Protest News

Dallas joins Global Climate Strike to urge action on environmental crisis

Teen activist Greta Thunberg has inspired a global initiative.

Courtesy photo

We may not have Greta in town, but Dallas is nonetheless joining a worldwide strike to call attention to a global climate crisis.

The Global Climate Strike is a series of protests and other activities, from September 20-27, designed to raise awareness of the climate breakdown and encourage politicians and business leaders to take urgent action.

According to CNN, 4,638 events are slated to take place in 139 countries. Millions of people from Sydney to Manila to Athens to London to New York to Miami are marching.

Organizers include environmental organizations, students, labor and humanitarian groups, and company employees. In some cities, students are taking the day off from school to participate.

In Dallas, the events begin on September 20 and run throughout the week, which can be followed via a Facebook event page.

The face of the protest has become Greta Thunberg, an inspiring 16-year-old activist from Sweden who has been making appearances before political bodies such as the National Assembly of Paris in July, and on TV shows like The Daily Showin September, to convey a sense of urgency.

She's in the United States to attend the U.N. Climate Action Summit in New York on September 23. (She came via a zero-emissions boat, a trip that took two weeks; she does not fly because of the environmental impact.)

Thunberg is speaking about the shrinking wiggle room we have in terms of carbon emissions before we're no longer able to undo irreversible climate breakdown.

Thunberg quotes a report by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), an intergovernmental body of the United Nations, which states that, in order to limit catastrophic temperature rise, we have to lower our carbon emissions.

"We have 425 gigatons of carbon dioxide left in our co2 budget, and we emit 42 gigatons of co2 every year," Thunberg says. "At our current emissions levels, our remaining budget is gone within 8 and a half years."

Following Thunberg's lead, the Global Climate Strike has been primarily youth-driven, but other environmental groups around Dallas are joining in.

To kick off the week, activists will meet at 7 pm at the west end of the Continental Bridge/Margaret Hunt Hill/Ronald Kirk Pedestrian Bridge for a rally. This is a peaceful, nonviolent, nonpartisan event.

It promises to be pretty dramatic, since it entails a march across the bridge culminating in a symbolic "die-in." When it gets dark, the group will be joined by the North Texas Light Brigade for a light display and photo op with the Dallas skyline as a backdrop.

Participating organizations include youthful groups like the Sunrise Movement Dallas, Young Advocates Committee, and Zero Hour - Dallas.

But it's pretty much a laundry list of every group in Dallas that cares about the environment and quality of life: Dallas Sierra Club, Dallas Peace & Justice Center, Earthworks Oil & Gas Accountability Project, Environmental Justice Committee, Pax Christi Dallas, Social Action Council of the First Unitarian Church of Dallas, Southern Sector Rising, Texas Campaign for the Environment, Veterans For Peace, Chapter 106, and more.

The schedule of activities is as follows:

Friday, September 20, 7 pm
Kickstart event for Global Climate Strike Week of Action
Continental Bridge/Margaret Hunt Hill Bridge, 2901 N. Beckley Ave., Dallas

Saturday, September 21, 10 am
Zero Hour Dallas hosts "Dallas Youth Climate March
Collin County Courthouse, 2100 Bloomdale Rd., McKinney

Monday, September 23, 10 am
Codepink Greater Dallas and Veterans For Peace hosts "Tell BlackRock: Divest from Fossil Fuels and War"
5910 N. Central Expy. (just north of Mockingbird Station)

Monday, September 23, 5:30-7:30 pm
Dallas Sierra Club hosts "Climate Change Walk" through downtown Dallas
Main Street Garden Park, 195 S. Harwood St.

Tuesday, September 24, 11:30 am
The Young Advocates Committee hosts a Climate Strike
University of Texas at Dallas

Thursday, September 26, 10 am
Bee for the Planet - Dallas hosts "Swarm Dallas to Save the Planet" including a BEE Flash-dance & die-in
Grassy Knoll

Thursday, September 26, 6 pm
DISD Board Meeting
5151 Samuell Blvd., Dallas
Students, parents, and supporters are encouraged to sign up to encourage DISD to adopt a climate action plan. Call 214-762-3163 to coordinate.

sustainability

Genie Is Out of The Bottle

Texas Lt. Governor Dan Patrick launches new push to ban THC

The THC limit in medical cannabis products is also increasing.

Photo courtesy of TOCC

undefined

Texas Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick is launching a quixotic quest to ban legal THC: According to a release, Patrick is pushing legislation that would ban all forms of consumable Tetrahydrocannabinol (THC) from being sold in Texas.

He's promoting Senate Bill 3, which would be carried by Sen. Charles Perry, R-Lubbock, and would ban all forms of THC.

Patrick is unhappy with House Bill 1325, introduced by Rep. Tracy King, D-Uvalde, to bolster agriculture in Texas. It was passed by the Texas Legislature in 2019.

Part of that bill allowed for the commercialization of hemp, which included un-removable non-intoxicating trace amounts of Delta 9 THC.

“Dangerously, retailers exploited the agriculture law to sell life-threatening, unregulated forms of THC to the public and made them easily accessible," Patrick says in his release. "These stores not only sold to adults, but they targeted Texas children and exposed them to dangerous levels of THC."

"Since 2023, thousands of stores selling hazardous THC products have popped up in communities across the state, and many sell products, including beverages, that have three to four times the THC content which might be found in marijuana purchased from a drug dealer," he says.

It seems like the genie is out of the bottle: According to the Baker Institute, hemp in Texas is booming: From 2020 to 2023, sales of hemp-derived cannabinoids increased by 1283 percent, reaching a value of $2.78 billion last year.

And efforts to reel it back in are basically doomed, they say.

"While prohibition may seem like the simplest response, it is almost certain to fail — both in eliminating widespread access to hemp-derived cannabinoids and in protecting the public," they say.

"As of April 2024, Texas had over 7,000 registered hemp dispensaries," they note. "More than 50,000 Texans are estimated to be employed through the hemp sector. A state ban would ruin this industry, but it would not reduce consumer demand for hemp-derived cannabinoids. Instead, consumers would turn to the illicit hemp market that would inevitably form in the wake of state prohibition. Products sold today in state-registered shops would still be available through underground supply networks that would reap billions in tax-free profits."

They say that "a broad ban, even a poorly enforced one, would harm consumers more than the state’s current system."

Meanwhile voters are supporting marijuana decriminalization efforts such as the one recently approved by the city of Dallas, as well as Austin, Denton, Elgin, Killeen, and San Marcos.

Catina Voellinger, Executive Director of Ground Game Texas, a Texas group that has been advocating for decriminalization of marijuana, says in a statement that the legislation would turn back the clock to a more repressive time.

“Instead of banning THC, lawmakers should focus on legalizing marijuana statewide, which would allow for cannabis to be safely regulated, and would prevent countless residents from being harmed by unnecessary arrests and prosecutions for possessing something that is already legal in 24 states," Voellinger says. "We’ve seen repeatedly that this is what Texans want – our marijuana decriminalization ballot initiatives in Dallas, Lockhart, and Bastrop won overwhelmingly this November.”

Daryoush Austin Zamhariri, Executive Director of Texas Cannabis Collective, a group working to change cannabis laws, calls Patrick's endorsement of legislation that would ban all consumable THC products in Texas "tremendously out of step with the overwhelming majority of Texans."

"Poll after poll has shown the citizens of Texas support legalizing cannabis and ending the failed policy of cannabis prohibition," Zamhariri says. "These attitudes have manifested in several campaigns to progressively decriminalize marijuana possession in cities across the state with bipartisan super majority votes through local ballot initiatives. We oppose SB 3 and look forward to working with our coalition partners at the 89th Legislature to bring common sense cannabis reform to the entirety of Texas.”

marijuana politics

Protest News

Dallas joins Global Climate Strike to urge action on environmental crisis

Dallas climbs back up in ranking of 'World's Best Cities' for 2025

All-day French bistro debuts in this week's most popular Dallas stories

New Dallas restaurant Le Bistrot Bar Sardine is truly authentic French

Genie Is Out of The Bottle

Texas Lt. Governor Dan Patrick launches new push to ban THC