{"id":43525,"date":"2024-11-20t17:54:59","date_gmt":"2024-11-20t17:54:59","guid":{"rendered":"\/\/www.getitdoneaz.com\/?p=43525"},"modified":"2024-11-20t18:49:43","modified_gmt":"2024-11-20t18:49:43","slug":"dc-climate-rally-biden","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"\/\/www.getitdoneaz.com\/story\/dc-climate-rally-biden\/","title":{"rendered":"dc climate rally-goers call on biden to act before leaving office: ‘every day counts’"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
on nov. 17, with just over two months left until president-elect donald trump takes office, more than 150 climate activists and environmentalists rallied outside the environmental protection agency (epa) headquarters in washington, d.c., with a mission: get biden to do what he can to protect the environment, before he exits the white house.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
the d.c. climate rally “every day counts,” was hosted in collaboration with more than 30 climate advocacy groups. attendees held signs such as \u201cstop oil now,\u201d \u201cgreen new deal now,\u201d and \u201coff fossil fuels,\u201d while chanting \u201cyolo joe\u201d and \u201cclimate justice now.\u201d speakers urged president joe biden to enforce stricter climate regulations and pardon climate activists \u2014 and to do it now.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
keanu arpels-josiah, a youth organizer with fridays for future nyc, the group founded<\/a> by greta thunberg in 2018, urged the crowd to demand actions like designating federal lands as off-limits for drilling, canceling new oil and gas projects, and reallocating mass transit funding from the ira and bipartisan infrastructure law. <\/p>\n\n\n\n hours after the 2024 presidential election was called for donald trump, the biden administration announced limitations to oil drilling<\/a> in alaska’s arctic national wildlife refuge. although the leasing of land in the refuge for oil is mandated under a 2017 law, signed by then-president trump, biden’s outgoing government moved to lease the bare minimum amount of land before the deadline of the end of the year.<\/p>\n\n\n\n but protestors at sunday’s rally remained anxious about the signals from the incoming administration.<\/p>\n\n\n\n arpels-josiah criticized trump\u2019s nomination<\/a> of chris wright, an oil and gas executive, to lead the department of energy, calling him a \u201cfossil fuel ceo.\u201d he also condemned trump\u2019s choice<\/a> for epa administrator, former new york republican representative lee zeldin, describing him as a “deregulatory champion\u201d whose plans would \u201ctear apart\u201d the future of the planet. <\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cthat ain\u2019t right,\u201d arpels-josiah said. \u201cthat\u2019s not the future we deserve.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n in a post on x, wright has defended his appointment to lead the department of energy, claiming<\/a> he would \u201cbetter human lives\u201d by ensuring energy is \u201caffordable, reliable, and secure.\u201d in a video posted<\/a> on linkedin, wright denied climate change: \u201cthere is no climate crisis and we’re not in the midst of an energy transition either.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n zeldin, trump\u2019s pick for epa administrator, pledged<\/a> in a post on x to restore \u201cenergy dominance\u201d while ensuring access to clean air and water. he also criticized<\/a> biden for canceling<\/a> the keystone xl pipeline, a proposed extension of an oil pipeline system running between canada and the united states.<\/p>\n\n\n\n trump, through his agenda47<\/a> and the republican national committee platforms<\/a>, has pledged to undo biden\u2019s climate policies. his plans include withdrawing from the paris climate accords again, restarting oil production in recently restricted areas, and pulling away funding from the inflation reduction act. <\/p>\n\n\n\n keya chatterjee, executive director of the us climate action network, also spoke at the rally. she warned attendees against participating in \u201canticipatory obedience,\u201d which she described as abandoning the fight against climate change out of fear that a second trump administration will roll back regulations. <\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cwe are not going to anticipate in fear and not do things,\u201d chatterjee said. \u201cwe\u2019re going to live big and we\u2019re going to do big.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n among the rally participants, mechanical engineer nick tatnall, 29, said trump\u2019s appointments reflect his self-serving interests. tatnall\u2019s own passion for the environment was sparked by visiting national parks, and he expressed concerns that a second trump administration will weaken regulations and expand drilling on public lands.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201ci just hope the next four years are not as bad as we think they will be,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n julia barnes, 30, a podcast producer, said she had hoped vice president kamala harris would win the election but was not surprised by trump\u2019s victory. barnes criticized trump\u2019s track record on the environment. <\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cclimate is incredibly low on his agenda,\u201d she said, adding that her biggest fear is seeing no progress on climate issues for another four years.<\/p>\n\n\n\n organizers said that through the event more than 470 people signed up to participate in training, movement-building efforts, and continued organizing over the next 60 days, with plans to sustain their actions through trump\u2019s inauguration.<\/p>\n\n\n\n <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" protestors gathered outside the epa headquarters to urge biden to enforce stricter climate regulations in his final months as president. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":15861,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[4916,5195,4914],"tags":[],"storyfest_categories":[],"class_list":["post-43525","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-climate","category-justice","category-sustainability"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\ncharting the path forward<\/h2>\n\n\n\n