On Saturday, February 15, Sierra Club Michigan cosponsored the Climate Can’t Wait Rally in Detroit. Our heartfelt gratitude goes out to those who joined us, in person or in spirit. Despite the snowstorm, we had an incredible turnout for this inspiring and powerful event.
Nearly 300 Michiganders packed the Detroit Hispanic Development Center to voice their opposition to the Trump administration’s cuts to environmental government agencies and programs. Participants were able to connect with environmental organizations and community stakeholders to take action. Speakers included Representatives Debbie Dingell and Rashida Tlaib, Detroit City Council Member Gabriela Santiago-Romero, Environmental Justice Coalition Youth Speakers from 482 Forward and Monica Lewis-Patrick from We the People of Detroit.
Sierra Club Michigan Executive Committee Member Ebony Elmore spoke about the impacts of environmental pollution on her family. Elmore, who works as a community organizer with Michigan Environmental Justice Coalition, watched her father, a nonsmoker, suffer from stage four lung cancer due to exposure to toxins while working as a welder on Zug Island. Many Detroit residents share similar experiences, as evidenced when Ebony asked folks to raise their hand if they or someone they know has asthma. This experience led Ebony to organize for environmental justice in her community and ultimately connected her to Sierra Club Michigan.
One thing was abundantly clear at the rally–youth activists are not waiting to lead the fight against climate change, they’re leading NOW. From the five-year-old holding up her handmade “Please fix the planet” sign to the high school students who shared poetry expressing the urgent need to address climate change to the Sierra Club student group at the University of Michigan, these young environmentalists are demanding change and they are on inspiring trajectories to be agents of that change.