WASHINGTON- Clad in green hardhats, thousands of young protesters demonstrated outside the U.S. Chamber of Commerce for the environment. The rally on Monday was the product of a four-day conference called Power Shift 2011, a large grassroots training session.
“Sooner or later, you have to say, ‘Can I talk to the guy in the back room counting the money?’” Bill McKibben said to a large audience in the Lafayette Square near the White House. “That’s what happens at the Chamber of Commerce.”
McKibben is the co-founder of 350.org, a nonprofit organization working against climate change. Protest leaders like Phil Aroneanu believe that the Chamber of Commerce supports corporate polluters.
“They’ve spent more money than any other group electing politicians who don’t believe climate change is real—climate deniers,” said Aroneanu who also helped found 350.org. “And we don’t believe they have a right to speak for businesses around the country they have a right to speak but they don’t speak for us.”
350.org teamed up with the Energy Action Coalition to march against corporate polluters. Individuals representing a variety of environmental and social justice groups traveled all across the nation to voice their concerns about the responsibility of clean energy usage.
Maura Friedman, who is a member of her local Sierra Youth Coalition chapter, came to the conference to address the issues of coal burning on her college campus.
“We’re all here today because we know actions speak louder than words,” said Friedman, a sophomore at the University of Georgia. “So we’re calling our politicians to join us with the work that we’ve already been doing across the country and our communities to push for clean energy instead of just talking about it.”
Cherri Foytlin, an oil worker’s wife started her travel plans almost a month ago. She walked from New Orleans to Washington, to ask government leaders to help raise leaders to help raise awareness of the continuing damage of last year’s Gulf oil spill.
“I’m still waiting for BP to do what they said they were going to do and clean up this mess,” said Foytlin who works with Solution to Pollution. “And, most importantly we need to diversify this economy so we can have a sustainable future for our living and our energy providers”
The march started in front of the White House and made its way past the Chamber of Commerce to the offices of British Petroleum. BP declined to comment but said that they respect people’s right to protest.
“A lot of these corporations base their profits on extracting fossil fuels, burning them and we can’t have that anymore,” said Aroneanu. “They know it and we know it and right now it’s a Hail Mary pass from the dirty energy industry.”
Aroneanu believes that businesses that pollute are buying Congress.
“We’re saying Congress represents us, not the 15 or 16 corporations that donate 55 percent of the budget here at the U.S. Chamber of Commerce.”
The Chamber of Commerce representative we spoke to did not comment on lobbying efforts but he did say that the chamber supports a green agenda such as offering incentives to the creation of more clean energy jobs and technologies.
But for Destinee Jones of Mossville, La., the problem isn’t more jobs—it’s more residents. She says the city is so polluted by carcinogens from a nearby petroleum plant that it is practically deserted.
“A lot of [local businesses] were then bought out for pennies on the dollar but they left because they knew we were a polluted area and so a lot of our community is a ghost town,” Jones said.
Jones has a 19-month-old son who uses a breathing machine because of the contaminated air. The city is home to 14 chemical company plants.
She says that officials from the Environmental Protection Agency promised the community that they would regulate the emission levels, but they haven’t kept their word.
“We’re proposing for clean air and human rights for everyone but as well as for Mossville,” said Jones. “They should pay for our relocation expenses, because they have to pay for what they’ve done to our town.”
Rally participants made a final plea to Congress, asking to protect the Clean Air Act and shift polluter handouts to clean energy investments. Although Congress is on recess, Aroneanu says they’re going to make their case to congressional aides.
“We’re still headed to congress there’s going to be thousands of people on the Hill today lobbying congressional staff. They’ll hear about it that’s for sure whether they’re here or not”