Tens of thousands of activists, demanding an end to the use of polluting fossil fuels, marched through the streets of New York City to the United Nations on Sept. 17 to mark climate summit week. 

In addition to the many New Yorkers concerned about the growing climate crisis, the demonstrators included participants from around the country and around the globe;  with groups representing Native Americans and indigenous peoples from throughout the Americas in the forefront of the march. 

One of the more striking features of the crowd was the great numbers of passionate young people involved. They carried signs saying ‘Our House is on Fire’, ‘Fossil Fuels are Destroying Our Future’, and ‘Fossil Fuels Kill’; along with messages demanding more progressive action from U.S. President Joe Biden. The procession, estimated at 75,000 strong, featured a colorful and creative array of thousands of hand-painted signs and homemade banners containing variations on the urgent theme of ’Save Our Planet!’

This protest, along with others in various countries around the world, was said to be the largest such event since the upheaval of the Covid-19 pandemic. It follows a year of unprecedented wildfires, increasingly catastrophic natural disasters, and the overall hottest summer on record. Global warming, the product of greenhouse gasses and emissions from fossil fuels (and long predicted by scientists), is now widely understood to be an existential threat to the future of human life on Earth. And yet, the world continues to be powered by the pollution of fossil fuels  …while powerful oil and gas companies resist progress as they reap record profits.