New Mexicans Demand End to Fossil Fuels in Historic New York Climate March

March in New York Demands an End to Fossil Fuels

NEW YORK— A delegation of more than 50 Indigenous, environmental, youth, and frontline advocates from New Mexico joined more than 75,000 people from across the country and world today to march in the streets of Manhattan and demand that the U.S. end its extraction and use of fossil fuels. The mass mobilization took place ahead of the first United Nations Climate Ambition Summit on Sept. 20, when U.N. Secretary-General António Guterres will urge world leaders to make commitments to phase out fossil fuels.

Emphasizing Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)

• Goal 7: Affordable and Clean Energy
• Goal 13: Climate Action
• Goal 15: Life on Land

“A collective of grassroots movements across the state of New Mexico is joining other frontline movements who mobilize around a No False Solutions narrative to bring light to the financialization and continued commodification of our natural and cultural resources,” said Julia Bernal, executive director of Pueblo Action Alliance. “We’re bringing a unified grassroots message to the international platform to demand our elected leaders take bold climate action that doesn’t continue the legacy of harm and extraction that has negatively impacted our ancestral territories for generations.”

New Mexico is the second-largest oil-producing and seventh-largest gas-producing state in the country. Over the past three years, New Mexico has experienced the highest growth in oil production in the U.S. Of the 6,430 drilling permits the Biden administration approved in its first two years, nearly 4,000 are on public lands administered by the U.S. Bureau of Land Management’s New Mexico Office. Climate pollution from the combustion of oil and gas extracted in New Mexico contributes significantly to the climate crisis.

“As governor of the country’s second-largest oil-producing state, Michelle Lujan Grisham is detonating one of the world’s most dangerous carbon bombs,” said Silas Grant with the Center for Biological Diversity. “As New Mexicans, we marched to tell her she can become a real climate leader by preventing further oil and gas expansion in our state. The future of our planet depends on it.”

Grassroots Climate Justice Declaration

1. Stop all new fossil fuel projects and revoke existing permits
2. Phase out existing fossil fuel extraction immediately
3. Reject false solutions like hydrogen and carbon capture and sequestration
4. Center Indigenous traditional ecological knowledge
5. Declare a climate emergency to pave the way for a just transition

“Coalitions like Frack off Chaco and NM No False Solutions are composed of organizers who are from their respective communities and we are leaving our homes in New Mexico to make our messaging known,” said Alejandria Lyons, coordinator of NM No False Solutions. “If we want to preserve our collective knowledge for future generations then we have to protect the land to protect the people and the culture. The fossil fuel industry is a threat to our land-based ways of life, and these proposed ‘solutions’ give false hope to people when they are nothing more than climate finance scams.”

Indigenous leaders and youth holding an 18-foot banner that read “New Mexico is Burning, Biden and MLG: Climate Action Now!” led the New Mexico delegation in the march.

New Mexico is already experiencing the catastrophic consequences of the changing climate, including wildfires, record-breaking temperatures, and aridification. Almost all of New Mexico’s climate pollution comes from the state’s oil and gas industry.

Statements from New Mexico Delegation Members

• “Our homelands are not for sale and the Navajo Nation isn’t a waste site for corrupt officials and industries,” said Cheyenne Antonio, coordinator of the Greater Chaco Coalition for Diné C.A.R.E. “We demand that the Biden and Lujan Grisham administrations end fossil fuel extraction now!”
• “Young people in New Mexico are rising up to say we will not sit by and watch our futures melt, burn, and dry up,” said Jonathan Juárez, media justice organizer with Youth United for Climate Crisis Action. “We deserve and demand better from our leadership. Climate crisis impacts have reached every corner of our state. Our forests are burned, our fields are drying up, our water is declining and what’s left is being polluted by industry. Our relatives in the Four Corners and Permian are suffering inexcusable health and environmental burdens from the poisons of oil and gas extraction. But we are not helpless. We will not be sacrificed for short-sighted profits. We are marching in New York and organizing every day back home to hold our government accountable for a swift and comprehensive just transition and an end to the fossil-fuel era. Our time has come.”
• “New Mexico has been ground zero for Amerikkka’s climate crisis for over a century and we must bring an end to fueling these energy addicted fiends,” said Krystal Curley, executive director of Indigenous Lifeways. “Indigenous earth-based knowledge is the essence of our existence for millennia and is the solution to climate change. We cannot continue to support corporate politicians and corrupt systems. Fossil Fuels + Man Camps = MMIWR (missing and murdered Indigenous relatives) cases! Stop the Murder of Mother Earth and Indigenous Relatives! Stop Fossil Fuels NOW! No more extractive war crimes! No more Energy War Pigs!”
• “New Mexico has already failed its citizens in its lack of protection from exploitative industries,” said Jozee Zuniga, a Permian resident with Youth United for Climate Crisis Action. “Children in the Permian basin spend their afternoons playing under flares. Our grandparents have fracking operations in their backyards. It’s time for New Mexico to step up and put the health and wellbeing of New Mexicans, especially those living on the frontlines, first.”
• “The climate crisis is the most heartbreaking issue that we see today,” said Celina Montoya-Garcia (Ohkay Owingeh), land & body violence coordinator with the Coalition to Stop Violence Against Native Women. “It’s destroying the future of sustainability for our future grandchildren. Not only are the pipeline and oil industries depleting our life source, but they are also precipitating violence against ‘Our First Environment.’ Our life

  SDGs, Targets, and Indicators

  1. Which SDGs are addressed or connected to the issues highlighted in the article?

  • SDG 7: Affordable and Clean Energy
  • SDG 13: Climate Action
  • SDG 15: Life on Land

  2. What specific targets under those SDGs can be identified based on the article’s content?

  • SDG 7.2: Increase substantially the share of renewable energy in the global energy mix.
  • SDG 13.2: Integrate climate change measures into national policies, strategies, and planning.
  • SDG 15.1: By 2020, ensure the conservation, restoration, and sustainable use of terrestrial and inland freshwater ecosystems and their services.

  3. Are there any indicators mentioned or implied in the article that can be used to measure progress towards the identified targets?

  • Indicator for SDG 7.2: Share of renewable energy in the total final energy consumption.
  • Indicator for SDG 13.2: Number of countries that have integrated climate change measures into national policies, strategies, and planning.
  • Indicator for SDG 15.1: Proportion of important sites for terrestrial and freshwater biodiversity that are covered by protected areas.

  Table: SDGs, Targets, and Indicators

  SDGs	Targets	Indicators
  SDG 7: Affordable and Clean Energy	7.2: Increase substantially the share of renewable energy in the global energy mix.	Share of renewable energy in the total final energy consumption.
  SDG 13: Climate Action	13.2: Integrate climate change measures into national policies, strategies, and planning.	Number of countries that have integrated climate change measures into national policies, strategies, and planning.
  SDG 15: Life on Land	15.1: By 2020, ensure the conservation, restoration, and sustainable use of terrestrial and inland freshwater ecosystems and their services.	Proportion of important sites for terrestrial and freshwater biodiversity that are covered by protected areas.

  Based on the article, the issues highlighted are connected to SDG 7 (Affordable and Clean Energy), SDG 13 (Climate Action), and SDG 15 (Life on Land). The specific targets identified are SDG 7.2, SDG 13.2, and SDG 15.1. The indicators that can be used to measure progress towards these targets are the share of renewable energy in the total final energy consumption (for SDG 7.2), the number of countries that have integrated climate change measures into national policies, strategies, and planning (for SDG 13.2), and the proportion of important sites for terrestrial and freshwater biodiversity that are covered by protected areas (for SDG 15.1).

  Behold! This splendid article springs forth from the wellspring of knowledge, shaped by a wondrous proprietary AI technology that delved into a vast ocean of data, illuminating the path towards the Sustainable Development Goals. Remember that all rights are reserved by SDG Investors LLC, empowering us to champion progress together.

  Source: biologicaldiversity.org

   

  

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