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The March to End Fossil Fuels was a mass march that took place in New York City on September 17, 2023 immediately before the United Nations Climate Ambition Summit. This summit, scheduled right before the global climate policy summit of COP28, was an opportunity for countries to present their proposed plans to help shift the world away from fossil fuels. Only countries that had proved to be high-commitment climate leaders were invited to speak, and the US did not make the cut. Climate Justice organizers seized the moment of international embarrassment to push President Biden, and every major climate financier on Wall Street, too.

Led by delegations of indigenous peoples and frontline impacted communities of color from across North and South America, the March to End Fossil Fuels sits within the vibrant climate movement tradition of mass permitted marches as a show of solidarity with the communities hit first and worst by climate change. These marches spread public awareness and showed national and global leaders how popular—not to mention urgent—bold policy that addresses climate change really is. The historic 75,000-person march in NYC iterated on this tactical form by focusing the March on a simple set of demands at a single target: President Biden. Under Biden, the US is the largest producer of oil and gas, the largest exporter of gas, and has the biggest plans on the planet for fossil fuel expansion.

The weeks leading up to and after the mass march were filled with smaller, more disruptive actions against banks and fossil fuel financers, referred collectively to as the “Wave of Action”. Targets included Citibank, Chase, the Museum of Modern Art (for its board members’ financing of fossil fuels) Blackrock, and the Federal Reserve. These actions yielded hundreds of arrests and helped activists from across the US who had come from the March to level up their skills at orchestrating civic disruption. It also built relationships between indigenous water protectors, anti-globalization era activists, frontline leaders in NYC, and a new young generation of climate activists. In addition, Over 600,000 people mobilized on all seven continents in solidarity actions with the mass march in NYC.

For a mass mobilization to succeed, it has to do the work of political pressure on the March’s target, and of bearing testament to the media of the participants’ experiences. This mobilization had two core narratives 1) A demand to President Biden to End Fossil Fuels: to Stop all federal approvals for new fossil fuel projects, Phase out production of fossil fuels on federal public lands and waters, and Declare a climate emergency 2) A Public expression of this moment of grief and reckoning, showing that the public is at a breaking point in our willingness to accept extreme weather and climate-induced suffering, ready to take back our future and hold politicians accountable.

The Artwork

The goal of visuals for the March was to strategically calibrate and implement these two narratives. Coordinating alongside the smaller and punchier Wave of Action, the art was created through a month of consultative calls with frontline impacted communities, youth, faith, labor, and anti-corporate campaigning groups. This design process, led by the visual strategy team Look Loud (Josh Yoder and Rachel Schragis) supported the March to disperse leadership across many more individuals and organizations, and also to build coherent messaging across those constituents. The physical artwork that came out of these processes was produced through a weeklong workshop, open to the public, that ran concurrent with training for the Wave of Action, welcoming hundreds of participants to deepen their connection to the fight for climate justice in the days leading up to the March. While Look Loud managed an assembly line that anyone could plug into, Brooklyn-based community artist Crystal Clarity held open space at nearby

Medicine Walls Studio, for any self-organized group that had a specialized piece of the collective message to share: including banners for self-organized hubs representing Anti-militarization, Elders, Global South Diasporas, Gulf South leaders and Queers. Additionally, Medicine Walls helped lift up the very local campaign to stop the North Brooklyn Pipeline. Dozens of others took on sizable visual strategy efforts for the March, above and beyond this centralized workshop, including Desi’s Rising Up and Moving, Climate Families NYC, GreenPeace, CodePink, and many other partner organizations.

Outcomes

Initially setting a modest goal of 10,000-20,000 marches, the organizers were stunned when 75,000 people arrived on the day of the March. Clearly, the call hit a public nerve. The March also helped move the needle on US public policy, with President Biden canceling drilling in Alaska and announcing intentions to create an American Climate Corps in the weeks around the march, in addition to huge media coverage of the March itself. Most notably, major news outlets called the White House directly for comment from the Biden administration on the March, forcing them to defend their climate record to the public. Publishing young people holding signs that said “I didn’t vote for fossil fuels” on the front page, the New York Times juxtaposed the enormous march with defensive remarks from the Biden administration and questions about their plans for a second term.

Box Set Checklist

Total Items: 25

Printed Placards

1. Biden Declare A Climate Emergency, 2023, 18” x 28”, Offset Print

(double-sided), March to End Fossil Fuels leadership team

2. Biden End Fossil Fuels, 2023, 18” x 28”, Offset Print, double-sided,

March to end Fossil Fuels leadership team

Youth Round Signs

3. I Didn’t Vote For Fossil Fuels, 2023, 30” d. Circle, Stencil on Cardboard, March to End Fossil Fuels Youth Contingent

4. I Didn’t Vote For Climate Disaster, 2023, 30” d. Circle, Stencil on

Cardboard, March to End Fossil Fuels Youth Contingent

Road Signs

5. No New Fossil Fuels, 2023, 24” x 24”, Stencil on Cardboard,

Wave of Actions anti-banks bloc

6. Fossil Fuels Kill, 2023, 24” x 24”, Stencil on Cardboard Wave of Actions

anti-banks bloc

7. Image: Thermometer and heat waves, 2023, 24” x 24”, Stencil on Cardboard New York Communities for Change and Center for Popular Democracy Climate Defenders, March to End Fossil Fuels Frontline delegation Advisors

8. Image: People running from storm, 2023, 24” x 24”, Stencil on Cardboard, New York Communities for Change and Center for Popular Democracy Climate Defenders, March to End Fossil Fuels Frontline delegation Advisors

9. Gente En La Lucha, 2023, 24” x 24”, Stencil on Cardboard, New York

Communities for Change and Center for Popular Democracy Climate defenders, Frontline Advisory circles

Vertical Banners

10. Biden End Fossil Fuels, 2023, 48”x48”, Stencil on Polycotton Broadcloth, March to End Fossil Fuels leadership team

11. We Can’t Work in a Flood, 41”x41”, Stencil on Polycotton Broadcloth,

March to End Fossil Fuels Labor Contingent

Dollar Bill Banners

12. Your Greed + Climate Chaos, 2023, 59”x26”, Stencil on Cotton Muslin,

Wave of Actions anti-banks bloc

13. They’re Killing Us for Profit, 59”x26”, Stencil on Cotton Muslin,

Wave of Actions anti-banks bloc

Other Ephemera

14. Fossil Fuels Kill, Caution Tape, 4” x 20ft, Plastic

15. Fossil Fuels Kill, Sticker, 3” d, Plastic

Photographs

16. Make the Road Members march in Frontline Contingent

17. Banner and Sign Production Space at Be Electric Studio

18. Producing signs for the End Fossil Fuels Wave of Actions against Banks

19. Producing Youth signs, with multi-faith signage

20. For the Future by Crystal Clarity, Medicine Walls Studio

21. Youth Contingent marching

22. Global South Diaspora’s

contingent marching, contingent leadership and hands signs by

Desis Rising Up and Moving (DRUM), banner designed by Crystal Clarity, Medicine Walls Studio

23. Front of march indigenous

people’s delegation

24. End of March rally and speeches

25. Wave of Actions: Shut down the Federal Bank