News Release
Fossil Free Media
Yesterday, Indigenous leaders and climate justice organizations from the New Mexico area held a rally in response to President Biden’s visit to New Mexico to bring attention to the fire devastation. President Biden was expected to arrive in New Mexico today to meet with Governor Michelle Lujan-Grisham, Rep. Teresa Leger-Frenadez, Rep. Stanbury, Senator Ben Ray Lujan, and Senator Martin Heinrich for a briefing on the current wildland fires throughout the state. The rally was organized by Pueblo Action Alliance, YUCCA (Youth United for Climate Crisis Action), the SouthWest Organizing Project, Tewa Women United, Coalition to Stop Violence Against Native Women, the Red Nation, Indigenous Lifeways, NM Climate Justice, New Energy Economy, Earth Care, WildEarth Guardians, Ikiya Collective, Friends of the Earth, and the Center for Biological Diversity. Watch the live stream.
New Mexico and across the Southwest, the arid landscape has been experiencing extreme climate conditions. Indigenous leaders and climate justice organizations are demanding that President Biden and the State of New Mexico link oil and gas production as a contributor to the climate crisis. The US Forest Service manages over 9 million acres of forest lands across New Mexico and has failed to mitigate wildland fires resulting in over 800,000 acres of New Mexico have burnt with several large fires still uncontained and the threat of new starts growing everyday as rising temperatures and deepening drought exacerbate a fire season that has only just begun.
Organizers from grassroots efforts have continued to mobilize against false solutions like hydrogen production, geoengineering, carbon capture and storage (CCS), net zero and offsetting schemes that will not address the climate crisis. Federal landscape and resource management along with President Biden’s and Governor Michelle Lujan-Grisham’s climate inaction have made the arid Southwest an epicenter of climate chaos. It is time to hold the oil and gas sector, New Mexico’s leadership and President Biden accountable for current climate devastation and declare a climate emergency.
The U.S. government’s failure to address the climate crisis with any meaningful actions is causing our homelands to burn! Grassroots leaders are calling for an end to oil and gas leasing and accountability for the devastation and displacement of tens of thousands of climate refugees in New Mexico whose homelands have forever been changed. The land and water is no longer safe in the hands of federal agencies, and must be returned back to Indigenous stewardship.
It’s time for Land Back, Water Back, and Climate Justice. We can no longer wait for neoliberal policies to save us from climate chaos.
Statements:
“Our ancestral homelands are burning due to the inaction from President Biden and the State of New Mexico. The historic legacy of natural resource extraction has contributed to the greenhouse gas emissions count that is fueling the climate crisis. We can no longer wait for neoliberal policies to save our lands, water, air and communities. We demand that bold climate action be taken immediately!”
– Pueblo Action Alliance
“Violence against our Mother Earth is violence against our bodies. Extractive industries lead not only to the climate crisis we are experiencing now but also directly link to MMIWR. A restoration of Indigenous land based values found in Indigenous traditional ecological knowledge is the path forward. We must unite in truth and love to end the violence of ongoing colonialism and return to reciprocal relationships with our lands and waters. May we seed solutions that ensure the health and safety of all communities and families in NM. We have no time left for inaction.”
– Coalition to Stop Violence Against Native Women
“When I look into Children’s eyes, I want them to have a flowing Rio Grande, ponderosa forests and snow on the Sandias— our children deserve a future. We must protect our only home. All elected officials must take bold action to a just transition and land and water back to Indigenous stewardship.”
– Anni Hanna, NM Climate Justice
“Colonialism and the continuation of the Fossil Fuel industry in New Mexico are the reason we are seeing such a dire situation in New Mexico and our land, water, and air all pay the price. With the arrival of the President we call on all New Mexicans to stand with Pueblo youth and Indigenous land-based communities to demand a climate emergency now. The only way we can change the current paradigm away from ecological disaster is through returning stewardship back (Land and Water Back) to the original Indigenous stakeholders of this land.”
– SouthWest Organizing Project
“As youth from New Mexico we demand Biden take climate action now! We are running out of time, our forests are burning, and our water is constantly being polluted. My name is Yang – I come from the Diné Nations on the Navajo reservation where our homelands and people are currently being sacrificed. We are not your sacrifice zones, we are human beings who deserve a safe & healthy environment! We demand Biden declare a climate emergency! The oil & gas industry is the main contributor to fires/pollution in NM. We ask that you stop harming Mother Earth & our bodies! We are aware of your greedy decisions, inhumane policies, and contaminated lies! We will not stop this fight for Mother Earth and our communities! Take climate action now, for future generations.”
– Yang, Youth United for Climate Crisis Action (YUCCA)
ENG: “We’re here because we’re in the fight of our lives and the fight for our futures. We’re here because of the economic decisions that our elected officials have made to produce and trade fossil fuels and ignore the consequences. We’re here because their systems only serve to oppress us and our frontline communities which are being sacrificed. Our people of color are the ones dying and their blood is on their hands. On the hands of our officials who continue to fail to serve the very people which they are meant to protect and represent. My name is Jazmín and I am a first-generation daughter of an immigrant family. I want to context our struggle as young people in this country. We’re watching you and living the consequences of your actions. Your greed. Your promises mean nothing to us, your actions are what speak and we demand action. It is so critical that our government is held accountable because the health and the future of our communities are being threatened and destroyed. People here face a daily life of breathing toxic air and contaminated waters. I’m losing my teenage years to this. You’ve robbed me and my community of a healthy life and right now a healthy future.”
SPA: “Estamos aquí porque estamos en la lucha de nuestras vidas y en la lucha por nuestro futuro. Estamos aquí debido a las decisiones económicas que han tomado nuestros funcionarios electos para producir y comercializar combustibles fósiles y después ignorar las consecuencias. Estamos aquí porque sus sistemas solo sirven para oprimirnos. Nuestra gente es la que está muriendo y su sangre está en sus manos. En manos de nuestros funcionarios que continúan sin servir a las mismas personas a las que deben proteger y representar. Mi nombre es Jazmín y soy hija de la primera generación de una familia inmigrante. Quiero contextualizar nuestra lucha como jóvenes en este país. Los observamos y vivimos en las consecuencias de sus actos. Sus promesas no significan nada para nosotros, sus acciones son las que hablan y exigimos acción. Es critical que nuestro gobierno se responsabilice porque la salud y el futuro de nuestras comunidades están siendo amenazadas. La gente aquí enfrenta una vida diaria de respirar aire tóxico y aguas contaminadas. Estoy perdiendo mi adolescencia por esto. Nos has robado a mí y a mi comunidad una vida saludable y, en este momento, un futuro saludable.”
– Jazmín, Youth United for Climate Crisis Action (YUCCA)
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