New year, new resolve. Time to mark your calendars for April 29th, 2017.
That’s the date of the People’s Climate Mobilization, a major march in Washington, D.C., when we will come together with hundreds of thousands of people to reject Trump’s attack on our communities and climate, and push forward with our vision of a clean energy economy that works for all.
We believe that in this moment of division, turmoil, and fear, it’s important to put forward an alternative vision that inspires and connects. If we don’t put forward our own vision — of an economy built on justice and powered by clean, renewable energy — then we let fossil-fuel-soaked nationalism, xenophobia, and hatred win. We need to show that more people still believe in our shared vision for the future than in Donald Trump’s.
That’s where you come in: The only way this mobilization will work is if it’s driven from the bottom up by people like you. That’s why we want to get you involved with the People’s Climate Mobilization starting today — whether you’ve helped organize a dozen marches before, or if you’re a first-time participant.
Click here to plug in, so that you can be part of making it all come together.
Lots of us took part in the first People’s Climate March in 2014, when 400,000 marched in New York City and hundreds of thousands more people marched in cities around the world. That march made a huge impact, helping drive forward the Paris Climate Agreement and push President Obama to make climate action (including rejecting the Keystone XL pipeline) a priority during his last two years in office.
The motto of that march was “To change everything, we need everyone.” This spring, we’re renewing that vision — to show that our movement is just as ready to fight Trump’s racism and hatred as we are the fossil fuel industry that’s poisoning our future.
The People’s Climate Mobilization is part of a larger strategy to push back on Trump’s agenda of climate denial and fossil fuel expansion, and then double-down at the local level fighting fossil fuels and lifting up real climate solutions.
Over the next month we’ll be in resistance mode, fighting back against Trump’s Climate Denial Cabinet and other dangerous appointees (including on January 9th with the #DayAgainstDenial national day of action, and then 100 hours after his inauguration with a national student walkout).
But we’ll need your energy, creativity, and leadership right where you live too — to resist fossil fuel infrastructure projects and promote clean energy solutions in your own cities, towns, and states. That’s our best chance of continuing to keep playing offense, even as we defend everything this administration wants to take away.
That’s why we’re calling this the People’s Climate Mobilization instead of just a March. We see April 29th as the culmination of our work to fight Trump during the first 100 days of his administration and the launch pad for a larger, nationwide movement to fight fossil fuels at the local level.
That’s the plan. This is going to be one of the largest challenges we’ve taken on as an organization and as a movement. But with Trump in office, we have to be willing to take risks and go big.
The People’s Climate March in 2014 was the largest climate march ever, anywhere. If we want to push back on Trump’s vicious agenda and build the future we need, it will require us matching that kind of ambition, and then some.
Let’s make history again this year,
Jamie