One Last Push: Climate Activists to Rally at White House and Across U.S.

Joe Biden was not the first choice for president. Mr. Vertuccio organized hundreds of young people to help him get elected because of a single issue: climate change.

On the day after Earth Day, Mr. Vertuccio expects to be outside of the White House at one of dozens of rallies across the country to press the government to cut the pollution that is dangerously heating.

A broad coalition of youth activists, labor unions, civil rights groups and mainstream environmental organizations are coming together to urge the president, Congress and state legislatures to take aggressive climate action.

They worry that time is running out for the atmosphere, which is rapidly warming to dangerous levels, and for legislative action to mitigate the damage. It is thought that after Memorial Day, Washington's focus will shift to the November elections, making it nearly impossible for lawmakers to negotiate major legislation.

Failure to act will have political ramifications for Mr. Biden and his party, as young voters turned out in record numbers in 2020 to help Democrats secure control of the White House and Congress.

Joe Biden was elected by young people to take action on climate change.

Most of the people who have been lobbying, protesting and mobilizing support for climate legislation said they are seeing despair among their peers.

Mr. Biden's plans to tackle climate change have been watered down and stuck in the Senate because of opposition from Republicans and Senator Joe Manchin III, a Democrat of West Virginia. The Supreme Court is poised to rule on a case that could limit Mr. Biden's plans to use executive authority to impose tough new rules on greenhouse pollution from power plants and automobiles.

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Mr. Biden has taken steps that are not in line with climate activists because of the spiking gas prices. He released a record amount of oil from the Strategic Petroleum Reserve, begged oil and gas companies to step up drilling and temporarily loosened environmental rules to allow gasoline blended with ethanol to be sold during the summer months, when it is normally banned because of concerns that it contributes to smog. During his campaign, he promised to open more public lands to drilling. The fossil fuel industry was on the defensive a year ago when it came to climate politics.

The United Nations released a landmark report in which top scientists warned that time is running out for countries to pivot away from fossil fuels or face a future of climate catastrophe.

Rob Sherrell, an oceanographer and professor at Rutgers University, has been talking to students about the threat posed by climate change since the 1980s.

Dr. Sherrell and his students are going to the Washington rally on a bus.

Students are exhausted and they are demoralized.

There are real implications for the president, according to the deputy director of the Center for Information and Research on Civic Learning. The center found that voters between the ages of 18 and 29 played a critical role in the election of Mr. Biden.

Ms. Kiesa said that climate change was one of the top issues for young voters. She said that those who prioritized it showed a high civic readiness and a likelihood to be involved in local and national organizations.

She said that these are young people who are engaged.

The senior vice president for energy and environment policy at the Center for American Progress said that supporters of climate legislation are feeling demoralized.

She said that many people are worried about the climate provisions in Mr. Biden's legislation.

The fragile alliance among disparate groups that support climate action could break apart if legislation does not pass, according to Ms. Goldfuss.

You will have a group of youth organizers who feel the system is broken and need to be blown up, who will no longer be able to work with either party.

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In Seattle on Friday, Mr. Biden will speak about the efforts his administration has made on climate. New regulations to curb carbon dioxide from tailpipes and methane from oil and gas wells and a ban on hydrofluorocarbons are included. On Friday, he will sign an executive order creating an inventory of mature and old-growth forests on federal lands and establish what the White House calls climate-smart management and conserve strategies for those forests.

"We really hope to hear they are ready to make good on the promises that President Biden ran on."

Ramon Cruz, president of the Sierra Club, said activists upset with the Biden administration are misdirecting their anger.

Mr. Cruz said that the people who are trying to do something should not be the target of our anger.

Ali Zaidi, the White House deputy national adviser, is one of the speakers that the Washington rally organizers lined up to try to shift blame away from Mr. Biden.

John Paul Mejia, a spokesman for the Sunrise Movement, got involved after living through Hurricane Irma in his hometown of Miami.

He spoke about the fight of his generation and the uncertainty about the people and places he loves.

Mr. Mejia said that young people gave this administration a bold mandate for action on climate. He did not say if he would support Mr. Biden in 2024.

I can't say that President Biden has acted in a way that meets the weight of the moment.

Christopher gave reporting.