Members of the New Jersey-based New Labor workers’ rights movement at the March to End Fossil Fuels on Sunday, Sept. 17, 2023, in New York City. (Photo: Zoe Van Gelder for Public Square Amplified)

Newark- On Sept. 17, over 75,000 people took to New York City streets to call out President Biden’s failed climate policies. The largest gathering of climate demonstrators since before the COVID-19 pandemic, the March to End Fossil Fuels brought together a cross-section of citizens and activists to demand the president act with urgency to reverse his recent decisions regarding projects detrimental to the climate, move to bring an end to fossil fuels, and declare a climate emergency. One of Biden’s contentious decisions is the approval of the Willow project, which could cause irreparable damage to critical, fragile Alaskan ecosystems even while countdowns to irreversible climate change inch closer to zero.  

Despite re-entering the United States into the Paris Agreement on his first day in office, Biden’s approval of the Willow project sounded alarm bells for most climate change activists. The severity of its drilling procedures in an area of Alaska already struggling with the effects of climate change, such as melting sea ice and soil erosion, has become a significant concern. The Willow project, asserts many climate activists, will only exacerbate these ongoing issues, with one study indicating that the project would annually emit the equivalent of 9.2 metric tons of carbon.

Voices ring out from the masses

Through signs, chants, speeches, and songs, the tens of thousands who dedicated their time to the rally sent another clear message: 

Our efforts to save the planet must be international and intergenerational. 

The multitudes of climate justice organizations, immigrants, members of the labor force, students, and human rights activists brought more than a demand to end fossil fuels—they brought with them countless reasons why.

“We cannot look on when our environments and our lives are being destroyed by oil companies that are prioritizing profits over lives,” said Hillary Taylor VI, a former member of the United Nations Youth Associations Network and current Global Ambassador for Their World, “We can no longer wait because the planet is burning and we don’t have another planet, so we have to think about the future generations.”  

The climate change crisis makes no exceptions here in New Jersey, with many New Jerseyans being part of the ongoing, historic, and uphill battle in fighting against an increase in power plants, erosion of coastlines, natural disasters, faulty infrastructure, and pollution in the air and water.

 Anthony Diaz, co-founder and executive director of the Newark Water Coalition, said that the battle for climate change locally and internationally is the same battle.

“What is great about events like the climate march in New York is that people with different backgrounds and political stances come together in solidarity on behalf of our planet. I preach unity and organization these days because the sense of urgency is here,” Diaz said, “Orange skies and tainted water systems wait for no one. 

“We must fight in multiple pathways to move legislation, the people, and institutions to do the right thing,” Diaz continued, “The climate fight is the single greatest fight of our time. We cannot wait any longer. We need to mobilize today to save our tomorrow.”

Hearing the unheard: climate change and the labor movement

New Labor movements were front and center at the march to spotlight the impact of climate change on the immigrant and working class, an element of the crisis that often goes unheard and unseen. The climate crisis puts an added strain on those in the labor and agricultural forces by increasing financial burdens and contributing to worsening working conditions.

Reynalda Cruz attended the rally with a contingent from New Jersey-based New Labor, a 4,000-member-strong organization that fights for workers’ rights to clean, safe working conditions and unpaid wage recovery. New Labor marched as part of a coalition of labor groups connected by the National Day Laborer Organizing Network (NDLON). 

Reynalda Cruz of the New Jersey-based New Labor workers’ rights organization attends the March to End Fossil Fuels on Sunday, Sept. 17, 2023, in New York City. (Photo/video/closed captions: Zoe Van Gelder for Public Square Amplified)

“People don’t understand that global warming is one of the biggest causes of migration,” said Diana Sanchez, organizer for NDLON, “There are people coming from Central and South America where countless hurricanes have happened, and they’re forced to migrate.”

Sanchez explained that migrants leave their homes to escape climate devastation, only to find harsh, unsafe working conditions when they arrive in the United States.

“Once they come to the U.S., they’re often put in really hard conditions where the employers usually take advantage,” Sanchez said, “People end up dying every year on job sites, so all of this [climate change] comes to affect our workers.”

The battle against climate change and large oil companies around the globe, and in New Jersey, remains urgent. On Sept. 17, thousands of people raised their voices to show the nation, and the world, that they will not sit idly by and see our planet willfully destroyed by policies that serve no one but the fuel companies who stand to profit.

Look for continuing coverage of the march to learn more about the activists embroiled in the fight to save our planet.