Co-sponsors of the recent #ShoeStrike at Uncle Sam Plaza, Fridays for Future and Extinction Rebellion, have scheduled a climate protest Friday, Sept 25, from 5 to 6 p.m. (rain date Sept. 26) in Arlington Center, at Mass. Ave. and Pleasant Street.
Those involved ask town officials to adopt a climate emergency declaration and action plan, declaring Sept. 25 a “global day of climate action.”
The public is asked to support this event by telling your friends about Emergency Arlington. Sign up here for updates. Share this at XRmass.
Participants are asked to wear a face covering and observe physical distancing. Organizers will have banners to hold, fliers to distribute and a brass band to amplify our message. Sign up here to join us virtually.
This demonstration is being held in conjunction with the #FridaysForFuture movement’s global day of climate action.
At 6 p.m., when this rally ends, you are encouraged to support the peaceful Black Lives Matter vigils, which occur every evening along Mass. Ave. There cannot be successful climate justice without racial justice, and climate action calls for a just transition for all.
To find out more about the Emergency Arlington campaign click here.
This Sept. 25 marks the one year anniversary of the Global Strike for Climate Action, which was held during 20-27 Sept. 2019 in 4,500 cities and towns all over the world to coincide with the U.N. Climate Summit. Inspired by Swedish teenage school striker Greta Thunberg, the action brought hundreds and thousands of people- especially youth – onto the streets. Many Arlington residents and climate groups took part in sounding the climate crisis alarm and calling for countries around the globe to acknowledge the immediate environmental catastrophe being brought upon our children and all living organisms.
Another year has passed. Too little has been done to mitigate the climate crisis we face.
Today, during a pandemic, we cannot gather by the hundreds to make our urgent demands, so with just a few representatives from each group going into the streets, local organizations like Emergency Arlington are joining the 2020 global call to action with outdoor physically distanced events spread all over the region.
Fridays for Future and Extinction Rebellion declare that our ecosystems are in a state of emergency, and we demand that people holding power tell the truth and follow the science. All living things are facing an existential threat. Due to excessive heat, drought, flood, fire, and habitat loss, the Planet is losing hundreds of species every week. For the surviving plants and animals which had once relied on plants and animals that no longer exist, that means potential system collapse. The increasingly intense and rapid changes we are experiencing today are occurring so quickly that humans are in a race for survival.
To slow the rate of climate disruption, large-scale corporate-driven energy consumption and emissions need to be curbed dramatically right now. To have the chance to adapt to the already “baked in” “record-breaking” climate future, and enough time to implement these measures; regional, state, and national governments must take bold actions, now.
Emergency Arlington’s Climate Emergency Declaration proposes that representatives of the Town of Arlington speak plainly about the climate crisis, report on progress in fossil fuels and emissions reduction, act now to rapidly reduce fossil fuels use within Town jurisdiction, and advocate for substantive near-term and long-term climate-friendly policies that aim to keep average global temperature rise within 1.5C (2.7F) degrees of warming. Average global temperatures have already risen 1C (1.8F) above pre-industrial levels, and regional temperatures in many locations have risen by 2-3C already. We fail to act now at our own peril.
Contact for questions: parke.wilde at gmail.com (Twitter handle @flyingless)
This news announcement was published Monday, Sept. 21, 2020.
