NO TENNIS ON A DEAD PLANET
September 7, 2023
xrnyc_press@unitedrebellion.com
NO TENNIS ON A DEAD PLANET: ACTIVISTS DISRUPT US OPEN TO SAY “END FOSSIL FUELS NOW”
Queens, New York City – On Thursday, September 7, activists from Extinction Rebellion disrupted the US Open event, disrupting play the same way a rain delay would. Protestors warned that there is "no tennis on a dead planet", and demanded an end to fossil fuels.
This action follows a long history of nonviolent civil disobedience as a tool for societal change, such as sit-ins during the civil rights movement and traffic obstruction by women suffragettes. Famous suffragette Emily Davison blocked a derby as early as 1913. This action was considered pivotal by some in the greater fight for equal voting rights. Today’s action highlights the neglect of the climate and ecological breakdown by governments and corporations. The group emphasizes that the present socio-economic system can't protect people from the crises to come, because its very structure creates these crises and then ignores them. The extremely short-term incentives of our key institutions — corporations and governments, which respectively function on quarterly profits and periodic elections, disregard the long-term dangers to our survival. This system is committed to stealing from future generations to sustain a lifestyle that primarily benefits the few (the so-called “one percent”).
WHY “NO TENNIS ON A DEAD PLANET”?
The climate and ecological crisis threatens everything on our planet, including sports. This action and similar actions are the response of a movement that has no other recourse than to engage in unconventional means of protest to bring mass attention to the greatest emergency of our time. All normal means of effecting change appropriate to the scale of the catastrophe – including voting, petitioning, lobbying, etc. – have failed and continue to fail. Yet the science makes clear that we have only a very small window of time in which to end fossil fuels and stop carbon emissions.
The group is also highlighting the fact that major sports events have already been disrupted by extreme weather. The average high temperatures felt during the U.S. Open and the three other major tennis tournaments have steadily gotten higher and more dangerous in recent decades, increasing the likelihood of heat-related illness for athletes and spectators. Tennis star Daniil Medvedev warned that “one player (is) gonna die” because of the excessive heat during the US Open. In 2023, the Australian Open was delayed two days because of a heatwave. Hurricane Hillary in California led Major League Baseball to postpone several games.
Tennis-as-usual won't be possible on a planet in which humanity fails to keep global warming below 1.5 degrees Celsius. If activists don’t disrupt these games, the climate will.
DEMANDS
Recently, Professor Sir Bob Watson, a prominent British climate scientist and former head of the United Nations climate body, voiced his belief that the target to limit global warming to 1.5 degrees Celsius will be missed. At the same time, President Joe Biden has not lived up to his climate pledges and rhetoric made during the 2020 election campaign. Even those failed pledges are considered by many to be ineffective and weak: policies such as electric cars, carbon capture, or expanded renewables do not adequately resolve the catastrophe that looms. Yet, the Biden administration’s actions are worse than failure: fossil fuel oil and gas drilling, production and export. Projects such as the Willow Project and Alaska LNG, commonly referred to as “carbon bombs,” will trigger catastrophic climate breakdown to an extent no known climate technology can recover from.
Extinction Rebellion demands the government tell the truth by declaring a climate and ecological emergency, and halt biodiversity loss and reduce greenhouse gas emissions to net zero by 2025. These demands reflect the urgency of the existential crisis that we’re facing.
This protest is a prelude to the "Biden: End Fossil Fuels" mass march scheduled to take place in New York City on September 17th.
QUOTES
“We're not protesting the event itself; we are not protesting tennis; we are not protesting the emissions that brought spectators to get here. That's not the point. We are here because we have to disrupt this public event as our last resort to draw public attention to the climate emergency we are facing today,” said Shayok Mukhopadhyay, Extinction Rebellion activist.
“The climate is already more disruptive than any activists can possibly be. Just look at the U.S. Open and other big tennis events — year after year, the average temperatures have been rising, making it hotter and more dangerous for the players and spectators. At some point, there will be fewer outdoor sporting events due to excessive heat,” said Miles Grant, Extinction Rebellion spokesperson.
"We're doing this because we are desperate. We are on course for a 2.7°C increase in global temperatures. Non-disruptive protests have been attempted for the past 50 years since climate change became scientific fact, and they have proven ineffective. So we are left with no choice but to resort to disruptive methods. If we don't, extreme weather events will do it anyway. Rain delays happen all the time and this is no worse," explained Jack Baldwin, an Extinction Rebellion spokesperson.
“We have no corporate sponsors, which grants us the freedom to speak openly. However, it also means we operate on a tight budget. We simply cannot afford men's games due to the unfair pricing disparity; male games are significantly more expensive. This is yet another troubling consequence of patriarchy," said Laura Cole, Extinction Rebellion activist.
Laura Robinson, an amateur tennis player and an Extinction Rebellion activist, stated, "The disruption generated is pale in comparison to the climate crisis, which has already surpassed its equivalent of a 'Pearl Harbor' moment. What we face is not just inconvenience, but a complete upheaval of our life support systems: food and water shortages, forced climate-driven migration, and conflicts over dwindling natural resources. What is halting a leisure activity for an hour in comparison to having your entire planet on fire?"
"Supplying the populace with food and entertainment was what the elites of the later Roman Empire did to distract people’s attention away from political and economic problems, reducing the risk of civil unrest. We have to disrupt today’s ‘circuses’ to bring attention to how government inaction will result in more than one billion people being displaced by 2050. That’s 1 in 8 people," said Mun Chong, a spokesperson for Extinction Rebellion.
About Extinction Rebellion
Time has almost entirely run out to address the climate and ecological crisis, including the sixth mass extinction, global pollution, and abrupt, runaway climate change. Societal collapse and mass death are seen as inevitable by scientists and other credible voices if rapid action is not taken. Extinction Rebellion believes it is a citizen’s duty to rebel, using peaceful civil disobedience, when faced with criminal inactivity by their Government.
Extinction Rebellion’s key demands are:
Tell the Truth - Government must tell the truth by declaring a climate and ecological emergency, working with other institutions to communicate the urgency for change.
Act Now - Government must act now to halt biodiversity loss and reduce greenhouse gas emissions to net zero by 2025.
Beyond Politics - Government must create and be led by the decisions of a Citizens’ Assembly on climate and ecological justice.
Just Transition - Government must commit to a just transition in order to maintain a livable, just planet for all.
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