By Masada Disenhouse, Executive Director, SanDiego350
Also published on The Jumping Off Place
Come to the Hands Off Earth Day Press Conference on Tuesday, April 22nd at 9AM by the Marine Corps Recruit Depot (MCRD) near Liberty Station.
This Earth Day, it’s personal.
Trump is expected to sign an executive order to strip tax-exempt status from climate and other nonprofit organizations ON EARTH DAY. Groups like SD350, that work to reduce harmful pollution, advance environmental justice, and create a healthy future for everyone, are under attack.
To add insult to injury, Trump’s EPA Director (EPA destroyer?) Lee Zeldin will be HERE, in San Diego, on Earth Day. Yeah, that same Lee Zeldin who’s been rolling back climate and environmental regulations, illegally firing EPA workers, and holding back funds that have already been committed to everything from solar and wind projects to green housing despite multiple court rulings.
Zeldin will hold a press conference Tuesday morning at the Marine Corps Recruit Depot (MCRD) to blame Mexico for everything and kiss up to his fossil fuel overlords. And while the border pollution crisis is urgent, and we hope the EPA will invest in solutions, the fight for clean water in San Diego’s South Bay has been led for decades by the very nonprofits this order would seek to dismantle.
So we need to show up big time – to set the story straight, demand justice for environmental nonprofits, and hold the line against Trump’s efforts to be the first US dictator. Join SanDiego350 and a large coalition of environmental and climate groups and other allies:
WHAT: Hands Off Earth Day Press Conference
WHEN: Earth Day, Tuesday, April 22nd at 9am
WHERE: By Marine Corps Recruit Depot (MCRD) near Liberty Station. 2198 W Washington St
San Diego, California 92110
REGISTER HERE (the location may shift to another entrance to MCRD; register to stay updated)
As I write this, I’m sitting at the Progressive Labor Summit (hats off to Carol Kim and team), learning about the attacks workers are facing and how they’re fighting back. As the child of working/middle class parents from the Bronx, I’m inspired to be here listening to the nurses, electrical workers, teachers, domestic workers, and other union members talk about their struggles and to witness efforts to keep the different unions – well, UNIFIED – in the face of fascism.
Like climate change, fascism is not a distant threat. It’s happening now. People who’ve committed no crime are being deported to foreign prisons with no due process. Abortion is now banned or more severely restricted in 19 states. Scientific facts on everything from climate change to public health to foreign policy and immigration have been erased from federal websites. Public interest groups are under assault.
I think a lot of people are taking a wait and see approach. Trying to not paint a target on their own backs. I personally feel like it’s now or never. History has taught us that time and again, authoritarian regimes have been able to break democratic systems and consolidate power because people kept their heads down and waited for it all to pass. I understand that, it’s a seriously scary time.
But we can’t put our heads down; we need to rise up. We need to unify and work in concert across issues. Environmentalists must find common cause with workers, with youth, with immigrants, and more. Trump and his cronies are throwing everything they can at all of us to make us lose hope and stop us from taking action. I’m here to tell you, this Earth Day, that we CANNOT LOSE HOPE. We need to stay focused. We will not back down. We will not stop working in the public interest. We will not self censor or negotiate some self serving deal. We will unify. We will stand and fight for a healthy, sustainable future for all people.
So please, show up and speak up Tuesday. Let Zeldin and Trump know they can’t silence us. As former Acting Labor Secretary Julie Su had us chant together today: NOT ON OUR WATCH!
P.S. if you haven’t yet RSVP’d for the upcoming Unite for Climate March on May 3, do that now.