September 7, 2018
More than a thousand people gathered yesterday afternoon in Battery Park to rise and demand climate jobs and justice. Speakers from Peoples Climate Movement NY, NY Communities for Change, NYSNA, Make the Road NY, 350 Brooklyn, Global Kids, and IBEW Local 3 addressed the gathering from a simple stage near Castle Clinton. Fogo Azul, a Brazilian Women’s Drumming Band performed an energetic set. The rally then transformed into a march and headed out of the park and up Greenwich Street en route to Zuccotti Park via 26 Federal. They were accompanied by an NYPD fleet of scooters.
Fogo Azul
The organizers are calling for immediate action on climate, jobs, and justice from Governor Andrew Cuomo, Mayor Bill De Blasio, and all elected officials through a just and rapid transition to 100% renewable energy, a halt to new fossil fuel infrastructure, and making corporate polluters pay. Over a hundred groups and organizations representing a broad spectrum of New Yorkers endorsed the rally/march.
Sara Gronim, 350 Brooklyn
Sara Gronim is a volunteer with 350 Brooklyn, an organization that works on local solutions to climate change in the context of a just transition. “I volunteer to do this to honor my grandmother who volunteered in her community to save a river, and to honor future generations to whom we must bequeath a livable planet.”
Judy Sheridan-Gonzalez, President, NYSNA
Judy Sheridan-Gonzalez is an ER Nurse in the Bronx and the President of NYSNA. NYSNA sent several medical brigades to Puerto Rico after Hurricane Maria and they plan to return in November. “As both witness and caregiver to victims of climate change-induced disasters and toxins, NYSNA nurses are protesting alongside our allies in the Climate Justice Movement today. We believe that a just transition to publically-owned clean energy is essential to Earth’s survival, as we phase out the use of planet-destroying fossil fuels; and that the creation of quality sustainable energy employment is a must for the well-being of our world’s inhabitants.”
Denise Patel
Denise Patel is a NY based human rights and climate justice activist. She’s on the Steering Committee of Peoples Climate Movement-NY and Board of Directors of GreenFaith. She is active in the global fossil fuel divestment movement working with DivestInvest and 350.org.
