XR Boston RETURNS to Lock Themselves to State House Gates!

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Climate Activists RETURN and Lock Themselves to MA State House Gates, Demanding Ban on New Fossil Fuel Infrastructure

After nearly 14 months of a daily stand-out at the Massachusetts State House, where volunteers engaged with staffers and passersby about the need for immediate climate action, members of Extinction Rebellion Boston have escalated to non-violent civil disobedience.

Extinction Rebellion condemns new fossil fuel infrastructure that will be in operation for decades, preventing us from achieving decarbonization and threatening us with runaway global heating and an uninhabitable Earth. Extinction Rebellion calls on Governor Maura Healey and the Massachusetts Legislature to immediately institute a ban on new fossil fuel infrastructure, including airport expansions and Enbridge's Maple Project.

Boston, MA — On Tuesday September 24, climate activists from Extinction Rebellion Boston (XR) disrupted business as usual at the Massachusetts State House by locking themselves to the gates, refusing to move until they are removed by police, or until the MA government announces an immediate ban on new fossil fuel infrastructure. This was the second day of this "lock-on" action, after three activists locked onto the same gates for five hours on Monday September 23. Many of these activists had participated in XR Boston's "State House Stand-Out" from June 2023 through July 2024, where volunteers stood outside the State House every business day, engaging staffers and passersby in conversation about the climate crisis. Surrounded with colorful flags and artwork, those volunteers became known for their cheerful, constant, informative presence. When the Massachusetts Legislature failed to pass a climate bill at the end of their session in July 2024, XR Boston wound down its operations at the Stand-Out, promising to return in another form. Today, they have returned, and they aren't playing by the same rules.

Starting around 9:30 am, members of XR Boston approached the General Hooker entrance of the State House and several protestors locked themselves to the front gate, an opening of about 11 feet, blocking this entrance to the building. Other entrances remained unblocked for safety, and no state property was damaged in this act of non-violent civil disobedience. Fellow activists surrounded the "locked-on" protestors, holding a large banner that read "No New Fossil Fuel Infrastructure". The group sang and chanted together, with "This is our planet, this is our fight, Maura Healey: Do what's right!" and "This is our future, this cannot wait, no new fossil fuels in our state!" floating across the Boston Common. This action is part of XR Boston's "Week of Rebellion" from September 22 through September 28, which includes a lawful rally, die-in, and dance party at the State House at 5:30 pm on Thursday the 26th.

"It is criminal that our state is not moving against climate change as the planet continues to burn and wars push us to the edge of extinction. We stand against extinction" said Craig Simpson, one of the activists risking arrest for locking onto the gate. This would have been Craig's eleventh arrest for activism, including previously protesting the Vietnam war, nuclear weapons, and nuclear waste disposal. Simpson is a retired preschool teacher and educator.

Simpson wasn't the only teacher to risk leaving the State House in handcuffs. Johanna Ray Vollhardt is a member of Scientist Rebellion and an Associate Professor. She was a regular participant in the State House Stand-Out and today she attached herself to the Hooker entrance gate. When asked why she risked arrest in this act of civil disobedience, she responded, “I am engaging in civil disobedience risking arrest to protest against the terrifying inaction of the state and their unwillingness to act on the knowledge we have about the role of fossil fuels in the climate disasters we are facing. The science is clear: if we want a livable future for any of us we need to phase out fossil fuels and act with urgency right now. We have a responsibility to act upon what we know, and those in power have not been listening to scientists and climate activists. This is why we need these escalated tactics now - to force them to pay attention and not squander away our future."

Virginia Fisher is a member of Extinction Rebellion Boston who has already been arrested four times while protesting the climate crisis. Today, she joined participants outside the State House and said, "I'm here because our government is refusing to step up and do what needs to be done to protect the people from this rapidly accelerating crisis. They're happy to make statements and vague plans stretching out 30 years, but when it's time to actually do something, it turns out that the entrenched interests who want to keep making money by destroying the foundation of a healthy, livable future. I have two kids, and placing the rest of their lives against the timelines for climate breakdown is a huge motivation for me, to refuse to accept that those in power just don't care and empty gestures are the most we can expect."

Extinction Rebellion Boston demands that Governor Healey and the Massachusetts Legislature ban new fossil fuel infrastructure by immediately taking the following steps:

• Issue a public announcement that the Governor is committed to a No New Fossil Fuel Infrastructure policy for the Commonwealth, including opposing projects under construction or currently in the permitting process
• Issue a public commitment that the Governor will only appoint anti-new fossil fuel infrastructure policymakers to the Energy Facilities Siting Board and Department of Public Utilities, the key independent boards that permit new energy infrastructure
• Work with Speaker Mariano and Senate President Spilka to introduce legislation that would permanently ban new fossil fuel infrastructure in Massachusetts

Banning new fossil fuel infrastructure includes:

• NO new fossil fuel power plants
• NO new residential or commercial gas connections
• NO new or expanded natural gas distribution pipelines, transmission pipelines, or compressor stations
• NO new liquified natural gas production facilities, storage facilities, or terminals
• NO new gas stations or other gasoline and diesel infrastructure
• NO new airports or airfield expansions​​​​​​​

Stopping new fossil fuel infrastructure under development includes:

• NEC’s Liquified Natural Gas Facility in Charlton
• LNG expansion to Douglas
• "Modernization" projects in Lowell and Worcester
• "Reliability" projects in Western Mass. and Sharon-to-Brockton
• The Hopkinton-Ashland Transfer Line
• Meter stations in Longmeadow and Charlton
• Springfield to Longmeadow natural gas pipeline
• Enbridge’s Maple Project
• Airport expansion projects throughout Massachusetts including
  • Hyannis Airport expansion in Cape Cod
  • Lawrence Municipal Airport in North Andover
  • Plymouth Municipal Airport expansion
  • Beverley Airport expansion
  • Norwood Airport expansion
  • Hanscom Field expansion
    

As reported in Space.com,1 Earth has broken temperature records for 14 consecutive months — with every month registering temperatures 1.5 degrees Celsius (2.7 degrees Fahrenheit) higher than pre-industrial averages. Every month since June 2023 has been hotter than the one preceding it, making the global average temperature between July 2023 and June 2024 1.64 C (3 F) greater than it was before the Industrial Revolution, when humans started burning fossil fuels to release huge quantities of greenhouse gases into the atmosphere.

According to Yale Climate Connections2, "August 2024 was Earth’s warmest August in analysis of global data going back to 1850, and the past three months (summer in the Northern Hemisphere and winter in the Southern Hemisphere) were the warmest June-to-August period on record." 2023 already smashed the record for world's hottest year by "a huge margin."3 Studies show that New England is warming faster than the rest of the world.4 Already, Massachusetts is seeing a massive uptick in the spread of diseases from mosquitoes and ticks during longer summers. Extreme heat has also claimed nearly 30 lives in Massachusetts over the past decade, and the numbers are expected to soar as the climate crisis worsens. By all scientific expectations, outcomes will only get rapidly worse from here without immediate mitigation efforts.

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Extinction Rebellion Boston is an autonomous chapter of the international grassroots movement, Extinction Rebellion (XR), which started in London in 2018. The purpose of XR is to tell the truth about how dire the ecological and climate crises are and spark immediate action in order to prevent climate and ecological collapse. We aim to mobilize people around the world to utilize nonviolent direct action to demand that governments take radical action to avert societal collapse caused by widespread climate and ecological disaster and to protect frontline communities, biodiversity, and the natural world. This movement is non-political and unites all of humanity behind a singular goal of a just and livable future for all. Learn more about Extinction Rebellion at: xrboston.org

XR Boston’s recruiting, training, and capacity building is supported by the Climate Emergency Fund, which strategically supports ultra-ambitious organizations demanding solutions to the climate crisis at emergency speed.

1. https://www.space.com/last-12-months-broke-temperature-records
2. https://yaleclimateconnections.org/2024/09/earth-has-its-hottest-august-and-hottest-june-august-on-record/
3. https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2024/jan/09/2023-record-world-hottest-climate-fossil-fuel
   
4. https://www.clf.org/blog/climate-change-worsens-extreme-weather-in-new-england/