NO LUXURY EMISSIONS ON A DEAD PLANET: ACTIVISTS DISRUPT JRA HELIPORT AIRPORT IN NEW YORK CITY TO SAY “END FOSSIL FUELS NOW”

Manhattan, New York : At 3:20 pm on Wednesday, September 13th, activists from Extinction Rebellion disrupted private helicopter takeoffs at JRA West 30th Street Heliport Airport, disrupting flights the same way severe storms would. Protestors warned that there are “no luxury emissions on a dead planet”, and demanded an end to fossil fuels. The group, with baby strollers and soft toys, blocked the main entrance using lock-ons, and held banners with the words “LUXURY EMISSIONS DESTROY FUTURES”. The main entrance was blocked for over an 90 minutes and 6 people were arrested.

This action follows a long history of nonviolent civil disobedience as a tool for societal change, such as sit-ins during the civil rights movement and traffic obstruction by women suffragettes. Today’s action and precursors, such as the shut down last November of private aviation at Schiphol Airport in Amsterdam, are a necessary response to the refusal of governments to stop the burning of fossil fuels that are accelerating the global climate emergency. All conventional means of effecting change appropriate to the scale of the catastrophe – including voting, petitioning, lobbying, etc. – have failed and continue to fail. Yet the science makes clear that we have only a very small window of time in which to end fossil fuels and stop carbon emissions.

WHY “NO LUXURY EMISSIONS ON A DEAD PLANET”?

The climate and ecological crisis threatens everything on our planet, including carbon-intensive lifestyles, which includes helicopters, mega-SUVs, yachts, and mansions. Luxurious lifestyles result in unnecessary carbon emissions, at the expense of the planet and future generations. These actions showcase a new front against climate destruction: striking not just at pipelines and at mines, but at obscene, senseless consumption.

ELECTRIC HELICOPTERS WON’T SAVE US

Blade Air Mobility, Inc the company that operates many of the flights out of Manhattan heliports, has committed (in word only) to purchasing electric helicopters to replace their current fossil fuel powered fleet. However, much like many other solutions being proposed to today’s climate chaos, simply electrifying wasteful, unnecessary transportation will not avert the catastrophes we’re already seeing. We need a type of action far more severe than what is currently being discussed. This crisis is life-threatening, and it’s time we approach it as such. New York weather is rapidly approaching a point where helicopters won’t be able to safely fly — electric or not.

DEMANDS

Recently, Professor Sir Bob Watson, a prominent British climate scientist and former head of the United Nations climate body, voiced his belief that the target to limit global warming to 1.5 degrees Celsius will be missed. Despite such alarming predictions, President Joe Biden has failed to live up to the climate pledges made during the 2020 election campaign. Even those failed promises, if kept, would be considered by many ineffective and weak: policies such as electrifying transportation, carbon capture, or expanded renewables do not adequately resolve the looming catastrophe. Yet the Biden administration’s actions are worse than failure: expanded fossil fuel oil and gas drilling, production and export. Projects such as the Willow Project and Alaska LNG, commonly referred to as “carbon bombs,” will trigger catastrophic climate breakdown to an extent no known climate technology can recover from. Carbon bombs and luxury carbon emissions cannot co-exist with a livable world.

Extinction Rebellion demands the government tell the truth by declaring a climate and ecological emergency, halt biodiversity loss and reduce greenhouse gas emissions to net zero by 2025. These demands reflect the urgency of the existential crisis that we’re facing. Extinction Rebellion recently disrupted the U.S. Open, making it clear to all in attendance that tennis is at risk should immediate action on climate not be taken.

This protest is one of many actions carried out by various climate groups leading up to the “Biden: End Fossil Fuels” mass march scheduled to take place in New York City on September 17th.

QUOTES

Laura Robertson, an Extinction Rebellion activist, said: “Why are we doing this? Because nothing else has worked. There have been twenty-seven COP conferences. The ominous IPCC reports have fallen on deaf ears. Politicians continue to approve new fossil fuel infrastructure, locking in emissions for decades. There is no time left, ecologically, for the super rich to continue pumping out emissions. There is no time left for outsized carbon footprints.”

“Helicopters are a pestilence to New Yorkers and a rotten pinnacle of an economic system that places pleasure over planetary survival. We must stop them,” added Charles Komanoff, bicycle activist and transportation analyst.

Emma Jacobs, an Extinction Rebellion spokesperson said “A livable future for our children is being jeopardized by luxury carbon emissions. The strollers and the toys symbolize what is at stake — the livelihoods of our children and our families. It’s contributing to the breakdown of food systems, to drought and famine, to 1 billion climate refugees by 2050. Is an extravagant lifestyle worth risking the loss of all life on Earth?”

Jack Baldwin, an Extinction Rebellion spokesperson said, “This is our last resort. Moderate action won’t do anymore. Two days ago, a powerful storm unleashed catastrophic floods in Derna, Libya, overwhelming dams and drowning more than 5,000 people. We are looking at complete upheaval of our vital life systems: food and water shortages, forced climate migration, and wars for vanishing natural resources. Yet private helicopters still fly. No more.”

About Extinction Rebellion

Time has almost entirely run out to address the climate and ecological crisis, including the sixth mass extinction, global pollution, and runaway climate change. If rapid action is not taken, scientists and other credible voices expect inevitable societal collapse. Extinction Rebellion believes it is a citizen’s duty to rebel, using peaceful civil disobedience, when faced with criminal inactivity by their Government.

Extinction Rebellion’s key demands are:

Tell the Truth – Government must tell the truth by declaring a climate and ecological emergency, working with other institutions to communicate the urgency for change.
Act Now – Government must act now to halt biodiversity loss and reduce greenhouse gas emissions to net zero by 2025.
Beyond Politics – Government must create and be led by the decisions of a Citizens’ Assembly on climate and ecological justice.
Just Transition – Government must commit to a just transition in order to maintain a livable, just planet for all.