"We will fight you every step of the way, for as long as we draw breath," Louisville filmmaker Ben Evans said of Donald Trump at one of the many protests held on Monday, January 9, as part of nationwide “Day Against Denial.”
Events were held in all 50 states to demonstrate disapproval of Trump’s cabinet appointees. The president-elect’s top picks include billionaires, corporate businesspeople, and others with various conflicts of interest. Among them are former Exxon CEO Rex Tillerson, nominee for Secretary of State; former Oklahoma secretary of state Scott Pruitt, nominee for head of the Environmental Protection Agency, who has spent years suing the very agency he would oversee; and former Texas governor Rick Perry, nominee for Secretary of Energy, who once advocated for the elimination of the Department of Energy and who sat on the construction board for the Dakota Access Pipeline.
The main concern voiced by activists and environmentalists is that Trump’s picks are either climate-change deniers or are disinclined to confront this global issue.
Thomas Pearce, a Sierra Club organizer based in Louisville, Kentucky, said that it was great to see a diverse and energetic group of supporters who were “fired up and ready to resist Trump every step of the way in his efforts to revive the fossil fuel industry.” A little over 100 people, including many Cumberland Chapter activists, rallied and marched outside two federal buildings, calling on the state’s U.S. senators to reject Trump’s cabinet picks. Signs read, "I stand for clean energy," "Keep the Paris Accord," and "Oceans rising, fish dying, still denying."
In South Carolina, the Day Against Denial rally was held, fittingly, almost exactly a year after a climate-fueled once-in-a-1,000-year flood ferociously tore through the state. Residents were more than eager to gather at Senator Lindsey Graham’s office to demand he oppose any Trump nominee who denies the science on climate change and would take no action to combat it. "All Americans -- regardless of religion, race, or birthplace -- should be able to enjoy clean air to breathe, clean water to drink, and have their health protected from environmental and climate threats,” said Christopher Hall of the Club’s South Carolina chapter. “Trump's nominations of Pruitt, Perry, and Tillerson are direct threats to our environment and the progress made towards a clean energy economy.” Activists delivered over 1,000 signatures from South Carolina residents to Graham's staff.
In Pittsburgh, Sierrans joined other environmental groups and concerned individuals including members of 350.org, Group Against Smog and Pollution (GASP), and local college students to march from the South Side of Pittsburgh to the Senator Pat Toomey’s office. In total, about 75 people braved the cold to stand together and be heard. Thomas Hoffman of the Sierra Club’s Pennsylvania Chapter said that “the powerful idea behind the movement is that it is a part of a bigger whole: a national day of action.” Activists delivered a petition containing over 300 signatures to Toomey, and Hoffman was confident that their message was heard loud and clear.
In Newark, New Jersey, Sierra Club volunteers and staffers, including New Jersey Chapter director Jeff Tittel, called on U.S. Senators Bob Menendez and Cory Booker to voice disapproval of Trump’s cabinet picks. “The nominations of Scott Pruitt to lead the EPA, Rep. Ryan Zinke as the next Secretary of Interior, Rex Tillerson for Secretary of State, and Rick Perry to lead the Department of Energy, all of whom are pro-mining, pro-fracking, and pro-destruction of public lands, are clearly prepared to repeal and roll back 45 years of environmental protections,” Tittel said. Other groups who joined the Sierra Club included 350NJ, Greenpeace, CREDO, Interfaith Power and Light, Beyond Extreme Energy and The Green Party of Essex County.
As neighbors, friends, and families take up signs and join forces to become climate warriors, there is hope that the message will be heard by members of Congress and the incoming administration that the world’s climate is changing due to human activity, and anyone who denies the climate science is unfit to be a member the cabinet.
Trump’s environmental policy positions, shared by his nominees for top environmental posts, are profoundly ill-informed and portend potentially disastrous consequences for clean air, clean water, public health, and global warming. It is now up to the senate to block these nominations, and up to us to turn out and tell elected officials that as constituents and voters, we will not accept these dangerous cabinet appointees. Through coalition-building, local action, and grassroots organizing, we can be a powerful force in resisting and defeating the coming storm.