Tens of Thousands March Across US Calling for Swift Action on Climate Change

Protests were planned ahead of San Francisco climate summit this week

Tens of thousands of people took part in marches and other events across the US on Saturday, calling for a swift transition to renewable energy in order to stave off the various perils of climate change.

 photo of climate marchPhoto by Peg HunterThe San Francisco climate march drew some 30,000 people on Saturday. Marches across the world drew thousands calling for action on global warming.

The Rise for Climate protests was spearheaded by what organizers called the largest ever climate march on the US west coast. The march, which snaked through the heart of San Francisco, came ahead of a climate change summit in the city this week that will gather mayors and business leaders from around the world.

The San Francisco march, which called for California governor Jerry Brown to end fossil fuel extraction in the state, attracted around 30,000 people, organizers said.

An array of activities, including rallies, voter registration drives and vigils, were scheduled to take place across the US, in cities such as Boston, Miami, and Portland, Oregon. Events were also planned in Puerto Rico. In New Orleans, protesters planned to agitate for the halt of the Bayou Bridge pipeline, an extension of the controversial Dakota Access project that last year spurred a lengthy standoff at the Standing Rock reservation.

Hundreds of other actions took place in cities around the world, as part of a coordinated effort to counter what climate activists see as the dangerously regressive policies of Donald Trump’s administration, which has sought to dismantle rules to lower greenhouse gas emissions and has thrown open vast areas of land and water to drilling.

“Today, people across the country are rising up for climate, jobs and justice in their communities to fight back against Trump’s toxic agenda and to send a message to every politician that the time for action is now,” said Michael Brune, executive director of environment group the Sierra Club. “Families living in the shadows of coal plants and oil refineries, losing homes and livelihoods to wildfires and extreme weather, and struggling to make a living wage are coming together because we know we don’t have time to waste.”

The activists’ ire is largely aimed at governors who though relatively progressive on climate issues, such as Brown and New York governor Andrew Cuomo, are deemed not to be ambitious enough in phasing out fossil fuels. On Thursday, several thousand people took part in a climate march in New York City. Ten activists were arrested after blocking the street in front of Cuomo’s Manhattan office.

A week of protests are planned surrounding the summit in San Francisco, with organizers hoping to draw attention to air pollution and social inequity that has tainted California’s economic growth.

“Climate change, economic inequality, the housing crisis, increased criminalization, attacks on immigrant communities — all these challenges are driven by systemic devaluation of the lives of people of color and choosing profit over people and the planet,” said Gladys Limon, executive director of the California Environmental Justice Alliance.

“We are standing up to life destructive industries, from big oil to natural gas companies, that obstruct progress toward a healthy, sustainable and just society.”

Get the Journal in your inbox.
Sign up for our weekly newsletter.

You Make Our Work Possible

You Make Our Work Possible

We don’t have a paywall because, as a nonprofit publication, our mission is to inform, educate and inspire action to protect our living world. Which is why we rely on readers like you for support. If you believe in the work we do, please consider making a tax-deductible year-end donation to our Green Journalism Fund.

Donate
Get the Journal in your inbox.
Sign up for our weekly newsletter.

The Latest

How a Black Miami Neighborhood Became ‘Ground Zero for Climate Gentrification’

A documentary, 'Razing Liberty Square,' examines the plight of families in Liberty City as developers ‘revitalize’ community on desirable higher land.

Joseph Contreras The Guardian

Forest Fires and Respiratory Illness are a Dangerous Combination

As climate change worsens wildfires, smoke exposure may increasingly add to infectious disease risks.

Anna Marija Helt

Threatened Foodways: Columbia

Are bandeja paisa and sancocho in danger?

María Clara Valencia Mosquera Photos by Mónica María de los Ángeles Hernández.

Can AI Help Improve Our Understanding of Life Underwater?

Researchers look to machines to better hear freshwater ecosystems.

Scarlett Buckley

Threatened Foodways: Venezuela

Corn and rice, key ingredients of basic dishes in Venezuelan gastronomy, are getting harder to produce.

Johanna Osorio Herrera Images Valeria Pedicini

In South Dakota’s Black Hills, A Lithium Boom Promises More of the Same from Mining Industry

Local groups point to disproportionate impact on Indigenous communities in a region with a long history of extraction.

Stewart Sinclair