The world of angry climate zealots has a new face. The small group of foul-mouthed climate activists who call themselves Climate Defiance is threatening to disrupt the annual Congressional Baseball Game in June to protest what they see as government inaction on climate issues.
In December the angry organization disrupted an event meant to honor ExxonMobil CEO Darren Woods, chanting and unveiling a large banner reading “Eat Sh** Darren.” The same group attacked Democratic West Virginia Senator Joe Manchin, a proponent of coal (which is a big industry in his state), with one protester referring to the senator as a “sick f***.”
On their website, the group boasts, “We do not do petitions. We do direct action.”
This “direct action” seems to consist mainly of showing up uninvited to events to harass business or political personalities they see as complicit in the so-called “climate crisis.” The group is relatively new, formed in early 2023 by climate zealots Michael Greenberg and Rylee Haught.
The group targets Democrats, and aims to “expose their complicity” in fossil-fuel projects and make clear that “the youth vote will only deliver for them if they deliver for us.” Climate Defiance has gathered many high-profile supporters, such as actress Jane Fonda, climate zealot Bill McKibben and “Squad” members Ro Khanna (D-Calif.), Jamaal Bowman (D-N.Y.), and Rashida Tlaib (D-Mich.).
Despite garnering a lot of attention, though, the group is not large or very widespread — at least yet.
“We have about 30 people in total, who are active on a day-to-day or week-by-week basis. They are in [Washington] DC, New York, Boston, Chicago. And a few of our supporters are out on the West Coast. But DC, New York, Boston are our most active cities,” Greenberg said in an interview in Earth Island Journal.
Another huge target of the group is President Joe Biden.
“[Biden], a few weeks ago, agreed to protect 13 million acres in the Arctic. The New York Times reported that some people close to Biden said it was because he was personally stung by the outcry from youth climate activists [over his approval of the Willow Project]. And right next to that sentence (in the print issue) was a picture of us blockading the White House Correspondents’ Dinner,” Greenberg said.
The world of climate zealotry has taken notice of the group.
“They are seen as the hot climate group right now, which is amazing given how small they are,” said sociologist Dana Fisher. “They are obnoxious, but they are having some success in being outrageous enough to get attention, and in an election year that is important. They are certainly pushing the Biden administration.”
Being obnoxious has earned them some high-profile attention. After harassing Secretary of Transportation Pete Buttigieg at an event in Baltimore, the group scored a private meeting with John Podesta, Biden’s new climate czar.
The group’s next big target is the annual Congressional Baseball Game in June, which they hope to shut down with the goal of moving climate up the list of hot-button issues for this year’s general election.
“It’s really going to trigger a nerve,” Greenberg reasoned. “People love the tradition of the baseball game, because it’s bipartisan, and we’re going to say, ‘No, we’re shutting it down.’ We really need to shake people awake and make climate a top three issue for this election.”
But instead of using reason and well-thought-out arguments to make their case for climate issues, Climate Defiance uses vulgarity and petulance as their means of getting their message across. Their churlish actions tell you all you need to know about climate activism as a whole — it’s childish.
Climate activism has never been a serious concern for those capable of critical thinking. The movement has always required a willful suspension of disbelief, a naivete and a willingness to believe in the horror stories fabricated by left-wing “science.” That may be the reason that the movement attracts children and far-left thinkers, concerned not with facts, but only with the alarm sounded by those who are all too willing to use them for their anti-freedom ends.
