Rebels Use Pink Boat to Gridlock Traffic in DC

Press Contact: xrdc_press@unitedrebellion.com

Climate Activists Blockade Major DC Roadways

Friday 19th November 2021, Washington DC – Extinction Rebellion activists used a large pink boat to disrupt rush hour traffic on I-395 and New York Avenue - one of the capital's busiest intersections. The rebels vowed to cause further disruption until President Biden takes executive action to cut U.S. emissions to net zero by 2025 - in line with what the science demands.

The blockade lasted about four hours. Police used circular saws to cut the rebels, including an engineer and a teacher, from the boat.

We are in a climate and ecological emergency. The failure of Congress to enact meaningful climate legislation and the inaction of world leaders at the CoP26 climate summit in Glasgow are crimes against humanity, sentencing millions to hardship and death. Entire nations and species are already being subsumed in climate chaos. Swift action will save lives.

"Congress' failure means humanity is still on the road to hell. The inaction of world leaders at COP26 is a crime against humanity. The system we have inherited clearly cannot keep us safe," said Reilly Polka, a spokesperson for XR. "The politicians keeping this system in place are killing us, exterminating nations and driving species to extinction. That’s why we’re demanding that our leaders transform the systems that govern us in a way that protects life and enhances human well-being.

"To the commuters who were inconvenienced by the disruption, we're sorry. We believe civil disruption is necessary to force the government to wake up to the need for urgent climate action. This action follows in the footsteps of many historical movements for change that used non-violent civil disobedience to instigate large-scale political change.

“This is disruption with a purpose since we will all suffer far greater disruption in the future if we don’t radically change our society now. More than 70% of Americans are now worried about global heating. So although the public may not agree with our tactics, they certainly agree with our cause. We're sorry for the disruption we have caused for individuals but this is a matter of life and death.”

Global temperatures are increasing at an unprecedented rate. The last time the level of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere rose this much this fast was 66 million years ago, after a meteor destroyed the dinosaurs. The alarm bells are deafening. Government inaction is a death sentence for millions of people, entire nations and countless species.

Congress is knowingly sentencing people to death. It cut the clean energy performance program (CEPP) from the reconciliation bill, sentencing more than 370,000 people to death. The CEPP would have stopped as much as 1,641 million metric tonnes of carbon from entering the atmosphere between 2022 and 2030 [1]. Each million metric ton of CO2e added to the atmosphere kills another 226 people (from extreme heat exposure alone - so not including floods, wildfires, storms, starvation or conflict), based on the mortality cost of carbon [2]. So, using this equation, cutting the CEPP could kill more than 370,000 people. Our failed political system is literally sentencing people to death. They know the science. Their failure to act is a crime against humanity.

Our leaders know this. President Biden had vowed to slash US greenhouse gas emissions in half, based on 2005 levels, by 2030. He has called climate change the existential threat of our time. In order for the United States to be part of the climate solution, Congress must use all the tools at our disposal to renew the economy with clean energy measures and regenerate the biosphere.

The future of our planet is at stake. Every day brings news of another catastrophic weather event, and we are only at the beginning of the crisis. It gets worse from here. We are on the road to hell.

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Note to editors:

Today's act of civil disobedience was a collaboration between Extinction Rebellion DC and Fridays for Future DC.

Footnotes

[1] NB: this figure comes from amended data originally released in Energy Innovation's report and revised later by Energy Innovation

[2] Mortality Cost of Carbon

About Extinction Rebellion

Time has almost entirely run out to address the climate & ecological crisis, including the sixth mass extinction, global pollution, and abrupt, runaway climate change. Societal collapse and mass death are seen as inevitable by scientists and other credible voices if rapid action is not taken.

Extinction Rebellion believes it is a citizen’s duty to rebel, using peaceful civil disobedience, when faced with criminal inactivity by their Government. For more information about who we are and what we demand, please see here https://rebellion.global/