Sonoma Climate March to have its day in the sun

Locals to demonstrate against proposed rollbacks of environmental protections|

Long before the Nov. 8 presidential election, the “People’s Climate March and Rally” was planned for April 29 – but with the new administration’s expressed plans to reverse a plethora of environmental protections, climate march participants are more catalyzed than ever.

The date also marks President Trump’s 100th day in office, an irony not lost on local march organizers of the Sonoma Climate Coalition, which in concert with the national environmental advocacy group 350.org, plans to optimize Saturday’s rally to protest the rollback of many Obama-era climate protections.

Timed to coincide with the People’s Climate March & Rally in Washington, D.C., the Sonoma Climate Coalition has organized two tributaries of environmental advocacy, both beginning at 10:30 a.m.. One leaves from the front of Sonoma Valley High School; the other, from the First Congregational Church of Sonoma’s Burlingame Hall at 252 W. Spain St. Both will march to the Plaza for a rally featuring a roster of speakers, information tables and activities for children.

Marchers are urged to bring signs, banners, instruments, American flags and “earth flags.” Children are encouraged to dress up as a favorite animal. “We want to see bees, butterflies, ladybugs, jellyfish, cheetahs, sharks and more!” reads the People’s Climate Movement circular taht’s been distributed around town.

“We are asking people to stand in solidarity with just plain common sense,” said rally organizer Tim Boeve, whose daughter, May Boeve, was among the Middlebury College students who helped environmentalist Bill McKibben found 350.org, the renowned climate-change-action organization.

Tim Boeve says that, with the ascent of national leaders who deny that climate change is taking place, the time is ripe for “people of compassion and common sense (to) gather and resist this turning back of what has been achieved over the last eight years.”

“(President Trump’s) appointment of Scott Pruitt to head the EPA (Environmental Protection Agency) is just a clear signal that the guy is totally out of touch with what needs to happen,” Boeve says. “Every problem that we’re looking at nationally – whether you want to talk about health care, immigration, even terrorism, you name it – it’s all going to be exacerbated by this single issue of climate change.”

And from that standpoint, Boeve and many in the environmental community are alarmed with some of the recent moves from the White House.

In an executive order from April 25, President Trump directed the EPA to rescind its moratorium on coal mining on federal lands, repeal at least six Obama-era executive orders aimed at addressing global warming, review the Clean Power Plan and “identify all regulations, all rules, all policies … that serve as obstacles and impediments to American energy independence.” (Prior to coming to office, President Trump suggested climate change is a “hoax” perpetrated by the Chinese; however, surveys have shown that more than 95 percent of climate scientists agree that climate change is an empirical scientific phenomenon caused by human impact.)

The People’s March for Climate comes on the heels of last week’s March for Science, which similarly raised awareness about climate change, among a host of issues.

Organizers of the march in Washington, D.C., are planning for as many as 100,000 participants.

At the local level, Boeve is expecting numbers to range in the hundreds.

Email Kate at kate.williams@sonomanews.com.

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