75,000 Take to the Streets to Call for Clean Energy

Reflections on the NYC March to End Fossil Fuels

Alex Casper /Green Party of Pennsylvania

(October 3, 2023) — On Sunday, September 17, 75,000 people marched across New York City to End Fossil Fuels. Two Green Party candidates seeking the nomination for President of the US were in New York marching as VIP’s, and I was lucky enough to have my photo taken next to them. Candidates Jasmine Sherman and Dr. Cornel West both met up with Green Party members at the beginning of the march. Dr. West said his presence at the march was to fuse with other voices. “This march is all about voices in solidarity to push out the fossil fuel industry and to break the back of the corporate duopoly.”

I was unable to get my question answered by Dr. West as the crowd surrounded him, but Jasmine Sherman provided me with an answer on her housing policy. “I support funding public housing and creating more opportunities for people to be supported by the system. We need to be taking care of everybody.”

The march was a fantastic experience. I met other Greens from around the country. Familiar faces from our neighbors in New Jersey, New York, and Maryland showed up.I am really thankful for Barry Bendar, co-chair of the Green Party of New Jersey, as well as for GPUS National Committee delegate and YES National Committee member Dustin Young from Rutgers (originally from Philadelphia) for helping me carry the Green Party of Philadelphia’s banner. I had a great time meeting everyone and learning about the different kinds of activism our members have been involved in.

Next year I hope more folks will join me and more Pennsylvania chapters can be represented in the March to End Fossil Fuels. The president has a lot of power, and while we can do a lot to make an impact on our daily consumption of fossil fuels, the people we elect for president have the power with the stroke of a pen to end the biggest consumer of fossil fuels.

59 million tons of CO2 are emitted into the atmosphere by the US military. More than any other emitter. There are entire developed countries that do not have a rate of emissions as large as the US military. Sweden, Morocco, Hungary, Finland, Norway, Switzerland, and New Zealand to name a few. Our country has this fascination with an unsustainable lifestyle consuming oil. Meanwhile, there are only five years of oil left at our current consumption rate in the US if we were unable to import. We are less than 100 years from running out.

We continue to build giant roads in suburban communities with homes spaced massively far apart. These roads extend the commutes we drive to our jobs, increase the subsidies to maintain and repair, while increasing our reliance on fossil fuels. We don’t have to live this type of lifestyle. We do not have to destine our children to despair and a crisis we know will happen in their lifetimes.

The best thing we can do to save our country, our planet, and everyone’s future is to choose a different path, an actual Green New Deal. This will put an end to the corporate stranglehold we endure from the duopoly. We must choose another option in the 2024 elections and take every opportunity to get out, organize, and speak out.

We must not be complacent. We have an Earth to save, and a duopoly co-opting the Green Party message around climate change. President Biden still has not provided a deadline to end fossil fuel consumption by the Pentagon. While Democrats and Republicans are increasing the reliance and consumption with their development practices. Only you can do anything to change that. Organize, register and vote, Green Party.

This is about our ability to afford to live in our communities we have always called home. This is about our ability to drink clean water, and have a warm home in the winter when we get old. This is about our ability to leave our communities and commute to work in the future. This is about our ability to maintain any kind of system where you and I can survive and thrive. We have to make drastic changes. That is why I marched in New York. That is why I hope you will march with me next year.

The Green Party of Pennsylvania,(GPPA) is an independent political party which stands in opposition to the two corporate parties. GPPA candidates promote public policy based on the Green Party’s Four Pillars: grassroots democracy, nonviolence, ecological wisdom, and social justice/equal opportunity. For further information about GPPA, please email contact@gpofpa.org. Please follow GPPA on social media: Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter.

Alex Casper is a delegate to the Green Party of Pennsylvania, membership secretary of the Green Party of Philadelphia (GPOP), and the GPOP representative to the Philadelphia Rent Control Coalition. They also serve in the Reimagine Philadelphia Steering Committee in the Philadelphia Department of Planning and Development, and as a Minority Inspector in Philadelphia Election Ward 47.