Seventy-five thousand protesters take to the streets of New York to demand an end to the use of fossil fuels

About 75,000 people protested on the streets of Manhattan, New York, demanding the end of fossil fuel use. Climate groups have planned more than 500 protests worldwide for a week around the UN conference.

These demonstrations will be held in 54 countries, including the United States, Germany, England, South Korea, and India. This protest was just the beginning. Workers from around 700 organizations around the world also attended the rally.

 Emma Baretta, a 17-year-old American protester, told US leaders, “We have the power of the people, the power you need to win the next election.”

If you want to win the 2024 election and don’t want our generation’s blood on your hands, stop using fossil fuels.’

Many critics believe that US President Biden needs to do more to reduce the US’s dependence on fossil fuels despite allocating large amounts of money to constructing green infrastructure and the clean energy sector.

Meanwhile, US Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez told the protesters, “People worldwide are taking to the streets to stop what is killing us.”

“We must send a strong message that many of us will still live in this world 30, 40, and 50 years from now. So, we don’t want to hear ‘no’ for an answer,” she added.

Dana Fisher, an American University in Washington DC sociologist, studies the environmental movement. She surveyed participants in Tuesday’s protest and found that 86 percent of protesters surveyed had experienced heatstroke recently, 21 percent had experienced flooding, and 18 percent had experienced drought.

Many scientists say that greenhouse gases released by burning fossil fuels are causing global warming. That’s why hurricanes, heatwaves, floods, fires, and droughts are happening worldwide.

She warned that the world could witness unprecedentedly high temperatures in the next five years.