A coalition of organizations from up and down the west coast arrived in San Francisco on September 21st to deliver a message to U.S. lawmakers and polluting corporations. The protest rally started at the San Francisco office of Senator Barbara Boxer, chair of the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee that will be presenting a Climate and Energy Bill currently in Congress by the end of the week.

A letter was delivered to, and a delegation met briefly with Jennifer Tang, Senior Field Representative for Boxer, as activists below chanted, "set the cap, scrap the trade. CLIMATE JUSTICE" and unfurled a 35 foot parachute banner (painted by participants over the weekend) below Boxers office windows that read, "CLIMATE JUSTICE OR CLIMATE CHAOS."

The protest then moved to Chevron Oil Corporation’s downtown San Francisco "Energy Solutions" office (345 California St.). Participants occupied the front entryway as retired Richmond kindergarden teacher Michael Beers of the Richmond Progressive Alliance and Antonia Juhasz, author of the Tyranny of Oil spoke about Chevron role in driving climate pollution and using their billions in profit to lobby against real climate solutions. The group then took over the intersection outside of the building housing Chevron, occupying and briefly shutting down the busy financial district intersection with the giant parachute banner.

The action capped a weekend-long gathering, the West Coast Climate Justice Convergence, consisting of environmental and social justice organizations and activists and from Richmond, the Bay Area and the West Coast, including many from Rising Tide chapters. The gathering planned local climate solutions, and made plans for build grassroots political pressure and “street heat” in the lead up to the December 7-18, 2009 Copenhagen climate talks.

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