CLIMATE CRISIS: DECLARE EMERGENCY LAUNCHES THIRD WAVE OF CIVIL RESISTANCE.
Updated: Apr 4, 2022
Declare Emergency , non-violent civil resistance campaign, is mobilizing a coalition of concerned citizens to press the Biden administration to act NOW to declare a nation-wide state of emergency and cease all fossil fuel concessions on federal and indigenous lands.
Today, April 1, supporters of Declare Emergency, among them a group of First Nations peoples from Camp Migizi in Minnesota, joined students from Rockville High School, Rockville, Maryland, in demanding that MCPS act now on promises they have made to start treating climate change as the crisis it is.
More than 500 people have signed a petition to the Montgomery Board of Education demanding it immediately begin buying only renewable energy. Six Declare Emergency supporters were arrested.
The evidence of the scale of the crisis is incontrovertible, as laid bare in the February 28, 2022 report from the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change: “The scientific evidence is unequivocal; climate change is a threat to human wellbeing and the health of the planet. Any further delay in concerted global action will miss a brief and rapidly closing window to secure a liveable future.” This follows former chief scientific advisor to the UK, Sir David King’s prediction that what we do in the next 2-3 years will “determine the future of humanity.”
Our action is an expression of our fear for our families, for the future of humanity and life on Earth. We are acting upon what thousands of scientists tell us, because our government is refusing to. Many other groups around the world are taking similar actions throughout March and April. Declare Emergency is currently centered around Washington DC and is inviting everyone from all disciplines, classes and beliefs, to join us on the road.
Press contact: Linda Edwards, Phone 585-709-3759,
Email: declareemergency@protonmail.com,
Website: https://www.declareemergency.org/
Links to photos and videos of past actions:
https://drive.google.com/drive/u/3/folders/15aQopeJ9P6dYVL2QKTPf8rbbWVyI0hXN
Testimonials from a few of today’s participants:
Jason Goward, an indigenous land and water protector who traveled to Washington D.C. with a group of First Nations peoples from Camp Migizi in Minnesota,
“We are native to these lands. It's imperative that we remain good stewards to Our Mother Earth which sustains life. We only have one Mother. The unnatural pollution and extraction puts Her at risk as well as everything that depends on Her, including humans. All life is interconnected and dependent on each other. If we all do not learn to live regeneratively and without mass destruction we will be removed from Our Mother. Like dinosaurs, we will be extinct so I am not only thinking of Our Mother but also the generations of humans to come.”
Michelle Wehner, 55 year old mother, grandmother and aunt explains why she traveled 3,000 miles from Eugene OR to Washington DC in support of this aggressive campaign;
“I naively believed that those we elected to serve and protect us were doing everything they could to ensure our wellbeing. That belief was shattered when I learned that not only have they done nothing, but that the climate and ecological crisis has gotten far, far worse under their watch. Now, not a day goes by that I don’t struggle with the wretched horror of facing our extinction and am prepared to make any sacrifice necessary to protect the lives of my young family from the worst of the climate and ecological catastrophe. Hope doesn’t change the world, action does. “Those” and “they” do not look after “ours” or “us”; we must look after each other.”
Paul Severance, 60, an enthusiastic supporter of the Declare Emergency campaign;
“We are in the midst of an emergency more severe than anything witnessed in human history. The suffering we will endure will dwarf anything ever experienced. This is an emergency - we need to act like it. The President must immediately declare a Climate Emergency, stop all extraction of fossil fuels and ban new fossil fuel infrastructure, especially on Indigenous lands.”
NOTES TO EDITORS:
Declare Emergency is a non-violent civil resistance campaign that aims to mobilize ordinary people to act to defend themselves from a criminal government who has failed to protect them. The campaign is supported by a coalition of people with various backgrounds and associations.
The published quotes are taken from:
MCPS: Get serious about climate change - Action Network