(August 21, 2023) At 8:15 am, six Declare Emergency supporters went into the road and sat down to get Biden to declare a climate emergency.

They disrupted traffic on 12th Street NW and Constitution Ave NW in Washington D.C. to demand that President Biden declare a climate emergency and halt all new fossil fuel projects on Federal and Indigenous lands and waters. Laura Simon of VT, Michelle Drossman of NY, and Anastasia Rogers of CA were arrested.
Declare Emergency supporters have been leading nonviolent civil resistance in the DC area since November 2021, calling on President Biden to declare an actual climate emergency (not practically speaking) and use his emergency powers to do everything possible to stop climate catastrophe in ways that are fair and just.

Laura Simons, Declare Emergency Supporter said, “I have been doing climate activism for the past few decades. I’ve lobbied legislators, held signs, signed petitions, gone door to door to talk to folks and attended endless meetings…. I have dedicated myself to others as a social worker, teacher and activist. We just are not moving fast enough to respond to the climate crisis….Let’s do it while there is still time to make a change.”

Michelle Drossman, 53, IT worker, from Nassau County, NY, Declare Emergency Supporter said, “Climate change is real and caused by the human activity of dumping carbon in the atmosphere. People are dying all over the world and losing their homes due to climate change. My being arrested is part of the wake-up call that is needed to end our addiction to fossil fuel use and find the courage to transition to other energy sources. The future of the planet is in our hands.”

During the action, Anastasia Rogers Declare Emergency Supporter from San Francisco said, “It’s kind of ridiculous that a climate emergency hasn’t been declared and there isn’t really much being done about it. Future generations are going to be suffering much more than we already are. I live in California where things are on fire…”

Declare Emergency is a member of the A22 Network for Civil Resistance, a ten-country coalition formed following the 1.2 degree Celsius increase in global average temperatures, April of 2022. Their seven main demands are to get Biden to Declare a Climate Emergency, Reduce Military Carbon Footprint, Stop Fossil Fuel Extraction on Federal and Indigenous Lands, Remove the US from the Int’l Oil Economy, Establish a National Citizens Assembly, Stop Fossil Fuels and people fighting for our future.