We Marched for Climate in October, Stay Tuned for November

At the climate rally and march on October 22, youthful speakers and one elder talked about a climate issues at the state and national level. At our November action we will focus on the international climate happenings at COP26 in Glasgow, Scotland.

See this Edhat article for many great photos of the event.

Nadia Asbushanab of SBCAN urged people to tell Biden to approve the proposed Chumash Heritage Marine Sanctuary along our coastline. She also relayed the good news that Governor Gavin Newsom has finally come out in support of 3200 foot oil drilling setbacks from schools, homes and healthcare facilities. Taking concrete action on this issue, rally participants wrote postcards to Governor Newsom thanking him for supporting the setbacks and telling him to go even further: stop approving new oil and gas drilling.

Michael Meredith, a retired California teacher, asked the crowd to pressure the state teachers’ retirement fund, CALPERS, to divest from fossil fuel companies. CALPERS currently has billions of dollars invested in industries that will potentially destroy the futures of the very students that the teachers are now teaching.

Kat Lane of the Environmental Affairs Board, Associated Students UCSB, decried the current impasse at the federal level, where vital climate legislation is stalled in Congress. She welcomed everyone young and old to join the climate movement — eventually public outcry for meaningful climate action will force politicians to act.

Alyssa Jain from Sunrise Movement-Santa Barbara, spoke about justice at the worldwide level, where the countries most responsible for greenhouse gas pollution and global warming must support the countries least responsible for the climate emergency, yet most impacted.

In the coming days, youth organizers from UCSB and Fearless Grandmothers will put their heads together to plan an action in November centered on COP26. Stay tuned.