Amanda Ghanooni
With just a week left before international climate talks kick off in Paris, 6 elected officials, 5 partner organizations, and over 80 NYC students and activists came together on the steps of City Hall yesterday morning.
Standing together, the activists asked Governor Cuomo to lead by example and commit to phase off coal-burning by 2020.
Assembly members Brian Kavanagh, Rebecca Seawright, and JoAnne Simon, as well as New York City Council members Donovan Richards (pictured speaking below) and Ben Kallos, all spoke in support of moving the state beyond coal.
Sierra Club partners New York Public Interest Research Group, Sane Energy Project, 350NYC, People's Climate Movement NY, and Bronx Climate Justice North all leant their voices to the cause.
Beyond Coal activists from Brooklyn, Queens, Manhattan, and the Bronx travelled to show their support for a just energy economy transition.
Honorary campaign matriarch 93-year-old Rachel Makleff and four radical 8th graders, pictured above, braved the wintery temperatures and showed their support.
Despite the press conference starting mid-morning, Sierra Club New York organizing representative Daniel Sherrell attested to how "it really channeled that electric, communal feel that makes organizing so powerful--the feeling of people sharing and reveling in their own empowerment".
