On Sunday, Sept. 17, thousands of people who care about the climate will take to the streets of New York City in a “March to End Fossil Fuels.” The March coincides with the first ever ”Climate Ambition Summit” at the UN, which the Secretary-General is convening next week “to accelerate action by governments, business, finance, local authorities and civil society.”

Secretary-General AntónioGuterres is calling on all nations, especially major emitters, to commit to greater cuts in emissions and to present “energy transition plans with commitments to no new coal, oil and gas; fossil fuel phase-out plans; more ambitious renewable-energy targets; Green Climate Fund pledges; and economy-wide plans on adaptation and resilience. ”

The March is calling on President Biden to:

■Stop federal approval of fossil fuel projects and repeal the permits for the Willow Project (a recently approved huge oil drilling project in Alaska) and the Mountain Valley Pipeline in West Virginia.

■Phase out fossil fuel drilling on our public lands and waters.

■Declare a climate emergency to halt fossil fuel exports and investments abroad and build more just, distributed renewable energy.

■Provide a just transition to a renewable energy future that supports workers’ and community rights.

Why are the March demands focused on President Biden? The United States is the largest producer of oil and gas in the world. President Biden is in a unique position to lead the world toward elimination of our dependence on fossil fuels and their deadly climate and health effects. While Biden has passed some very good legislation that is promoting renewable energy, he and the country as a whole, have done nothing to cut back the fossil fuel industry. The industry is charging full-speed ahead to expand extraction, manipulate our politics, and reap obscene profits, while hastening irreversible worldwide climate disaster. They must be stopped.

We received some really good local climate news this week! Northampton City Council adopted the new Opt-In Specialized Stretch Energy code being recommended by the state (Gazette, Sept. 11). This is a great step toward meeting our climate goals. This code requires new construction to either be fully electric or, if using any fossil fuels, to have on-site solar installations and be wired for future full electrification. Hopefully, this will serve as a model for all other local municipalities. I don’t see how anyone can reasonably claim to care about the climate crisis and fail to endorse this new specialized code as a step toward reducing emissions from our buildings. This is especially true now that 19 Massachusetts municipalities, including Boston, Wellfleet, Cambridge, and Northampton have adopted it.

There are many opportunities for all of us to take action and to expand our understanding of the climate situation both locally and globally.

You could join me and busloads of people from western Mass at the March in New York City on Sunday. The March will start at W. 56th St. and Broadway in Manhattan at 1 p.m. and is 1.3 miles long. The closing rally will be over by 4 p.m. Details are available at www.endfossilfuels.us/march. It promises to be a non-violent, joyful, and meaningful day.

You could sign the Sunrise Movement petition calling on President Biden to declare a climate emergency at www.climateemergencypetition.com/

If you live anywhere outside Northampton, you could call your Town Council or Select Board members and encourage them to adopt the Specialized Energy Code. If you live in Northampton, you could call your City Council members and thank them for taking such an important climate action.

The week following the March in NYC is ”Climate Week NYC.” It is a week filled with workshops, lectures, and actions. While most of them are in person in Manhattan, some of them are also available online. I assume that some of them will be wonderful climate justice events and some will be greenwashing by large corporations. I will be there with a group from Sustaining All Life. I can recommend two of our events that will be available remotely on Zoom if you pre-register.

“Voices from the Frontlines of the Climate Emergency” at 1:30 p.m. on Friday, Sept. 22 will give you an opportunity to hear climate activists from the Global South describe how climate change is affecting their counties. “Eliminating the Effects of Racism on Our Work to Sustain All Life” will provide perspectives from several cultures on Saturday, Sept. 23 at 10:30 a.m. You can register in advance and get the Zoom link for both of these at https://sal.rc.org/workshop/climateweekonline.

Closer to home, on Sept. 27 at 5:45 - 8 p.m., there will be a ”Clean Energy Incentives for All” forum and public discussion about incentives and rebates available to individuals, renters, homeowners, businesses, and non-profit organizations. This event is free and will be at Westfield State University, sponsored by many local organizations. It will feature some quite knowledgeable presenters.

Russ Vernon-Jones of Amherst is a member of the Steering Committee of Climate Action Now (CAN). The views expressed here are his own. He blogs regularly on climate justice at www.russvernonjones.org.

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