Civil Disobedience with Extinction Rebellion

On Thursday, September 21, 2023 (photo above, I’m in sunglasses and clerical collar), I got arrested in Boston with about 20 other climate activists. We were all participating in a non-violent act of civil disobedience impressively coordinated by the organization Extinction Rebellion Boston. We were demanding that the Commonwealth of Massachusetts commit itself to creating no new fossil fuel infrastructure. We were asserting that the time for major, decisive action is now; it is too late for incrementalism. We blocked traffic during the morning rush hour in Boston’s financial district, probably between 20 and 30 minutes all told. We know people hate this tactic, but we were optimistic that it would get press coverage, and it did – in the Boston Globe and Herald and AP... It got far more mainstream media attention than the last time that I was arrested in an act of civil disobedience, protesting the new pipeline being built in Boston in the West Roxbury neighborhood (see an old blog post on that here, photo below).

We lost that battle, back in 2016. The West Roxbury gas pipeline was built and is operating now. I can’t believe that was 7 years ago. I have been remiss, and I can’t afford to wait another 7 years to use my prophetic role as a clergy person to draw attention to the climate crisis. I have to step up my game. We all do. We all have a role in the struggle against climate catastrophe, and we each have to find our niche. I preached about this at First Church Unitarian in Littleton on September 24; watch the service here.