Environmentalists protested the relationship between big business and global warming by marching through New York City’s business district on Sept. 22.

The event, which was dubbed “Flood Wall Street,”congregated around the famous bull statue in Battery Park. Participants preached about climate justice and carried signs with phrases such as “Corporate Capitalism = Climate Chaos.”  The protestors were more than willing to be arrested for their protesting because they knew that any sort of intervention from law enforcement would help to drive their point home.

Some things they were protesting against include the fossil fuel industry and how other large companies are profiting at the expense of the environment. This protest was designed to bring the injustice to the attention of those individuals they feel are directly responsible. 

It was estimated that about 2,500 people took place in the demonstration and had intentions of staying where they were until they were asked to leave. They held a banner which read “Flood Wall Street” and were calling on world leaders to take bigger action in reducing greenhouse gas production. 

This protest took place a day after the People’s Climate March, which was also held in New York City and was the largest environmental rally to take place in history. There were about 310,000 people from all over the world in attendance.

Attending these rallies raised concerns about these issues, but it does absolutely nothing about the problem at hand. Business owners are out to make money. As long as there is money involved with issues like fracking, they will continue to do it, no matter the environmental cost. 

What they should be pushing for is businesspeople taking a bigger interest in environmentally safe energy and fuel. They should be showing them the money in investing in things such as solar energy. Big businesses are out to profit, and if you show them something that involves profiting, the response will be better.  There is a good deal of money involved with alternative fuel and energy, and protestors should be displaying those numbers while they protest.

The dangers of environmentally detrimental activities such as fracking are evident, but not many people fully understand exactly why it is dangerous. Fracking is the process of drilling and injecting fluid into the ground at a high pressure in order to fracture shale rocks and release natural gas. Approximately 40,000 gallons of chemicals are used in fracking. More than 600 chemicals are used in the fracking fluid that is injected into the ground. Some of the dangerous chemicals these companies inject into the ground include mercury, radium, methanol, and hydrochloric acid. 

During this process, methane gas and other toxic chemicals are released into the ground and contaminate the nearby ground water. Individuals who use well water for drinking water near a fracking site have been documented to have cases of sensory, respiratory and neurological damage. Fracking may produce 300,000 barrels of natural gas a day, but the price they pay is numerous environmental, safety and health hazards. 

Obviously the effects that fracking can have on the environment are extreme. However, I don’t think that big businesses are the only groups culpable in the situation. Saying that they are entirely to blame is like saying that food companies are solely responsible for the obesity rate in America. On the same note, of course, I think that companies need to be more accountable for their actions and acknowledge exactly what they are doing to the environment.