It’s earth day, but it doesn’t feel like a celebration. As usual, Trump and his fossil fueled fascist allies have made a mockery of this 50 year old tradition that gave us the clean air act, clean water act, the EPA and more.
Last week, fossil fueled fascists in Congress introduced legislation to protect the fossil fuel industry from all liability – lawsuits, climate superfund laws, even just saying “Exxon Knew” – for climate chaos. And on Monday Trump signed executive orders to use the Defense Production Act to boost production of oil, gas, and coal. This is doubly frustrating because not only is it boosting dirty fuels even as Trump attacks clean energy, but we helped pioneer the strategy when we got President Biden to use the same law to boost renewables.
But even as frustrating, dirty, and dispiriting as this Earth week has been, it’s worth remembering that the first Earth Day wasn’t a party, or a corporate-sponsored celebration: Earth Day was a protest — and a big one. The first Earth Day in 1970 drew 20 million Americans into the streets, roughly 10% of the US population, making it the single largest day of protest in American history at the time. And today, Americans are still standing up to pollution, greed, and fossil fueled fascism.
A few quick cases in point:
- We were already mobilizing against the Big Oil Immunity Act before it was introduced, and it’s not too late to sign the petition demanding congress stop the polluters get out of jail free card!
- Earlier today Rep Ro Khana and Sen Sheldon Whitehouse re-introduced the Big Oil Windfall Profits Tax. You can watch the press conference from today’s re-introduction below.
- You can also call your member of Congress, Senators and other officials with the 5-calls ap to encourage them to oppose Big Oil Immunity, support a windfall profits tax, and more! and stay tuned for more actions you can take soon (emailing Congress, delivering our collective signatures, and more!)
- On May Day millions of people are taking to the streets to put workers over billionaires, and there are End Fossil Fuels contingents in more than a dozen cities. You can join one, or just bring some of our signs to your May Day event or action to share the solidarity
All of which to say: I know times are dark and things are hard. As usual, I appreciated Bill McKibben’s post earlier today on what a weird, dystopian earth day today has been – filled with fundraising to save endangered species while the crisis in the Strait of Hormuz escalates and the climate news gets dramatically more dire.
But never lose sight of the fact that a small group of thoughtful, committed, citizens can change the world. And don’t lose heart in the face of fossil fueled fascism run amok
A bit more on the windfall profits tax in case you need a reminder:
We’ve been working on a Windfall Profits Tax for a while now. But the war in Iran has made the need for this policy more clear than ever. Trump’s war with Iran sent gas prices sharply higher, but the people who really came out ahead were oil executives and major fossil fuel companies. In March alone, the world’s top 100 oil and gas companies made an estimated $23 billion in windfall profits — more than $30 million an hour — from the war-driven price spike. Meanwhile, U.S. oil executives sold $1.4 billion in stock in the first quarter, including more than $100 million by Chevron CEO Mike Wirth.
That is exactly why Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse and Rep. Ro Khanna reintroduced the Big Oil Windfall Profits Tax Act, because when war and disruption hand Big Oil a jackpot, that money should go back to the families paying more at the pump, not to corporate executives and shareholders.