Hundreds Take Over Brooklyn Bridge for Climate Justice
Fridays for Future, a youth-led climate advocacy movement, recently organized a global strike to pressure legislators to enact environmental legislation.
(Sam Tu via Washington Square News)
by Kayla Hardersen
This story was originally published on New York University’s Washington Square News.
Hundreds marched from Brooklyn Borough Hall to Manhattan’s Foley Square on Friday, March 25, as part of a strike condemning government inaction against climate change. Members of New York City’s chapter of the youth-led climate justice organization School Strike for Climate — also known as Fridays for Future, Youth for Climate, Climate Strike or Youth Strike for Climate — hosted the protest. They joined more than 700 demonstrations worldwide on the same day to call on global and local leaders to enact climate reparations for marginalized communities.
“We’re the youth, we deserve a planet, and it’s the old people who aren’t going to be around to see the effects who are making the decisions,” said Sora Borisute, a co-organizer of the New York City strike.
Participants gathered at the borough hall at around 1 p.m. and started marching to the Brooklyn Bridge at 1:45 p.m. Protesters were demanding a permanent end to construction of the North Brooklyn Pipeline, officially known as the Metropolitan Natural Gas Reliability Project. The pipeline spans 7 miles through predominantly Black and brown neighborhoods in East Williamsburg, Bushwick, Bedford-Stuyvesant and Brownsville.
National Grid plc, a multinational gas utility and electricity company based in the United Kingdom, advertises the project as an expansion and improvement of Brooklyn’s natural gas system. Activist organizations, such as the Sane Energy Project — an advocate for 100% community-controlled renewable energy in the state of New York — argue that the project increases the price of gasoline. It also claims the pipeline is a detriment to the health of the environment and residents in the area.
Read the rest of the story at Washington Square News.