Thousands protest Trump at climate march
On a Saturday that was too hot for April or even May, a couple of thousand activists gathered at Oakland’s Lake Merritt to demonstrate for environmental protection and register their low opinion of President Trump’s first 100 days in office.
The resistance rally was organized by People’s Climate Movement Bay Area as one of more than 250 linked actions. The Oakland event was the closest to San Francisco and brought out more than 2,000 people for an afternoon of speakers and music on a stage powered by bicycle at the Lake Merritt Amphitheater.
The culminating action came at 3:30 p.m. with an attempt to form a human chain around the lake. But they fell short of the 3,000 people needed and settled for a march around the lake.
“We’re optimistic. Otherwise we wouldn’t still be breathing,” said organizer Louise Chegwidden, 56, saying they had hoped to join hands and surround the lake “to symbolize our pledge to protect all we hold dear in the natural world and each other.”
Many of those at the Oakland event were among the thousands involved in the March for Science last weekend in San Francisco. They arrived by BART with signs ready.
“If enough people are in plain sight, that’s going to influence the thinking of other citizens,” said Geoff Spooner, 54, a laser engineer who came from Bernal Heights in San Francisco with a complicated sign with a handpainted map of the world that showed the temperature creeping up.
“It’s going to be another hot year,” he said, sitting beneath the shade of a tree. “Right now there are not enough people involved to affect change.”
But it was still early in the day, and 76 degrees.
As the crowd swelled and the heat rose to 80 degrees, the bicyclist increased his revolution to power up the public address system. Comedian and emcee Marga Gomez took the stage.
“I’m doing recycled material,” she said to generous applause.
Retired Episcopal minister Frannie Kieschnick, 65, had carpooled from Palo Alto with five people, plus her lapdog Nevada, in an electric Tesla.
Nevada wore a sign that said, “Save My Home.”
“She’s very concerned about the climate,” Kieschnick said, “but more concerned about other dogs.”
Her own sign read, “The Future is ours but we have to ‘Planet.’ ”
They had been part of a similar human chain this year and were eager to get started on another.
“It’s not direct advocacy,” Kieschnick said, “but what it does to inspire advocacy is unforgettable.”
The event was not directly political, but many participants stressed politics.
Dave Siegel, an environmental consultant from Castro Valley, wore a hat that read “Impeach Both.”
“First Trump, then Pence” said Siegel, 60, who also brought a pinata of the president, just in case.
“The climate is such an easy target because it can’t fight back,” he said.
Rep. Barbara Lee, D-Oakland, rallied the crowd with a brief but intense speech, saying the East Bay can lead the fight.
Other Peoples Climate Marches were held across the country by people demanding action on climate change.
In Washington, D.C., tens of thousands of demonstrators trekked down Pennsylvania Avenue in sweltering heat on their way to encircle the White House.
In Chicago, marchers headed from the city’s federal plaza to Trump Tower.
“We are here because there is no Planet B,” the Rev. Mariama WhiteHammond of Bethel AME Church told the crowd in Boston.
Participants said they’re objecting to Trump’s rollback of restrictions on mining, oil drilling and greenhouse gas emissions at coalfired power plants, among others.
In Oakland, police estimated the Lake Merritt crowd at 2,500, leaving it 500 short of the minimum to join hands and circle the lake’s circumference of 3.2 miles.
It helped that Charlie Callahan brought a 9-foot tall “crucified starfish” on a cross.
“Millions of starfish have died on the coast from warming waters,” said Callahan, 42, who drove an hour and a half from Inverness with the 50-pound plaster starfish in the back of his pickup.
“I’m trying to get people to imagine themselves as one of these creatures,” he said. “There’s no difference between us and them.”
The BoomShake drum corps arrived to lead the procession around the lake. They split into two groups leading in both directions with plans to link on the other side of the lake.
“It’s burning heat, and the people are still here,” said the organizer Chegwidden. “They know that we have a limited time to make the change that is needed.”