On March 28, 2017, President Trump, with the stroke of his executive pen, attempted to roll back U.S. progress towards addressing climate change. Under attack is President Obama’s historic Clean Power Plan which set about to regulate carbon emissions from power plants as well as other important steps taken by the Obama administration to address climate change.
The diversity of people and backgrounds that mobilized on Sunday reiterated the message that the climate crisis is a global one that, while impacting some sooner and stronger than others, will eventually affect us all. The variety of signs, ranging from calls for food justice to Dogwood’s own Our Forests Aren’t Fuel banner underscored the fact that environmental irresponsibility has devastating consequences for nearly every aspect of our lives.
You know you’ve effectively gotten the attention of the media when they ask you to speak on a panel about your campaign at the Society of Environmental Journalists annual conference. On September 7th, I hopped a plane to New Orleans to debate Seth Ginther, the Executive Director of the US Industrial Wood Pellet Association, in front of a roomful of journalists. Over the last few of years, coal burning power plants have been converted to burn wood pellets as a supposedly clean and renewable energy source.
Ten years ago, at a meeting of 250 members of communities affected by large-scale eucalyptus plantations in Brazil, September 21st was established as the National Day Against Tree Monocultures. The aim was to increase the visibility of the many peoples and communities struggling against tree monocultures, as a way of breaking the circle of silence around the numerous violations faced by the communities whose territories were surrounded by these monocultures.
Dogwood Alliance is proud to be a part of the People’s Climate March, joining world leaders in New York City for a UN summit on the climate crisis. With our future on the line and the whole world watching, tens of thousands of people from every imaginable background will take to the streets and demand the world we want is within our reach.
