Climate activists with the group Declare Emergency blocked the GW Parkway in Washington, D.C during rush hour on Wednesday morning to demand President Biden declare a “climate emergency” and cancel new fossil fuel drilling. Photojournalist Ford Fischer caught the action.
What they probably didn’t anticipate with their extremely selfish act was the dressing-down that they got from one irate lady who was trying to get to a job interview but was delayed by the massive traffic jam that these fools caused. “I have an interview today, are you serious?” the woman yelled. “That’s not fair, because of how YOU feel. This is the wrong way to go about it.”
VIDEO THREAD: Climate activists blocked the GW Parkway into DC on Wednesday morning during rush hour to demand President Biden declare a "climate emergency" and cancel new fossil fuel drilling.
"I have an interview today, are you serious?" yelled one angry driver, who said she's… pic.twitter.com/b26bLkXWWr
— Ford Fischer (@FordFischer) April 27, 2023
She tried to reason with them, explaining that if she missed the interview, what would happen to her family? But as she noted, they didn’t care. Other people also came up and yelled at activists, saying they were going to call the police and calling them “losers.” You can see how far that traffic is backed up.
Those people are right on target. Give that lady the job because she surely summed it up for the rest of us.
Even if you think the climate is somehow changing in a harmful way, you have other ways to express yourself that do not harm people like this lady — or all the other people backed up. But this group didn’t care about what emergencies or concerns might be blocked by their actions, because as this lady exposed — all they care about is what they “feel.” Her needs and the concerns of the rest of the people were unimportant to the climate crazies.
The other cars parted the way to let the police in to get these protesters. A U.S. Park Police officer advised them they could be arrested and tried to get them to at least open up a lane so people could get through. The officer even tried to tell them that they could be blocking emergencies, but they didn’t care.
Drivers blocked by climate activists parted to make way for police to arrive.
Officers attempted negotiating the activists into freeing up at least one lane, but some insisted they would stay put until arrested.
All video in thread by @wallendupraw for @N2Sreports. pic.twitter.com/rSbNGYSZch
— Ford Fischer (@FordFischer) April 27, 2023
The cop then said that their effort was hurting their cause if they truly cared about fossil fuels because they were causing more of it to be emitted by blocking all the cars on the road that were now just sitting there, pumping out emissions. “That seems kinda counterproductive,” he said. Brilliant observation by this cop. But they weren’t rational people so they didn’t care. He said they were going to be arrested, and the lady acting on the climate activists’ behalf asked, weren’t they going to get three warnings? The cop looked at her like she had three heads and you could hear him thinking “Is this lady wacky? Three warnings?” I’m not sure why they even waited at all since they could have just picked them up out of the roadway. They should have just removed the folks immediately.
Then another officer warned the people remaining in the roadway that because they were in Virginia, they could face a $2,500 fine and a year in jail, and that they might not get off as easily as they would in D.C. if that’s what they thought. Then, all three of the remaining people were arrested.
An officer informed the climate activists that because they were on the Virginia side of the border near DC, they could face a class A misdemeanor with $2500 and a year in jail for blocking the roads.
Three ultimately refused to leave and were arrested, re-opening traffic after… pic.twitter.com/CvuAcU7Vhf
— Ford Fischer (@FordFischer) April 27, 2023
This same group had previously gone wacky at the National Gallery of Art.
Two climate activists, Timothy Martin and Joanna Oltman of @DecEmergency were arrested after smearing paint onto the case around "Little Dancer of Fourteen Years" at the National Gallery of Art. Their charges are not yet clear.
A third, Will Regan, was reportedly detained but… pic.twitter.com/pMqw2kix2a
— Ford Fischer (@FordFischer) April 27, 2023
So they claimed that human expression is being destroyed by climate change — while they were trying to destroy/block artwork. That makes sense. Almost as much as causing more fossil fuel emissions by blocking roadways.
But the funny kicker to this crazy group’s actions? They have a website where they say, “We still have two to three years in which we can avert the worst consequences of the climate catastrophe” and they cite some British scientist who said in February 2021 that we only have “three or four years to determine the future of humanity.” We’re already 790 days into that three or four-year count, which means we only have until November 2023 or November 2024. My colleague Brad Slager noted on Earth Day how long they have been pitching the coming calamity. Shall we meet in another year and a half and note that we’re all still here and/or are these folks just going to move back the date without any embarrassment after they and all their brethren have been preaching catastrophe for decades now?
