City Hall Rally to Save SF's Climate Action Plan

Photos: Leon Kunstenaar

(San Francisco, Feb. 25) - if Trump's gang of criminals were intent on destroying the earth's climate as suitable for most of human and animal life they would:

Partial list of Trumps actions against the environment:

• Repeal the EPA’s 2009 Greenhouse Gas Endangerment Finding, which eliminated the legal basis for regulating emissions from cars, trucks, and power plants
• Withdraw from the Paris Climate agreement.
• Repeal environmental rules, including, limits on wastewater discharges, and regulations on power plant emissions.
• Cut funding for climate research at agencies like the NIH and NOAA, and disband the Interagency Working Group on the Social Cost of Carbon.
• Halt spending unspent funds for the $5-billion National Electric Vehicle Infrastructure Fund.
• Repeal the Clean Water Rule (WOTUS), stripping protections from millions of acres of wetlands and small streams to favor industrial development.
• Declare an "energy emergency" via executive order to fast-track fossil fuel permits and use eminent domain for infrastructure.
• Open 1.5 million acres of the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge (ANWR) and the Tongass National Forest to oil drilling and industrial logging
• Pause all wind energy permitting, halted funding for EV charging stations, and eliminate tax incentives for solar and wind power.
• Add "climate change," "green," and "decarbonization" to a list of restricted words.
• Shut down Federal climate science websites, including climate.gov. Discontinue critical datasets, such as NOAA's tracker for billion-dollar weather disasters.
• Do mass layoffs at agencies like NOAA and the EPA, including firing scientists working on the National Climate Assessment
• Direct the Attorney General to identify and block state and local laws related to climate change or ESG (environmental, social, and governance) initiatives.
• Revoke California's long-standing legal authority to set its own stricter vehicle emissions standards.

However, San Francisco's people beg to differ. They rallied at City Hall to save the SF Climate Action Plan and prevent Mayor Lurie from cutting its funding. They warned that:

• Critical climate work to reduce emissions would stop.
• Staff with years of climate-action expertise will lose their jobs.
• Millions in future grants are at risk

Furthermore:
"Since 2022-23, SF Environment Dept. (SFE) has brought in $29 for every $1 invested. Spending on SFE is leverage, not overhead.

People expect San Francisco to lead - but in the climate crisis we are going backwards. San Franciscans need to know what's really happening.

The buck stops with Mayor Lurie, they are: Climate Emergency Org, a coalition of individuals who belong to various environmental groups across the city, all sharing the same ultimate goal: saving our planet and our community from catastrophic climate change. " We must believe that the members of City government are both ready and able to answer the call, if only with a little help from their friends (that's us - and you!)."

Individual members come from various groups including:

1000 Grandmothers for Future Generations
350 Bay Area
350 San Francisco
Acterra: Actions for a Healthy Planet
Bayview Hunters Point Community Advocates
California Native Plant Society
Citizens Climate Lobby (San Francisco Chapter) Climate Health Now
The Climate Mobilization
The Climate Reality Project (Bay Area Chapter)
Extinction Rebellion (San Francisco Bay Area)
Friends of the Urban Forest
Garden for the Environment
Golden Gate Audubon Society
Marie Harrison Community Foundation
Nature in the City
San Francisco Bay Physicians for Social Responsibility
San Francisco Tomorrow
Sierra Club (San Francisco Bay Chapter)
Sunrise Bay Area
Sutro Stewards ...and more

"We hold constituent meetings with members of the Board of Supervisors, the Environment Department, and the Mayor’s office to help keep them on track to meet the demands of the Climate Emergency."

"We aim to support affected communities and concerned citizens from all parts of San Francisco in making their voices heard on climate issues by scheduling constituent meetings, and by alerting our network of members and allies about opportunities to participate in task forces, give public comment at committee hearings, sign on to or write letters to policymakers, and more."

After the rally, the activists presented a petition to Mayor Lurie and attended hearings to provide needed input.

See all high resolution photos here.