Climate activists will tell you that we must change our ways and lifestyles to defend and save the planet. Yet, they also don’t have a problem with ruining that very same planet in the pursuit of telling you that.
Take, for example, the Global Citizen Festival, organized and held in New York City’s Central Park on the Great Lawn every year.
As Global Citizen’s website persists, their goal is to, first and foremost, “end extreme poverty.” But they do so by creating “sustainability” and being committed to “defend the planet” at all costs.
And yet, during this year’s festival, which coincides with the United Nation’s General Assembly annually, over a third of Central Park’s Great Lawn was so misused and destroyed that it is now closed until April.
Thanks to the heavy machinery (which wasn’t “green,” by the way), heavy foot traffic, and pouring rain, a full 12 acres of the iconic area has been turned into a muddy mess, devoid of any greenery and life.
Journalist Gus Saltonstall shared a tweet of the aftermath on Tuesday, noting that “12 acres of Central Park’s Great Lawn will be closed until at least April 2024 following damage from Global Citizen Festival on Sept. 23.”
NEW: 12-acres of Central Park's Great Lawn will be closed until at least April 2024 following damage from Global Citizen Festival on Sept. 23 – per Gale Brewer.
"The combination of heavy rain, foot traffic, and machinery used for staging destroyed one-third of the Great Lawn." pic.twitter.com/HVRnyakVr5
— Gus Saltonstall (@GusSaltonstall) October 3, 2023
So much for sustainability and defending the planet, right?
Now, to be sure, the event raised quite a bit of funds to meet their goal of ending poverty or at least helping out those struggling more than most.
Additionally, the organization has offered to pay the city to help offset the estimated $1 million it will take to restore the grounds to their former glory. So that is admirable.
However, as Councilwoman Gale Brewer says, the cost is more than monetary. “What about the people who can’t use it? You can’t pay for that.”
The damage is done, and no amount of “defending the planet” will prove otherwise.
