldman Sachs, for a training session that included a general rundown of the actions to be taken during Monday’s inaugural Mass Civil Disobedience to End Fossil Fuels. The rally was organized by the Oil & Gas Network, a California-based organization that supports movements for climate justice. Local groups, such as 350 NYC and the New York City chapter of Extinction Rebellion, were also part of the coalition.
About 200 protesters arrived within the first hour of the event, and the crowd continued to grow as the group split up to target different sites in the Financial District.
About 200 protesters arrived within 40 minutes of the event starting at Zuccotti Park.
“We want to send a strong message about the power that Biden has in a time of collapse,” said Alicé Nascimento, one of the event organizers and the campaigns director for climate advocacy group New York Communities for Change. “I hope that the fossil fuel financiers understand this is an escalation and as long as they continue to invest in fossil fuels we will continue to escalate.”
Carbon dioxide, a greenhouse gas produced from combusting fossil fuels, was at a record high in the Earth’s atmosphere last year since tracking began in 1958, according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. This climate pollutant is responsible for nearly two-thirds of the heating effect caused by all human-produced greenhouse gasses.
“Our biggest fear is that if we keep pumping fossil fuels, millions of people will die from heat, starvation, flooding, wildfires and hurricanes,” said Jonathan Westin, executive director at Climate Organizing Hub.
Just before noon, some groups prepared to head to the New York Stock Exchange. Organizers had planned an event there to highlight the link between the climate crisis and decisions made daily by Wall Street institutions.
“The New York Stock Exchange is a symbol of capitalism and what’s being traded in the market and what people are making a profit off, which is financing fossil fuels,” Nascimento said. “It’s a time of reckoning and change.”
Protesters chanted "we need clean air, not another billionaire" and walked to the Federal Reserve building, where they blockaded its bronze doors.
The NYPD arrested people who blocked the doors for disorderly conduct and threatened to include additional charges for anyone who resisted. According to the police department, 114 people were arrested during the demonstration. The protestors have all since been released and issued criminal summons.
“If you arrest one of us, 100 more will come,” the crowd chanted. Law enforcement also asked the groups to disperse because they were blocking pedestrian traffic. The doors were cleared by 12:30 p.m. as a large crowd continued to assemble and chant across the street.
A poster advertising the Mass Civil Disobedience to End Fossil Fuels on Monday, Sept. 18, 2023.
“The level of the [climate] crisis requires a more aggressive response,” Westin said. “Civil disobedience is a way of showing the public and those in power that we need a much more aggressive and urgent response.”
According to the International Energy Agency, government subsidies for fossil fuel companies and consumption doubled globally in 2022 over the previous year — to $1 trillion, a record high.
“The Federal Reserve has the power to regulate and has accountability power and has the power to make change,” Nascimento said. “ We feel we are at the point where we have to force them because they’re not doing it.”
Climate activists attend the march against fossil fuels in midtown Manhattan on Sunday, Sept. 17, 2023.
Activists and local groups will gather again on Tuesday at Bank of America offices and throughout the week while the United Nations hosts its Climate Ambition Summit in New York City.
“I have three girls, and I fear for the future,” Westin said. “But I believe in this generation and in the people – that we can end this crisis.”
This story was updated to include the number of demonstrators arrested during Monday's event.
