Climate activists sit in at Statehouse
BOSTON - Climate activists ensconced themselves in the Statehouse legislative chamber demanding that state lawmakers introduce measures barring the construction of new fossil fuel infrastructure.
About a dozen members of the groups Extinction Rebellion and Scientist Rebellion entered the gallery at the top of the House chambers before noon Wednesday, disrupting business as usual and demanding they be heard as a way to bring attention to the climate change emergency.
"We will not move until the legislature addresses the fossil fuel infrastructure construction," said Alex Chambers, one of the group members from inside the House gallery. "We're prepared to stay for as long as it takes."
The group was the same one that occupied the governor's office briefly in February, prompting state police and court officers to remove them. On Wednesday, lawmakers left the chamber and the doors were watched by State Police officers as well as court officers working in the Statehouse.
"I've been arrested seven times," Chambers said, pointing out that he's 24-years old and does not see a future for himself unless the state follows its own laws to address climate change.
Colleague Rose Abramoff, a scientist who studies the affects of climate change on soil and plants, warns that there is no time to waste.
"We want to force the Massachusetts state legislature to ban fossil fuels," Abramoff said. "As a scientist, I am aware we must end all new fossil fuel projects and dismantle a few that have already been approved. We can't be flexible about this because the science is not flexible. We don't have years to act."
House Speaker Ronald Mariano, D-Quincy, had no comment on the climate activists who filled the gallery.
This article originally appeared on Telegram & Gazette: Lawmakers leave unfinished business as climate activists converge
