The walk will begin in President Biden’s hometown of Scranton, Pa.
Climate change is endangering all future generations, and I am part of a team organizing a major action in June to challenge this outcome, the Walk For Our Grandchildren and Mother Earth. I hope you will consider walking with us.
This isn’t just any stroll. We aim to pressure President Biden and his administration to do everything in their power to end fossil fuel extraction and burning, the making of nerdles for the dead-end plastic industry. We want them to transition immediately to renewables, especially wind and solar, energy efficiency and battery storage. We aim to take the fight directly to Biden – the march will start in Scranton, Pa., the birthplace of “Scrappy Joe” and end in Wilmington, Del., where he has made his adult home. But “Uncle Joe” is not our only target.
This fight is personal to me. I live in the shalefields of western Pennsylvania, and the last 10-plus years of my life have been consumed by fighting fracking and climate change. This walk will take us from the shalefields of northeastern Pennsylvania, past fracking waste disposal sites, through many pipeline fights, into environmental justice zones, and then into the corporate wasteland of Wilmington – corporate home to frackers, pipeliners, trash burners, and the dirty banks that fund them (and so much else). And, if you know me, that won’t be the end.
As we all know, President Biden has proposed policies to accomplish these goals. But his Jobs Act is not sufficient. Much bolder action is needed. Our goal can be summarized by the proposal for a Thrive Act, which would invest one trillion dollars per year for the next ten years to build a jobs-creating, justice-based, renewable-energy economy. In the process, we intend to demonstrate that ongoing fossil fuel projects like Dakota Access Pipeline, Line 3 in Minnesota, Mountain Valley Pipeline, and similar projects presently permitted, financed and under construction, must be terminated immediately.
Vaccinated people of all ages are invited to participate and walk with us (those ineligible for vaccination are welcome). On the Summer Solstice and Fathers’ Day, June 20, we will gather and rally in Scranton, where Biden was born and raised. Over the next eight days we will walk and drive to Wilmington, Del., Biden’s long-time residence. Along the way we will meet activists fighting environmental assaults and injustices like the Marcus Hook refinery in Philadelphia, the Gibbstown LNG export facility on the Delaware River in New Jersey, and a toxic trash incinerator in Chester, Pa. On June 28, in Wilmington, we will challenge financing by Chase Bank, the largest U.S. funder of fossil fuels.
Please feel free to contact me so I can share my excitement about this great event and answer any questions you may have,Thanks, Michael, 724-431-8560, mbagdes@gmail.com.
Michael Bagdes-Canning
Editor’s note: Michael Bagdes-Canning was the 2020 Green Party candidate for PA House District 64.