April 20th, 2024. The second time I was arrested for civil disobedience. The first time I made international news. It was a good day.
On that cold Saturday morning, I joined Extinction Rebellion in shutting down the Hanscom private jet airfield in Concord, MA. 20 of us were arrested, but it’s the ultra-rich who are committing a crime…against our planet, against our children, against our future.
Interesting statistic: the richest 1% of humanity is responsible for more carbon emissions than the poorest 66%. We’re bearing the burden of their climate crimes. They are slowly killing us, and they don’t care.
What can we do about it? Well, we can start by banning private jets! Private jets cause 10 times as many CO2 emissions, per person, than regular flights. Massport is trying to expand Hanscom’s private jet infrastructure, which is the exact opposite direction we need. It’s not just going in the the opposite direction…it’s going in the opposite direction at 600 miles per hour.
If one person can stop a jet with their body, just imagine what a thousand, or a million, people can do with their voice and vote.
Are you interested in joining this fight? Here’s some ways to get involved!:
There’s a local campaign to Stop Private Jet Expansion in Massachusetts.
Get involved with Extinction Rebellion Boston locally, or find your own chapter at Extinction Rebellion US or Extinction Rebellion Global.
Commit to individual lifestyle change at Flight Free.
This is a short post, but it says what I really want to say. There’s still an open court case, so there’s still details I can’t share. One member of SPJE who showed up to support us in court said “You’ve done more for this cause in a day, than we could do in a thousand days”… and to some degree, it felt like living a thousand days at once! Maybe I’ll write more about the whole emotional journey later. Until then! Keep disrupting injustice everywhere, every day.
Thousand Year Picnic 