As thousands of people streamed up Metro escalators to attend this year’s Congressional Baseball Game in Washington, DC, they were met by a group of chanting protesters. The assemblage of activists, called Now or Never, included faith leaders, students, and environmental justice organizers. They were there to express their frustration with policymakers for sitting on their hands during a climate crisis. Over a chorus of string and wind instruments, they chanted, “If we don’t get it, shut it down!” while marching toward National Stadium among the spectators.

The protestors, at least 150 in total, were here to urge leaders in Congress to declare a climate emergency and swiftly pass the deal, the Inflation Reduction Act of 2022, that Senators Joe Manchin (D-WV) and Chuck Schumer (D-NY) had brokered the night before. 

As the game prepared to start, the group formed a wall of bodies to block attendees from entering. Metropolitan police assembled along the stadium fence almost as quickly as protesters began to block the center gate. Police erected barriers to direct traffic flow and separated protesters from spectators. Before the game started, the first protester was arrested, whisked away by all four limbs, and carried to the nearest police van.  

The activists are calling for a climate deal that will sufficiently lower carbon emissions and help the nation cut those emissions in half in the coming decades. A succinct slogan summing up their goal—“Democrats: Seal the Deal on Climate!”—was emblazoned across red picket signs that they swayed in unison, resembling a red wave.

The Inflation Reduction Act of 2022 was announced on July 27, just days before the game. As a result, some of the leaders planning the protest at the Congressional Baseball Game backed out at the last minute. With Build Back Better all but dead, activists had planned to show up demanding action and ready to take their anger out on Manchin for his long-standing efforts to block any climate legislation.

“Sen. Joe Manchin III (D-W.Va.) and his Republican allies this month again blocked major federal climate legislation. In doing so, they have simultaneously boosted inflation, enriched their friends in the fossil fuel industry and trashed the future of my 25-year-old son and his whole generation,” Mike Tidwell, director of the Chesapeake Climate Action Network and one of the original organizers of the protest at the game, wrote in an op-ed in the Washington Post before the game.  

On the day of the event, he backed out of the protest. “Because events have changed, we're no longer participating,” Tidwell told Sierra.

While some participants seemed optimistic that there was a deal on the table, others were undeterred. Jennifer K. Falcon works with the Ikiya Collective, a climate action group that focuses on elevating climate issues impacting marginalized voices in the South. She helped organize protesters all the way from Oklahoma and Texas to come to the protest. She stressed the importance of pushing leaders further and said this is a good start, but not nearly where we need to be. “We already don't have clean drinking water. This is not enough for us,” Falcon said. “This is essentially like neoliberals putting us as sacrifice zones by accepting this and not fighting harder. We definitely need to, yes, seal the deal, but we need Biden to declare a climate emergency.”

Sourish Dey, a 17-year-old climate activist from Maryland, agreed. He was encouraged by the new legislation but cautioned that the new deal has the potential to reduce only 40 percent of our emissions by 2030, and we need far more. “This bill does do a significant amount of positive work, but that is not enough,” Dey said. “The IPCC said we need to reduce emissions in half in the entire world by 2030. So this is not enough. Biden has got to declare a climate emergency. He's got to use every tool at his disposal as the president of the most powerful nation on earth to combat this crisis.” 

The slim majorities Democrats hold in the Senate and House of Representatives leave no chance for error. The vote of Kyrsten Sinema (D-AZ) may prove critical if no Republicans join Democrats in endorsing the bill. She has so far not publicly commented on the legislation. Some activists are worried, but Tidwell remains optimistic about the bill’s prospects. “I’m just assuming if Schumer and Manchin are announcing an agreement, they’ve counted the votes,” he said when asked about who they might urge to vote on the bill. “I don’t think they would have brought this out with such fanfare if they didn’t have the votes.” 

As the game got underway, protesters took up a section of seats inside the baseball stadium, holding their red signs high. Police quickly snatched the signs away, leaving them to chant, “What do we want? Climate justice now!” By the time the last pitch was thrown, at least three activists had been arrested.

The Republicans showed that, when it comes to baseball at least, they still have the upper hand: They beat the Democrats by a whopping 10–0.