Festival That Aims to ‘Defend the Planet’ Causes Extensive Damage to Central Park, Forcing Partial Closure

To paraphrase a historical quote, leftists believe they must destroy the environment to save it.

At least, that’s the logical takeaway after the Global Citizen Festival decimated a third of the Great Lawn in New York City’s Central Park, forcing the city to close it until April, according to the New York Times.

The 12-acre space typically serves as a welcome oasis in a desert of concrete and asphalt until mid-November, but damage from festivalgoers and the heavy equipment used to get it concert-ready has “fully destroyed” a significant portion of the lawn.

“The Central Park Conservancy is very disappointed that the iconic Great Lawn is now closed and unavailable for New Yorkers to enjoy this fall,” a statement from the park’s management organization said.

This turn of events is ironic, considering the event’s eponymous organization has as its goal to “end extreme poverty” with the added goal of “sustainability” on the premise that “the world’s poorest people contribute the least but suffer the most from the climate crisis.”

Global Citizen is also committed to “defend the planet,” even if that means turning a sprawling oval of greenery into a muddy mess.

Journalist Gus Saltonstall shared a photo of damage in a tweet Tuesday after the city confirmed the closure.

“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,” he captioned the photo.

“‘The combination of heavy rain, foot traffic, and machinery used for staging destroyed one-third of the Great Lawn,'” Saltonstall added.

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

It seems that this virtue-signaling festival, which typically draws 60,000 revelers and coincides with the United Nations General Assembly in New York each year, hosted a decidedly unsustainable event.

Musical acts, including the Red Hot Chili Peppers, Lauryn Hill and K-pop icon Jungkook, took to the stage on Sept. 23 despite a severe downpour that dumped an inch of rain on the city.

That decision exacerbated the damage caused by machinery and foot traffic, even as attendance was down by about half this year.

Councilwoman Gale Brewer pointed the finger at Global Citizen for proceeding “full speed ahead despite torrential rain” and estimates that the damage could cost her district, which includes Central Park, upward of $1 million.

Global Citizen has offered to help offset the costs, but Brewer believes the damage is more than monetary.

“It’s fine to pay for it,” she said.

“But what about the people who can’t use it? You can’t pay for that,” Brewer added.

In a double dose of irony, this closure comes as the city is experiencing unseasonably warm temperatures that trigger climate- change alarmists, though the rest of us see it and enjoy it for what it is — an Indian summer.

All told, the festival brought in a reported “$290 million total commitments rallied for Global Citizen Festival, leading to a total of $470 million as a result of the campaign,” the organization’s impact page boasted.

However, the event also destroyed a coveted green space — enjoyed by the rich and poor alike — in pursuit of saving the environment and helping the impoverished.

Granted, other events have similarly caused damage to the space in the past, but this organization is locked into the same nonsensical logic loop as jet-setting leftists circling the globe in their carbon-spewing private aircraft to lecture regular folks on conservation.

These people truly believe that the mere idea of helping others is enough to offset whatever destruction they cause in pursuit of that goal.

If they turn a park into a mud pit or pollute the air, it’s fine, because their motivations are properly ordered.

The park will surely be restored, but the problem of the woke-mind virus and its convoluted will persist — and the world is worse off because of it.

This article appeared originally on The Western Journal.

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